How do you tell stainless from steel

[buckheart]

During the OBummer induced shortage days when all things guns were scarce I was fortunate enough to search out and scoop up 3 bisley grip frames. All from different sources, 2 in steel, and 1 in stainless. They all got put in labeled plastic bags in my parts drawer. One of the steel frames got sent off to Huntington for a 5 shot 45colt. The other 2, one steel and one stainless got tried on this gun here, moved to a different parts bin,left on the work bench, and eventually their labeled plastic bags disappeared. Coulda,woulda,shouda, just wrote stainless and steel on each one with a sharpie. But didn't. So the question is how do you tell steel from stainless?

[bigbrowndog]

I put a drop of cold blue on it, if it stains it blue then it’s steel, if not then it’s SS.

Trapr

[buckheart]

Jun 22, 2019 19:59:13 GMT -5 bigbrowndog said:

I put a drop of cold blue on it, if it stains it blue then it’s steel, if not then it’s SS.

Trapr

Thanks Yea I guess that was too simple for me to think of myself. I'll have to give that a try.

[wheelguns]

Use a magnet. Most stainless won’t stick to a magnet, but be careful some will, if it has enough carbon in it.

[buckheart]

Jun 22, 2019 23:55:39 GMT -5 wheelguns said:

Use a magnet. Most stainless won’t stick to a magnet, but be careful some will, if it has enough carbon in it.

That I did try and they both stick to a magnet.

[kaytod]

I believe they are both steel. Rugers that are stainless generally have a K imprinted on them, which correlates with the model numbers. All the stainless Ruger stuff is listed as a "K" before all the rest of the numbers.

[bushog]

Jun 30, 2019 20:20:39 GMT -5 kaytod said:

I believe they are both steel. Rugers that are stainless generally have a K imprinted on them, which correlates with the model numbers. All the stainless Ruger stuff is listed as a "K" before all the rest of the numbers.

EXACTLY!

[olskool]

magnet,,,,,,,,,,,

[bushog]

Jul 1, 2019 10:34:04 GMT -5 olskool said:

magnet,,,,,,,,,,,

Magnet will stick to both....

[buckheart]

Jun 30, 2019 20:20:39 GMT -5 kaytod said:

I believe they are both steel. Rugers that are stainless generally have a K imprinted on them, which correlates with the model numbers. All the stainless Ruger stuff is listed as a "K" before all the rest of the numbers.

Yes sir, right on the money. Before I saw this reply I put some cold blue on them and of course the both darkened a bit.
The reason I was digging through my parts drawers and looking(hoping) to find a stainless bisley grip is I want to bisleyize a single 7. Anybody have a stainless bisley grip frame you'd trade for a steel one?

[frankenfab]

400 series stainless, 416, 416R, 440 is magnetic. 300 series like 303,304 is not. Most stainless barrels are 416.