Stainless steel guns are plated?

[haddon1]

Hi, I just read that stainless steel guns are not stainless all the way through but are stainless plated is this really true? Anybody know? Thanks ahead of time---Bob

[Terry Murbach]

THAT WOULD BE INCORRECT.

[deerwhacker444]

Stainless Steel is what it is. You can't plate something with Stainless. You can however plate metal with Nickel or various other things to appear Stainless.

[Hillbilly]

"stainless steel" is made in several grades and alloys... some "stainless" can corrode or rust if not cared for correctly.

I guess you could plate it... but I cant recall ever seeing and tool or idustrial product made of stainless steel "plated with anything. Winchester offered stainless barrels that were blued... if memory serves.

[Gun Smith]

Winchester stainless barrels were painted with a Japan laquer type finish which came off quite easily.

[J Miller]

What you may have heard is the Marlin add for their lever guns. Some of them state that the barrel, receiver and action are stainless, but some of the other parts such as the mag tube are plated to match.

Joe

[Streetstar]

Stainless is stainless to the bone . I read an article in one of the traditional sixgun oriented magazines where a gentleman had a stainless blackhawk blued, or maybe case colored, i dont remember exactly. It looked pretty sharp.

I think he had it modified to shoot a non standard caliber (44 Special or something) and wished to give it a more traditional look. Nickel plating is also a traditional finish, and a stainless pistol can be polished enough to resemble that i guess too

[JohndeFresno]

You might be thinking of nickle plated shooters.

[marlinman93]

Stainless steel guns are not pure stainless of the highest grade. If they were, they would be very hard to machine, and the parts that contact each other would gaul from the hard surface to surface friction of high grade stainless steel. High grade stainless is truly non magnetic, and if you put a magnet to any SS gun you'll see it sticks, which puts it into a much lower grade. All stainless steel guns can and do rust, but they just resist it longer and better than blued guns.
I'm pretty sure this misconception that they are plated came from someone misunderstanding when they heard that SS guns aren't pure stainless steel.-Vall

[Bear 45/70]

Actually the stainless part can't rust. It is the alloyed metals that rust or corrode, or quite often the minerals in the water drop on the gun rust as the the drop evaporates.

[madman4570]

Some of your higher end guns do use a type of plating process
in where the stainless is dipped(degreased)then dipped in a iron/nickel
coating impregnated with fibers that electrically conduct.
I believe they usually use Nitron fibers.
A good example of this are your Sig Sauer guns.
A friend of mine has a P226 with this plating application.
It makes the stainless versions far more weather proof(Mil-Spec Grade)

See ya!

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Stainless steel guns are not pure stainless of the highest grade. If they were, they would be very hard to machine, and the parts that contact each other would gaul from the hard surface to surface friction of high grade stainless steel. High grade stainless is truly non magnetic, and if you put a magnet to any SS gun you'll see it sticks, which puts it into a much lower grade. All stainless steel guns can and do rust, but they just resist it longer and better than blued guns.
I'm pretty sure this misconception that they are plated came from someone misunderstanding when they heard that SS guns aren't pure stainless steel.-Vall

It's not necessarily a lower grade. Just a different alloy of stainless. Most folks know stainless as not rusting. that is generally marine grade stainless or 316 type alloy. The problem with making guns with 316 is it's considerable softer (not harder) and the threads tend to Gaul or freeze up. The 416 type stainless has a higher ferrous metal content so it can be made harder, easier to machine but it will rust, just not as easily as in the white gun steel. The neat thing about stainless guns though, if it does rust all you need to do is buff it out. Kinda hard to do with blue guns.

[madman4570]

Steve,
Interesting info--Thanks!!!

[JustaJeepGuy]

There is "stainless steel" of several alloys, and then there is "stainless finish". The "stainless finish" is usually a nickel plating. Sometimes the "finish" part is in the fine print.

