Blue or Stainless?

chadintex

New member
I have heard that the Stainless S&W revolvers were inferior to their blued counterparts at one time, but also that the problem has been fixed. Can anyone tell me more about this?

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chadintex@hotmail.com
 
HI Chadintex-

I have not heard of this problem -but it is not surprising due to the fact that I am not much of a revolver guy.

However, I have been looking for a S&W revolver. I looked at lots of used ones and there are practically always wear-off spots on the blued ones. Based on that -and on a couple of other things- I decided to go the stainless way.

Take care- mckysdad
 
Never heard of that problem before. I have both SS and blued in my collection. I prefer SS because they are easier to clean and maintain. Have never had a problem with them and they are showing no type of wear.

Happy Shooting :)

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We preserve our freedoms by using four boxes: soap,ballot,jury, and cartridge.
Anonymous
 
The composition of the stainless in early guns made machining expensive as cutting bits wore out much quicker with stainless than regular 4140 steel. Subsequently, a softer stainless was used which didn't wear out the cutting bits as quickly (and drive up production costs).

Another problem associated with early stainless pistols was galling. This happened when the parts of the same hardness were used in moving parts (slide to frame). Resultingly, the gun would wear itself out at a faster rate than would a normal blue steel gun. This was resolved by using stainless of two different hardness and by application of proper lubricants.

Modernly, the stainless steel gun has proven itself as durable as its blued steel counterpart. While it can still rust, the real advantage of stainless is that it never needs to be reblued.

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
There were some problems with early stainless steel guns, but these have long since been worked out. Nowadays, its just a matter of which you prefer. In fact many companies are narrowing down their offerings in blue in favor of stainless as blueing is an expensive and labor intense process.
Personally, I much prefer blue over stainless and a little honest holster wear doesn't bother me at all.
But then, I'm an old fashioned fart anyway. :D

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Politically, Fashionably and Aerodynamically Incorrect!
 
I have a model 29 Smith & Wesson and it still looks fine. But I dont carry it in a holster and I take pretty good care of it so.......
 
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