The Python Royal Blue uses the same hot salts bluing chemicals most all gun makers use.
The difference is in the far more polishing the Royal Blue requires.
Colt polishes the Royal Blue far finer then any other finish, finishing with polish media the consistency of flour.
While other guns, especially today have a more satin polish, the Royal Blue finish has a deep mirror polish.
The saying was the when other brands of guns were on trucks being shipped the Python was still at Colt being polished.
At the factory, Colt was running what amounted to a polishing school. New polishers were given careful instruction, then started polishing on the cheapest models, like the Official Police. They started with an instructor literally standing behind them looking over their shoulder and giving advice.
After some period of proven skills they would be moved to the higher priced models.
Only Master polishers of many years of experience were allowed to work on the Python.
What sets the Royal Blue finish apart is the finer, shinier finish, but the key to that is the high order skill to be able to do the polishing and still keep flat surfaces perfectly flat without ripples, not dishing out holes, and not rounding off sharp edges and corners.
One of the hardest parts is keeping transition areas perfect.
As example the area where the frame sides transition to the top strap, while keeping the transition sharp and without rounding, blurring, or being uneven.
An example of the skill needed is to look at a Colt Gold Cup where the flat sides of the slide transition to the rounded top. The line is perfect and sharply defined. That takes extreme skills.
It takes a Master polisher to be able to bring a gun to a Royal Blue polish and keep all surfaces perfect.
So while the chemicals are the same, it's the high level of perfect polishing to a mirror level that sets the Python Royal Blue apart.
