Stainless Steel?

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I believe it began in the late 60's with the S&W Model 60, .38 snub. The stainless is much more difficult to machine and took a while to develop the processes to make a complete gun. Requires different alloys for mating parts, etc.
 
Dunno the answer to that question, but have found myself wondering lately how long before the price of steel has an impact on gun prices.
 
The gas tube on a M-1 rifle is stainless steel as of like late 1930s. Steel does like gas you may see a 2 buck raise in gun prices. Price of steel realy has no impact on gun prices
 
The Chinese are buying up every bit of metal (and scrap) they can, and there have been a lot of other problems, and the prices are skyrocketing, so its going to have an impact..I agree not so much on guns themselves, but ammunition, and everything else in life we use that is made of metal.
 
S&W introduced the Model 60 in 1965. I believe that was the first "all stainless" firearm.

I remember reading about it in Guns & Ammo (my grade school library had a subscription). It didn't really seem to be a big deal at the time. A few were impressed but the concensus was that it would never be as popular as carbon steel.

In 1970 when the 64 and 66 were introduced hardly anyone batted an eye.
Same in 1972 when the 65 and 67 came along.
But things had changed by 1979 when the 629 was released. It was almost 2 years before I was able to even see one. The demand was incredible. S&W was spending so much time making K and L frames that J and N frames were being scalped and by 1980 the $165 retail model 60 was "selling" for $250! By 1983 they were $350.
 
Speaking of the Chinese, why aren't we selling them all those wrecked tanks & APCs in Afghanistan?
 
Dunno the answer to that question, but have found myself wondering lately how long before the price of steel has an impact on gun prices.
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The price for free-machining and low carbon steels has gone up about $.12 per pound, from about $.35 to $.47 for cold-drawn bar. I'm not sure about other types, but I think its about the same. Steel increases, so far, I'm sure result in no more than $1 per gun in additional material cost. (Glocks affected less, of course.)
 
It's a cumulative thing, though. The actual metal for gun itself, the tooling required to produce it, etc. I agree it won't be a huge part of the price of a firearm, but the increases are going to start impacting us pretty quickly, I think.

Ammunition will have to be affected soon. The prices for alloys are rising so much, so quickly, that I don't see how it can't cause increases in retail pricing. I buy from the same company that makes Winchester ammunition and they've just announced across the board price increases to us.

http://www.manufacturing.net/pur/

Copper cathode prices, which climbed 30% in London in the first quarter, may stay near eight-year highs through June as demand grows in the U.S. and China and inventories dwindle. That’s the consensus of analysts surveyed by the Bloomberg News Service, who see copper averaging $2,950/metric ton ($1.34/lb) in the second quarter. That compares with a $1.24 average in the first quarter—and is 80% more than a year ago.
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There has been a rapid decline in the world copper price over the past month (from $1.41/lb at the start of April to $1.25 on the last trading day), driven by indications that the Chinese government is attempting to stop its economy from overheating. However, global industrial production continues to recover and this has correlated historically to a recovery in commodity prices. In the case of copper, the fact that global inventories have fallen by 70% since the start of the year should not be taken lightly.
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