# Beretta 91BB Slide Finish



## Rubics1 (Sep 7, 2019)

Just purchased a used 91BB 32acp Cheetah from Gander, seems there is a big wave of Euro Police trade ins being imported right now, and the prices are too good to pass up. Overall I would rate it a good pistol with just a few dings and a very minimal amount of holster wear. One issue I have is the slide finish, instead of the normal dark beretta bluing, the slide finish is lighter than the frame finish and almost has a bronzish tone to it. It is almost identical to the finish I have seen on the take down lever and slide stop of other 91s,, which has the same bronzish tint, and is lighter than the dark beretta bluing. The frame of my 91BB however has the normal dark Beretta Bluing. My question then is: were some of these 91BB pistol slides mfged with the lighter bluing that matches the control levers' finish, or am I looking at a loss of bluing that has developed a bronzish patina? Very odd as the lighter slide finish is completely uniform on entire slide which leads me to believe it may have been blued in this lighter color to begin with. I did get a small amout of rust residue off the slide when very lightly cleaning it, which I expected, and which did not change the color of the slide one bit. In direct light, slide finish almost has a slight purplish tint mixed in with the bronzish tint. Anyone have any idea on this?
Thanks,


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## Rubics1 (Sep 7, 2019)

Sorry, it's a 81BB Model Beretta (32acp).


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

Nice Beretta! Did you have to order it, or bought it at the store?


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## Rubics1 (Sep 7, 2019)

Thanks, bought it online from Ganderoutdoors.com, very pleased overall, with this gun, but still curious about slide bluing being lighter/different from frame bluing.


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## Dvidos (Aug 23, 2019)

Nice


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

My guess is that it's got an aluminum frame and steel slide. The frame was either painted, cera-coated or dura coated and the slide was blued. That's why there's a difference in color. Nowadays most firearms are either cera-coated, dura-coated or have a similar painted on finish on both the slide and frame.

Parkerizing or phosphating is another type of finish but it's more of a flat or semi gloss black. Bluing really isn't a finish at all it's more of a staining/oxidizing process. It has limited protection against rust. Some aluminum frames are anodized which is an electro plating process similar to chroming. Paint is the least durable it's just primer and paint. Duracoat is an epoxy like finish that has a hardener and does not need priming.

Duracoat is more of a do it yourselfer type finish whereas Cerakote has to be cured properly and in some instances baked on. Cerakote is the most durable. I've used Duracoat out of an air brush to touch about a one inch long scratch on a CZ 40 P frame. The scratch was in between the lettering on the frame right above the light rail. That was the only scratch on the entire gun.


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## Dubar (Sep 8, 2019)

I just got one from Classic Firearms last week. I also have a 92FS. The bluing on both look alike to me, but the 92 is newer.

The 81 actually had some bluing missing on the front end of the slide, so I touched it up using a bottle of bluing I have on hand.

Here's some photos for comparison. The top photo is of the Model 81, the rest are...well you can see the 92FS is larger:


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

desertman said:


> My guess is that it's got an aluminum frame and steel slide. The frame was either painted, cera-coated or dura coated and the slide was blued. That's why there's a difference in color. Nowadays most firearms are either cera-coated, dura-coated or have a similar painted on finish on both the slide and frame.
> 
> Parkerizing or phosphating is another type of finish but it's more of a flat or semi gloss black. Bluing really isn't a finish at all it's more of a staining/oxidizing process. It has limited protection against rust. Some aluminum frames are anodized which is an electro plating process similar to chroming. Paint is the least durable it's just primer and paint. Duracoat is an epoxy like finish that has a hardener and does not need priming.
> 
> ...


Yup, the steel versus aluminum will most certainly age differently!


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

berettatoter said:


> Yup, the steel versus aluminum will most certainly age differently!


It has nothing to do with aging. That aluminum frame is either Cerakote, Duracoat, anodized or just plain painted. The steel slide is blued. They're not going to have the same color as you can see on my S&W Model 469. One is a stain (bluing) the other is a coating. It's kinda' like staining half a piece of wood and then painting the other half. Even if you use the same color they're both going to look different.


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## Dubar (Sep 8, 2019)

Or it could be this:










I'm picking up a bottle tomorrowto touch up some spots on the Model 81.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Dubar said:


> Or it could be this:
> 
> View attachment 17446
> 
> ...


Yeah that will work for touching up scratches. It just blackens the aluminum so the scratches aren't as obvious but it's only temporary. I've used that stuff before, it's not that durable if you carry the gun on a regular basis. It kinda' rubs right off just like their cold bluing solution.


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## gaul warrior (Feb 10, 2020)

I heard somewhere that beretta used some different metals (I want to say the owner at DK told me when I bought my beretta 81 to explain why some of the beretta 81's had the reddish colored parts and others didn't) for a short period of time back in the 80's and it reacts differently to the regular process and changes to that reddish color over time. There is nothing else wrong with it but apparently the slide stop and a few of the other parts were the primary parts that were made of this different metal. Once Beretta figured out they were changing red they stop using those metals.


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