White filled firearm markings: For or Against

To me, the contrast looks nice. I do know that in many cases, especially German, markings were not whitened. About half of my pieces have some white on them, usually just the date and code in crayon to better show up in a picture. Most of my newer pieces I have left au-natural.

MS
 
I dont care for the look myself. I remember a pic of an AR with like 3 different colors going on. I just like the basic black. I cant stand the little warnings on some guns either- "please read your instruction manual before using gun", etc.
 
Seems purely aesthetic to me. In regards to whether it's goofy or professional, I see color-fill as painting stripes or flames on your car. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder eh?
 
I tried grey on my pistol, but it just looked like it was dirty. White looked decent, but decided it wasn't for me, and removed it. Now I just color fill them with black. Doesn't pop very much though...
 
Some Mosins came in with red fill in the sight leaf and stamps. I've got a few rifles somewhere that have white that someone added. It doesn't bother me unless its smeared all over the metal. Most of the time it partially rubs off during cleaning/handling and is left faint enough so its barely noticeable. I have a Saiga that has the serial number filled with an off white. Looks like it was done a long time ago, possibly by the importer so I left it.
 
Some Mosins came in with red fill in the sight leaf and stamps. I've got a few rifles somewhere that have white that someone added. It doesn't bother me unless its smeared all over the metal. Most of the time it partially rubs off during cleaning/handling and is left faint enough so its barely noticeable. I have a Saiga that has the serial number filled with an off white. Looks like it was done a long time ago, possibly by the importer so I left it.

yellow ish as well on the nagants if Im not mistaken.....

Either wayI dont see what the big deal is, its not permanent. I have a few that I filled with white crayon to make it easier to see the markings
 
yellow ish as well on the nagants if Im not mistaken.....

Yep. Must have been something used in Russia because the color in the Saiga serial number I have does have a yellow-ish tint to it but I'd still consider it white. I'm sure it yellows over time and that's what is probably in some Mosin markings.
 
Yep. Must have been something used in Russia because the color in the Saiga serial number I have does have a yellow-ish tint to it but I'd still consider it white. I'm sure it yellows over time and that's what is probably in some Mosin markings.

Good point, I think my M/N sniper has the elevations marked in white/yellow..... Off to the safe!

EDIT: Yup defiantly aged white on both the sight elevation markers and on the serial number. Must have been done during refurb, but I wonder why?
 
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Saiga markings with just the s# done. You can see the yellowing but yet still mostly white.

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I think if it was done by a previous owner they would have done the Izhmash logo as well
 
Yep. Must have been something used in Russia because the color in the Saiga serial number I have does have a yellow-ish tint to it but I'd still consider it white. I'm sure it yellows over time and that's what is probably in some Mosin markings.

Maybe white sealed with cosmolene?
 
For C&Rs in particular, markings are important and not always very readable w/o some help.

I have used a white lacquer stick on some guns, particularly if I want to photograph them for any reason. The technique of doing this includes using Mineral Oil to clean up any smudges (works great) so that only the indentations have the color.

Many of the dealers in C&Rs do this routinely as part of their sales tactics.

Chalk could also be used for super-easy removal after photographing.

The markings are easily removable. And I could care less what others think of it as I don't usually sell any of my guns.
 
Some times when you posting photos to sell an item it will provide more information to a buyer. A picture can be worth 1K emails,,LOL. I did this when I was selling the first half my Finn Collection.

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