VERY Early 870 Bluing

[Chilly]

Anyone else have an 870 from early 50's? Is the inside of the receiver blued? My first year (serial 24,XXX) is not blued inside, just maybe 1/4" inside around edges. The gun did not have the appearance of having been refinished, except that this seems odd. Certainly this shotgun was not immersed in a bluing tank, at least not the finish that is on it. Anyone have an old 870 with bare metal on inside of receiver?

Another thing I noticed: the 1st year gun has a 5/16 hole in mag tube under barrel ring. On the old gun the hole faces the barrel. On a 1973 the hole faces down, away from the barrel. A 1983 gun does not have this hole. No idea what purpose it served.

[USMA-1982]

The hole in the mag tube is for the "vari-weight" plug on original Wingmasters. Here's a pic I found on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Remington ... 7675.l2557

Here's an article that talks about it. Discontinued some time in the 60s, so probably your '73 was built with an older mag tube out of leftover stock.

https://gundigest.com/more/classic-guns ... ington-870