Is it stainless?

S

SWglockmagnum

Moderator
i'm trying to figure something out that may seem like common sense to a lot of you.. there has to be an "as a general rule, the answer is:" kind of answer to this - which is what i'm looking for.

a lot of times you can get a pistol with black (parkerized or blued) or natural metal stainless slides, barrels, bodies and various other things..

here's an example...

I have this particular gun in black. (pics towards the bottom)

so my (maybe obvious question) is, are these gun's slides made of different material, or are both of them made with stainless but one having bluing or being parkerized ?

What makes it confusing is that the barrel on this gun is made from stainless for sure, but the tube itself is black, while chamber is stainless and came "natural / matte". (which i have since polished to a mirror finish.)

the bottom line is, i want to polish my receiver out, but don't know if it's going to rust if i do. Granted, i have clear Duracoat, but, i'm just playing my options. I don't want to ruin my gun, or have to re-parkerize / blue it because it isn't stainless.

so i'm trying to figure out if "as a general rule, MOST guns are made from stainless, but may be blued / parkerized, while other's are left "natural" or polished to chrome or plated"

or..

"as a general rule, they can be made from 2 types of metal, one being stainless, other being X, and parkerized blued, chrome, etc"

pix922856633.jpg


pix636142857.jpg


with that said, if anyone has matte stainless parts, or aluminum, i'll polish them out for you for pretty cheap. i can make them like glass!!!! I can also duracoat and powdercoat.. but... im not trying to advertise this at this time in this thread, it's just an FYI. my question is the focus of this thread. it is legitimate, and i really need to know before i proceed with this particular weapon.

THANK YOU!
 
Your "receiver" is in the polymer frame.
Because a metal is "white" does not mean it's stainless. Most barrels on blued guns are regular carbon steel left "in the white."
It's difficult to blue stainless, so most blued guns are carbon steel.
Stainless parts are generally left natural finish.
Carbon steel is either finished (blued, Parkerized, or painted," or plated (nickel, chrome, etc.,) or left unfinished like your barrel.
If you want your slide white, it will need to be plated.
 
oops... thanks for the correction.. you're right.. i said slide once and receiver the next time... meant slide both times..

and that makes sense for a general rule of thumb, i guess the thing that was confusing me is that the barrel tube itself on this gun is black, but the visible part is natural, though i know it's all one piece, and it seemed weird that they would make the same gun with the same design out of 2 different metals... i.e. stainless for the natural finish and carbon (thats the word i was looking for thank you) steel for the black ones.

i mean i guess it DOES, because one is decidedly more expensive than the other.

hmm...

yeah plating it is a possibility though.. it just sucks having to get all of the plate out of the grooves to make it fit right again, or having to completely disassemble it so things that aren't supposed to get chromed wont. lots of little springs n things in there and the firing pin etc. i'm not a gunsmith, so don't really trust myself to do it accurately, or be able to reassemble it to precise measurements, nor do i have the specialized tools to do so.

so, that may be out of the question.

--- at least, having it DIPPED would be. i know someone that has a precision plating system i can probably make use of. wow.. that would be cool.
 
While some companies do leave carbon barrels "in the white," some of them will blue them or treat them (tenifer, melanite, etc.) which is preferable for obvious reasons.
 
When they blue a firearm, they're actually causing a controlled rusting to occur to the metal.

Stainless doesn't rust very well, so as a "general rule", blued guns are made from carbon steel...not stainless. Carbon steel will rust easily, so it takes the bluing easily.

Daryl
 
Stainless or steel?

Stainless or carbon steel? Put a magnet on the part you are investigating. Aluminum alloy frames are non magnetic, carbon steel is very magnetic and stainless is slightly magnetic. These are general guidelines with some rare exceptions.
You can also spark test them, but I guess that would defeat the idea of non destructive testing.
 
Stainless used in firearms is very magnetic.
Click to expand...

Magnets certainly stick to all of the s/s firearms that I own that I've tried them on. It's apparent that the composition of the stainless used to make (at least some) firearms with is different than, say marine grade, s/s fasteners-which don't hold a magnet at all.

I followed an article re the new TALO rendition (as inspired by writer Wiley Clapp) of Ruger's Model GP100 revolver as reported in the 2/12 issue of the American Rifleman and am wondering if the author of the article, Garry James, is correct when he described the frame of said revolver as "matte-finished stainless steel" but having a matte finish that "exhibits significantly less glare than a standard GP100". The reason I question whether the revolver is actually made of s/s or whether it's composed of carbon steel is because, after personally examining the revolver, the finish appeared to me to be more like a battleship gray colored paint job than it did matte finished s/s. I liked the way it looked a lot; I've just never seen s/s finished that way before.

Because it can be hard to discern the difference with the naked eye, I can certainly appreciate the op's frustration.
 
The top photo is a blued steel slide. The bottom photo is a stainless steel slide. You might leave a semi auto barrel in the white since most any finish would simply wear off any way. No gun company is going to leave a major portion of a gun with carbon steel parts in the white. If the slide is not blued it is probably stainless steel. Some are nickle plated, but that process is not as common today as it once was.

There are some guns that have stainless parts that have a black coating of some type. The S&W M&P series come to mind. Some early stainless barrels on bolt action hunting rifles made during the 1960's came with a black coating. The concept of a stainless barrel left natural simply wouldn't have sold at that time.
 
" matt finished stainless steel " would be stainless steel with brushed or bead blasted finish.
" Stainless steel finish" like the new Kimber pistol would be aluminum with a finish appearing like stainless.
Newer type finishes like those found on Glocks are amazingly durable wear and rust resitant .
 
Many guns have hard chrome plated parts, nickel parts, clear anodized aluminum parts, or painted parts. Unless you know the difference, it's best to contact the manufacturer to find out what you really have.
 
+1 for Bill DeShivs response, contact the manufacturer.

416 (400 series) SS is magnetic while 300 series stainless steel is non-magnetic. Most firearms use the 400 series SS which is magnetic so you can't use the magnet test.

Typically, if its finished its going to be mainly for corrosion protection. Then for looks.

I would not polish this frame without a plan for providing some kind of corrosion protection.

From now on I will be buying SS handguns; they wear better as well for a daily carry pistol.
 
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