Turnbull Color Case Hardening

Includes .22 Standard, Mark I, Mark II, Mark III and all Centerfire Semi-Auto Pistols.
Post Reply
User avatar
arcticruger
Posts: 395
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:30 pm
Location: AK

Turnbull Color Case Hardening

Post by arcticruger »

I just seen a picture of a Mark IV with the rec/bbl color case hardened. The barrel was marked Turnbull. And I seen the SB 44 mag with the frame case hardened distributed by Talo (why didn’t they do the hammer on this as well?). Man, I think the case hardened look is gorgeous.

I also notice that folks have this process done to their own Rugers. I’m thinking a color case hardened first gen RTS-4 or RTS-6 would be really cool to have. Were any of these produced by Ruger? Or is this something you have to have done by a gunsmith?
User avatar
RoninPA
Posts: 721
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:16 am
Location: State College, PA

Re: Turnbull Color Case Hardening

Post by RoninPA »

As far as I know, Ruger didn't have any done, factory wise. You'll have to have it done aftermarket. Turnbull did some Mark IV's for special ROCS guns and they are great looking.

If you want a professional job done, and he does gorgeous work, contact Bobby Tyler at Tyler Gun Works. He's a ROCS member, and a great guy. He did a GP100 for me and reblued the barrel, trigger guard and cylinder, see it here: http://www.rugersociety.com/forums/view ... =25&t=3453

You stay on the forum, you will hear and see the great work that Bobby's crew can do.
Ron
USAF Ret (E-8, SMSgt)
NRA Patron
rugerguy
Posts: 194
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 1:57 pm
Location: NE OHio

Re: Turnbull Color Case Hardening

Post by rugerguy »

yes, Bobby does awesome work,,,done some for me also...... and to be a bit more precise, its actually case colored, not hardened, that does NOT work well with the metal alloy of 4140 chrome -moly that Ruger uses in their castings,,,,gotta do your homewrok and find out about "complex metals" and CCH, causes the metal to become 'brittle' ,so NOT good.Seen some done many years ago back in the late 50's and 60's and they would "break". so guys like Turnbull, and TGW use a proprietary process ( lower temperature) and it case colors the metal..RUger some years back used an "inking" process to "look" like color case but it faded and would actually clean off...we stripped a few of them back in the beginning and 'reblued" them...
here is am OM BKH45 Bobby did for us, awesome............

Image
User avatar
arcticruger
Posts: 395
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:30 pm
Location: AK

Re: Turnbull Color Case Hardening

Post by arcticruger »

That is gorgeous!! He really does very nice work. :)

And sorry if I got the wording wrong, I claim to be no expert on the subject, just that I sure like how it looks. I was just going by what Turnbull’s website calls it, https://www.turnbullrestoration.com/re ... hardening/.

Thanks for filling me in with the correct terminology.
Post Reply