[HEAD0001]

I worked in a plating shop while I was in college. You could not plate stainless back then(late 70's---early 80's). but then things can change?? Tom.

[JustaJeepGuy]

One of the hot topics in the early '80s gun magazines was the stainless steel handgun and how to make it black. So, several people came up with ways to do it. Not that there were so many ordinary blued-steel guns rusting to death, but apparently there were many people afraid it would happen.

[2ndovc]

As others have said... Stainless is stainless but there are several grades.

My Dad sent me his Mini-14 after two years of sailing around the Caribbean.
It had some corrosion around the sights and trigger group. It was stored in a
plastic anti-Corr. bag but the salt still got in.

In W. F. Buckley's book " Racing Through the Pacific" He experienced the
same effects on the Mini-14 they had along.

Stainless guns will corrode when subjected to the right elements.


jb

[BAGTIC]

Some stainless stell guns are plated with 'black chrome'.

BTW technically many/most stainless steels are not truly steels, not enough carbon content. they are iron.

[claybob86]

Some stainless stell guns are plated with 'black chrome'.

BTW technically many/most stainless steels are not truly steels, not enough carbon content. they are iron.

So stainless guns really ARE shootin' irons!

[kimwcook]

I've got a stainless Colt Officer's ACP and one day of wearing it around in 100F+ it started rusting in the checkered front grip strap. Stainless isn't stain proof, it's only stain less.

[adirondakjack]

I like the Italian word phrase for stainless "Inox", which means "inhibits oxidation"

As above, stainless is a whole family of steel products, from very good corrosion resistance such as is used on marine deck fittings, to fairly good but not impervious, (but better to machine) like gun barrels, to only mildly stain-resistant, but excellent to work with, such as the finest "stainless" knife steels.

if they used a little MORE STAIN RESISTANT steel on guns than they do use, nobody would buy it, because it would be so rough on tooling you'd need new or sharpened cutters and end mills for each peice ya cut, driving costs up exponentially. Also as Nate notes, it galls when machined, breaking drills, causing crumby, out of shape surfaces, etc. Superbly rust resistant stainless is most often forged and used as is, or with just some polishing, like deck cleats for yachts, etc. It ain't much good for anything else.

[piller]

As a very amateur knifemaker, I have studied that there are several grades of stainless used in knifemaking, and most of them are softer than plain carbon steel. As an example, 440C is usually used about 56-57 on the Rockwell C scale of hardness. High carbon steel can be useful as high as 61-62 on the same scale. S-2, a high carbon tool steel is used at about that hardness and will cut stainless. Stainless does not cut as cleanly and tends to gall when cut. Grinding or sanding stainless is more difficult because the galls tend to break off as little balls between the grinder or sanding belt and the material being worked. Some stainless such as 440A is soft and not very good at holding an edge, but is great for diver's knives as it takes years of saltwater exposure before it rusts, whereas ATS134 makes a great knife, but rusts at about the same rate as D2 (Knives of Alaska are made of D2). D2 is not truly a stainless as the Chromium content is 12%, and above 13% is the industry standard for being called stainless. D2 is a good steel for knives as it gets hard and holds an edge, but it is too hard for firearm use. The grades of stainless used on firearms will usually run around 45-50 on the Rockwell C scale. If a gun is to hard it tends to fracture instead of give that small amount necessary to handle the sudden pressure. Gun makers use a different grade of steel from knifemakers for these reasons. The softer stainless steels have less iron (ferrous) in them and sometimes are non-magnetic. Try it with your stainless knives and you will see the difference.

[Ben_Rumson]

A place I worked used stainless steel bodied solenoid valves... One day I pulled a few off of the shelves to use on one of our projects and noticed that the bases of the valves were starting to rust.. After commenting on what crappy stainless they must be made of I was told the rust was from being left on the steel shelves .The steel scrapes off the steel shelving onto the stainless, starts rusting, and the steel rust then causes the alloys in the stainless to carry on rusting..