I was looking at the PSA upper I ordered last week and noticed the inside seems to have gray anodizing on the inside of the receiver and the usual black on the outside. I checked another PSA upper and it was all black.
Its the dry film lube they apply to the inside. It drys white and gives the ano a gray color.
Its mil spec stuff, dont take it off. Its there to protect.
Or did you mean you oiled it?
Edit: anodizing is done in submersible tanks. I dont see a way the inside could come out a different color (unless you arnt anodizing black, which is the easiest to do).
I just put some Hoppe’s on one spot to see what would happen. Still going to shoot the crap out of it, just noticed it was different than the other and was wondering if they were doing something new.
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Looking at the barrel extension area it looks like where it was sprayed.
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Now that I enlarged the one pic, it looks sprayed by the feed ramp has splatter
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That kinda looks like Dri-Lube type stuff used to use on some of the Navy P-3C and C-130 stuff. If so, that is really good stuff.
I like to compare and contrast, looking at all my PSA stuff, Different forging marks, different milling numbers on lugs,
Lug numbers/dots identify the maker and machine.
Is there a thread with the breakdown?
No. I cant remember for sure, but i think DC Machine uses Letters and numbers (like B4. S5, ETC.) and STS in Jacksonville uses the dots.
Its mainly for QC so they know if/when a machine is having issues or needs new drills/cutters/bits.
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Are the forging marks randomized also
Forging marks denote which forge the raw forge came from. (Square, circle, etc). JJE’s forge, Spartan, usually has its mark machined off. It is a stylized ‘S’.
I think I saw a video of the Jacksonville facility, JJE is pretty amazing
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Here are the upper marks. Again, these are raw forgings finished by the manufacturers.
A (Splintered) = Anchor Harvey Aluminum
AF = Alcoa Forge
C AF = Colt Alco Forge
C MB = Colt / Mueller Brass
Cardinal (Stylized) = Cardinal Forge
CH = Colt Harvey Aluminum
Circle/Crosshairs w/ “AR” = ArmaLite
CK = Colt / Kaiser Aluminum
CM = Colt / Martin Marietta
D (Stylized) = Diemaco
DK = Diemaco / Kaiser Aluminum
E = Emco
EK = EMCO / Kaiser
E MB = EMCO / Mueller Brass
F Keyhole = FNMI / Cerro Forge
FA = FNMI / Anchor Harvey
FK = FNMI / Kaiser Aluminum
FM = FN/Martin Marietta
FMB = FNMI / Mueller Brass
Keyhole = Cerro Forge
L = Lewis Machine & Tool
LK = LAR / Kaiser Aluminum
LM = LAR / Martin Marietta
M (Under Diamond) = Mueller Industries
PA = Capco / Anchor Harvey
PM = Capco / Martin Marietta
Square = Brass Aluminum Forging Enterprises
Forgot that the dots and letters/numbers will be on lowers usually under the grip.
Looking forward to the H&R uppers and lowers to be added to the party and be in plentiful numbers.
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I remember SFD the dry film lubricant aerosole from the Military too…still use it in Aviation today.
A No crap story. M16A1 that was a throwback to Vietnam issued to me at Ft.Bragg…it was a mess. Came back from a lengthy exercise where a lot of Blanks got fired. I cleaned it out with STP Carburetor Spray and the finish on the Lower literally ran onto to ground…Colt factory finish was long since gone. The aluminum looked almost White when bare
I took the Lower completely apart and literally spray painted it with SFD Dry Film and nobody questioned a thing.
I’d not seen an M16 that old since Basic Training or until deployments to Central America shortly thereafter.
My 1st M16A1 on my 1st permanent assignment was an all but new one…spoiled rotten by that one.
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Anodizing is “Silver” - anything else is done with post-Anodizing dyes. It’s an electrolytic process as well - but they use inorganic salts derived from tin, iron, cobalt, etc.
I worked in a Gigantic Anodizing facility in a window factory, after HS…
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