MG-34 Drums - Original Blued Finish?

[Alan Smith]

Markings on blued drum.

[FestungSpanien]

In my opinion the blued ones have period german finish.
Mine is marked h.q.u.42 and is very nicely blued, but it came with a layer of black russian paint that I carefully removed.
I doubt that the russians blued parts with so great quality of the blueing.
If the theory of the russians rebluing them why would they go after and paint them black?
BTW I would like to trade mine for an earlier marked one...
Ace

[Frozzer]

sorry, there is postwar russian oxide on your set. late war german drumms was only painted on red(minia)and other colour like tan or pzgray.

[ChrisCook]

Drums

Postwar Russian reblue, original drums were painted, not blued......

If my understanding is correct this was also done to weapons. Russian Capture K98 rifles have the thick slopped on Russian paint (as do "dipped" P38's), but many times underneath that you will find very strong bluing underneath. Supposedly the rifles were frequently reblued before being overpainted. Chris....

[SOLDAT1]

Hi All
here is the inside of one of mine it has i believe the original blued period german finish then painted over with black paint by the Russians you can clearly see the original red direction mark at the bottom.

Robert