Thanks Blitz, that's interesting. The last 200 I purchased was 5-6 yrs ago. I had my gun store order me a .223 and when it arrived I actually went "o-o-oh" when I saw it because the bluing was so nice.\
I took a look at new rifles at a Dicks Sporting Goods a while back and I noticed a decline in the quality of virtually every brand I saw. Very few deer rifles are blued anymore.