I have a strong desire to get to the bottom of magazine tube finishes. What is their composition and how were they applied??

I reached out to Luger aficionado Gerald Tomek. G.T. is the go to guy on everything Luger gunsmithing ,and magazines. I am also gathering data from Ed Tinker ,who has done extensive research and chemical testing on mags.

G.T. wanted me to preface his comments with the understanding that this is educated speculation. Really that’s what I was looking for. Unfortunately there is very little documentation on the exact processes that were implemented . Here’s what Gerald had to say.

“Jason!

If it is about the finishes on the magazine assemblies, I can only speculate as not too much is recorded about the different types used? I believe, that in the imperial era, nickel was used primarily by DWM for the military, and just plain steel, no finish, for the commercials. The finish was relatively dull and had little to no brighteners mixed in? Erfurt mags were also most likely nickel as well, but the plating chemical had additives that caused it to come out off color, more yellow than silver. I still believe nickel, although tin may have been used as well resulting in the off-color finish as well. Nothing seemed to change until early Mauser production and they definitely had brighteners added as they are very bright nickel and are very corrosion resistant as well, (still bright after 90 years... ) Then, for quite a long period, and until the end for the military, they went to blue in approx. 1937 The police mags on the other hand were contemporary with the early Mauser when issued in the same time frame, that changed with the police and some commercial mags that were made by Haenel Schmeisser that were finished in hard chrome, or industrial chrome with a dull silver, gray, white finish. I believe this dulled down finish was done chemically, and probably not by altering / changing the base metal, texturing etc. The magazines were electroplated in large baths and seem to be very well done as few have lost their coatings even up to today. Zinc may have been used as well in the early plating attempts, although I have not seen the typical graying that zinc exhibits over time? Let me know if more is needed, best to you Jason, til.....lat'r...GT”

This is very good info , I am diving deeper . Stay tuned