1911: Steel vs Stainless Steel

[jburks]

I would like to get some expert advice here (any Metallurgy experts out there?). What are the advantages of Stainless Steel versus Steel or visa versa? It seems that there is a premium involved with stainless steel but I was recently told by a well respected gunsmith that carbon steel was a much better choice. His reasoning was that stainless steel is less elastic and doesn't return to it's original shape as well as carbon steel. According to him, this leads to looser fitting slides and expanded barrels. I'm sure that some of you guys have opinions about this.

 

[Marshall]

Advantage to stainless is basically it's ability to deal with rust better.

The only opinion I have about the other issue is that a harder steel is less likely to bend in the first place.

 

[RyanM]

Never heard of that thing on stainless. Mostly what I hear about is this "stainless galling" thing, which claims that stainless steels magically have a 1000% higher coefficient of friction than high carbon steels, and will make any gun bind up when shot (unless you apply this mysterious substance known as "oil," anyway ). In most cases, I'd bet that some gunsmiths blame the material for any failures that occur, when it was really them that botched the job.

In reality, it all depends on the specific alloy. Some carbon steels are weaker than some stainless steels, and some stainless alloys are weaker than carbon. Some carbon steels will have like 1 or 2% less friction than some stainless steels, and vice versa.

Just buy whichever one floats your boat, make sure you use a decent gun oil, and don't worry about it.

 

[mete]

Find yourself a new gunsmith ! When stainless steel was first used in guns galling [ cold welding] was a problem but that has now been corrected. There is a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion but they take care of that with slighly difference dimensions. Stainless steels main advantage is that it resists rusting a lot better , which is important in humid or salty areas like the Gulf coast.

 

[ABBOBERG]

I'm not a metallurgist, but I have been studying this topic quite a bit lately. I have found that if you are a gun designer, and you want absolutely the strongest, most wear-resistant and toughest material (toughest meaning it won't crack), you would use non-stainless tool steel across the board. The obvious advantage of stainless is that you won't have to add the cost of coating or plating it. If the design is done right, stainless can be substituted throughout, but it must be made thicker (therefore heavier) to do the same job and it will almost always be softer. Galling (which has nothing to do with surface coefficient of friction) will have to be taken into account by having dissimilar stainless steels at different hardnesses rubbing against each other with a good lubricant - but this does not guarantee that there will be no galling. Material cost difference is so small with small gun parts that it is insignificant. In fact, many times finished stainless parts cost less because they need no plating. One thing I would avoid are stainless springs - get good plated steel ones.

 

[GunAdmirer]

I recently emailed Springfield Armory about the galling concern with stainless steel pistols. I have a stainless SA GI .45. The custom shop supervisor responded that galling is no longer a concern.

I would buy what I want and keep it well lubricated. Breakfree LP (not CLP) is a great oil specifically designed for stainless steel and rapid fire firearms. It doesn't evaporate off like CLPs seem to.

 

[Shipwreck]

I've read that the steel used for the slide and frame is slightly different molecularly, so the issue of galling is not a factor anymore.

 

[JohnKSa]

A lot of custom makers don't like to work with stainless because it's harder to machine and heat treat.

I can understand that--but some of them don't like to tell the real reasons they don't work with stainless and will come up with some pretty creative apocryphal reasons.

 

[jburks]

Thanks For Your Replies!!!

Thanks for all of your replies. This is a great forum. It's nice to hear so many opinions from educated gun enthusiasts.