Original rifles blued?

[kentucky bucky]

I restocked an old Bill Large barrel onto a totally new gun. The barrel was already a mottled gun metal gray color and was totally furnished. I'm going to finish the gun shortly, and I like the "used" look. My question is , How many old original Plains rifles were blued as compared to the number that were browned. Is charcoal blue appropriate for a c1840s-50s era rifle?

 

there are documents that describe North West guns with blued barrels as early as 1807.

 

[tg]

Fire blueing goes back to the mid 18th century at least, there are adds in 1790's publications for the blueing, browning and japanning of barrels, I think blueing may have been common place in the period you are talking about, I believe the browning thing is way over done in the early and later ML periods from a PC perspective.