polished stainless or nickel, how to tell?

[hipoint]

I know this probably belongs over in the semi-auto forum, but the basis of the question shouldn't matter, AND, I like you folks better over here, less smart alek's

I picked up a ruger markII today, but again, type doesn't really matter... We can't tell if it is polished stainless or if it is nickel plated.... I can't find any information on ruger ever offering a "special edition" that is plated with chrome or nickel, but have seen a couple stainless pistols that folks have polished out... I'm curious if there is any way for me to tell, short of a gas chromatograph and/or trying to chip off some of the finish...

thanks

 

[David E]

If it's factory original, it's stainless.

Usually, Ruger uses a "K" at the beginning of the item/catalog number (different than model #) to designate SS

 

[hipoint]

I have no idea if this has been "customized" or not, this is a used gun, would this "K" be in the serial number? there are no letters there, it's all numbers...

I'm leaning towards polished stainless, but I'm too ignorant to know for sure. It is really shiny, not quite "mirror" finish, but darn close to it.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Look at the unpolished parts. Remove the grips. If you see a yellow undertone, that's copper plating and it's applied over the nickel. If it looks dull gray, then it's stainless and the exterior surface is highly polished.

I had someone pick up a used 1911 that was stainless. It was so bright I thought it was nickel. Then I field stripped it and realized that Colt put a terrific polish on it.

 

[CraigC]

Nickel has a bronze hue to it (USFA on right). By contrast, hard chrome is very bluish-white (custom Ruger on left). Stainless is somewhere in the middle.

 

[hipoint]

thanks guys, I think 4v50gary got it though, I removed the grip panel and it looks like stainless "should" under there. This thing is super polished, not sure if it was a factory job or if someone stayed up all night smoking cigarettes and watching captain kangaroo while polishing it

either way, it's really shiny. Not really my cup of tea, but the price was right and I've been wanting a stainless markII bull barrel for a while.

Thanks again!

BTW, that is a super sharp ruger in the matte hard chrome!!!

 

[ColtPythonElite]

It was probably a home job. I have one I machine polished to a mirror finish. It didn't really take long....if you don't like it you can bring it back to a factory like look with a scotchbrite pad or sandpaper.

 

[bannockburn]

I have a stainless Ruger Vaquero that a friend of mine put a high gloss shine to with Mother's Mag Polish. Looks very much like nickel plating. I have also seen Colts that were stainless steel brought to an unbelievably high gloss mirror-like shine with their Ultimate polish treatment.

 

[ferretray]

The yellowish tint in nickle plate stands out, to me.

 

[CraigC]

Ruger offered several different models with a bright polish back in the `90's. Including the MKII. I would not rule out a factory polish.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I do remember seeing factory polished SP101's.

 

[bannockburn]

I have a two-tone Mk.II 5 1/2 bull barrel model (blued upper, stainless lower), from the factory and the stainless frame had a polished finish to it.

 

[hipoint]

wow, I haven't ever seen one, but I looked up the serial number and this thing was made in 1989, so could be one of those... It isn't that I "don't" like it, I just prefer a less glossy finish.

Really, I prefer the look of a blued gun FAR more, but my penny pinching with the air conditioner coupled with our humid climate is pure H.E.DOUBLEHOCKEYSTICKS on blued guns so I've been slowly replacing most of my blued guns with stainless so I don't have to wipe them down every couple of weeks...

seriously, if I don't pull them out and wipe them down every 2-3 weeks, they WILL rust. I've been using CLP lately and not sure if it's because I've gotten much better about wiping them down, or if it's the CLP, but everything has been good since then... I brought home a new henry .22 levergun a couple weeks ago, figured I'd go through it, slick up the trigger some and really clean/lube it in a few days. Picked it up 3 days later and it was spotted all over! gah... that's a bummer! Since I really have an attachment to my blackhawk, I keep it literally dripping with clp, just clean it before and after I shoot. Kinda a bummer, but unless I can magically invent some more space in our tiny home or build an in-floor safe with a dehumidifier, i don't see anything changing...

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

My house is old enough to have nickle plated hardware in the bathroom. If when in doubt I go in the bathroom to compare. I have had a few odd looks over the years.