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Someone might be getting a fantastic deal on a M3


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To be honest, the ones that I have seen that look to have original black finish seem to have been factory painted like a car part. I have been having this discussion concerning the refinish of mine for nearly 3 years. At this time it is being parkerized and the having a black painted finish applied over the park. That may or may not be correct. No one seems to truly know for sure. The magazine release guard is a British modification. That would indicate it is Lend Lease.

 

JJX, what is your serial number? Can you post a close up picture of the magazine well?

 

Dan

Here is the magwell on mine.

fullsizeoutput_56e.jpeg

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There are effectively two types of what appears to be black finishes that I am aware of. One is the suncorite which was applied to British lend lease guns and of course if worn down too much, touched up with spray paint here. There were a number of guns (small from what I recall from Frank's book) that had a dulite finish. I bought one assuming it was black painted (having not seen the gun in person) and it turned out to be an unfired dulite finished gun. While I'm sure there are others, it's the only one I've ever seen in person. This gun had never left the country.

 

Back in the day we had three black painted guns. None had the welded mag release mod., but if I recall there were British proofs on them.

 

Is there a way for me to tell suncorite from some later paint?

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To be honest, the ones that I have seen that look to have original black finish seem to have been factory painted like a car part. I have been having this discussion concerning the refinish of mine for nearly 3 years. At this time it is being parkerized and the having a black painted finish applied over the park. That may or may not be correct. No one seems to truly know for sure. The magazine release guard is a British modification. That would indicate it is Lend Lease.

 

JJX, what is your serial number? Can you post a close up picture of the magazine well?

 

Dan

Here is the magwell on mine.

Take a really close look. There should be evidence of an old weld or its removal on the mag well. Your serial number is smack in the midst of the Lend Lease guns. Mine is 186638. I've seen many in the mid 180K to mid 190K range with the Brit mod.

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JJX,

your gun looks like it has the original British paint (over parkerizing) to me. The original coating went on pretty thin, unlike if someone was to use a commercial spray paint today. That generally leaves a thicker coating and the markings would appear more filled and less crisp. That's a good looking gun IMO.

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JJX,

your gun looks like it has the original British paint (over parkerizing) to me. The original coating went on pretty thin, unlike if someone was to use a commercial spray paint today. That generally leaves a thicker coating and the markings would appear more filled and less crisp. That's a good looking gun IMO.

Thanks for the explanation. I like the way it looks too.

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