Patti I beg to differ and feel the end of a heated rifle could cause burns to a persons skin. Buddy is talking about bluing or some such word this happens when metal is heated and then cools off hope I,ve got that right or I will be getting an ear bashing from Buddy if he is still posting.
Hi Susan, the ear bashing you will get is from me, as it was me who raised the bluing issue

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To be clear, gun bluing is the finish put on the metal parts of the gun both for looks and corrosion prevention. It is the blue/black appearance/colouring you get on the metal parts a finished gun.
There is a particular process undertaken when applying the bluing to the gun and the chemical composition my be affected if the bluing is subject to extreme heat (i.e. the bluing being exposed to enough heat so that the underlying metal is hot enough to burn a persons skin).
I hope this has made it clearer.
I will get back on my thoughts on the significance of three (3); but Patti's post's on 3 are very informative!!