I have managed to darken ATS34 a little by letting it soak in some battery acid for a while. It has a nice non-reflective grey color to it and it does not scratch when I hit it with steel wool. I have been told that ferric chloride does about the same thing. I was just experimenting when I did mine and your milage may vary. IT ain't blued, but at least it is darkened with out being bead blasted. And it does look good with the OD green canvas micarta grips..
When I inquired at the local gunsmiths shop whether or not it could be blued, they said that it could, but that they, and probably no-one else in AK had th stuff to do it.
YeK
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It is not a matter of whether or not you are paranoid, it is a matter of whether or not you are paranoid enough.