haha ! i didn't coin that phrase so feel free to it !
but i know what you mean about the fading colors, but, there is a good side to it. by the end of bird season, your scattergun will be dinged up, and pretty much colorless, (i.e. proud wear) but, that all means that you got to shoot and eat birds !
next summer, while its' resting after the long winter workout send it back to the factory for a fresh coat of paint. that's what i do with my 410 bore & 28 ga handi and a 20 ga SxS parker CHE.
whatever process NEF uses, and i am not sure what they do, the handi's hold their colors pretty well, the worst is the parker, its' colors last about 2 weeks and refinishing really diminishes its' value. but i am not one of those guys who buys a gun and squirrels it away, if i own it, it gets shot.
so don't worry about the case colors and shoot the gun, the key phrase is proud wear !
sg