Better base metal for final finish coat, Carbon or Stainless

[Brian Williams]

I am looking for S&W 581/681s to work into 3" barreled Round butt carry guns.
I would like to cut the barrel to 3" and put either a dovetailed or pinned patridge front sight(might have a gold bead) and change the stock square butt grip to round.

My real question is what is a better base metal for the final coat of finish, Carbon steel or Stainless Steel. The finishes I am looking for might be parkerizing, regular blue(if a carbon frame), Black T or maybe some other type of black coating.

Thanks
bw

[bp78]

I've always understood that carbon steel is harder than stainless and preferred for that reason. As you point out already, bluing is only an option on carbon steel, you may want to check into the other finishes on stainless too to see if there are caveats for them on stainless.

IonBond DLC can be applied to carbon or stainless and would be my first pick. It can be left in a parkerized look or polished to a blued-like finish. I have a NHC 1911 in with it and it's been the toughest finish I've seen, holding up to USPSA usage with repeated kydex holsterings and table top starts. DLC also sucks up oil like parkerizing does.

Of course a lot of these refinishers will not touch a revolver which may throw a wrench into your plans.

[Oro]

If you want a blue or dark colored finish, you are better off starting with a carbon steel 581.

Or save yourself the cost of a refinish afterwords by getting a 681 and then not needing to refinish it. You will need to talk carefully to the machinist about how the sight re-work will look after you cut down the barrel. The newly attached front sight may not give that seamless appearance, or you may want to notch it and pin one in for that reason.

I have been wanting to do this same thing with a 28 to make a nice 357 N frame snubby.

[9mmepiphany]

the carbon steel gun is a better base to start with.

if you're looking at a dark finish, i'd recommend Melonite

for a "white" finish i'd recommend Hard Chrome

my recommendations are based durability