Which parkerizing to match USGI M14 finish?

[Monkeyman]

Is there a parkerizing kit or solution I could buy to exactly match a 60s vintage M14 finish? I've never seen an original M14 in good condition so I have no idea whether I'm looking for light grey, dark grey or the WW2 greenish finish. Thanks.

[Scott S]

Unfortunately, probably not. There are two basic types of park solution of which I'm aware--zinc phosphate and maganese phosphate. Though I've never used it, the zinc is supposed to produce a lighter color finish than the manganese. I have used the manganese on parts from mags to an FAL barrel, and color it produced ranged from a medium gray on the mags to pure black on the bbl. I parked the mags and the bbl at the same time, so the color one gets depends on the type/hardeness of the metal.

Though the lighting isn't great in this pic, you can clearly see the difference in color of these Garand parts I parked at the same time using Brownell's maganese park solution.

pic here

Note the difference in color between the op rod and trigger guard. Though not as evident, there's even difference in color between the receiver and the bbl; the receiver is lighter in color.

[Uncle Buck]

Just from looking at demilled receiver chunks, the color is quite variable. H&R and TRWs tend to be darker black/grey. I have seen light grey TRWs too. SAs apear a more uniform green/grey just like the Garands. Winchesters can be light green grey to dark green grey. The green is supposed to come from the interaction of cosmolene with the fresh park.

Basically, you can pick any color you want and it will be correct.

[darkest2000]

yeup, any mil-spec maganese phosphate park would be correct for the GI M14.

[Jambo]

Originally posted by Scott S
Unfortunately, probably not. There are two basic types of park solution of which I'm aware--zinc phosphate and maganese phosphate.

There's also Iron Phosphate, but I'm not really familar with how it looks compared to Zinc or Manganese.

the color one gets depends on the type/hardeness of the metal.

A good example of this is an Imbel receiver. It's 90% light grey, but all of the hardened areas are aLOT darker. Also, notice how dark DSA's receivers are compared to Imbels. DSA's are completely heat treated, so it's completely and consistantly darker. But I kind of like the contrast in color between the pins and the upper and lower of my Imbel.