Some news and pics. I received the gun yesterday, and made a quick field strip to inspect it. Trigger pull is 5 kg, i.e. over 11 lbs, that can’t be normal ?! I’ll make a detailed strip this weekend.
And a question to the specialists : were the small parts (thumb and grip safety, slide release, hammer, trigger barrel, bushing) blued by a different process, or was the preparation / polishing different ?
I looked for pics on the internet and those small parts seem to have a different appearance
"...how the finish is so uniformly gone..." Sand paper will do that. It looks too 'rough' to be vinegar. Vinegar will strip bluing to bare metal.
"...just faded and worn..." Too even for that.