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Stainless steel coloring

WildlifedesignerWildlifedesigner Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
edited July 2002 in Ask the Experts
I was looking at the Remington AWR rifle in there custom shop and colored the barrel black. Has anyone ever colored Stainless steel without the use of paints permanently?. Thanks: Bryan
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Comments

  • JIM STARKJIM STARK Member Posts: 1,151 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    There's a Full service smith here in the midlands that can and does "blue" stainless steel... Looks just like blueing... snake803@juno.com
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  • seamusseamus Member Posts: 96 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    There are a number of metal finishes that will color Stainless steel. Typically, these are fluorpolymer and Teflon-type coatings, but there variations that use more exotic, and expensive, chemical compounds. These are used on aircraft parts, special tools, machinary and firearms. The metal coatings are designed to be anti-corrosive, self-lubricating, and wear resistant. Some also decrease heat distortion on high stress parts. A few are available only in high-gloss black; other can be had in NATO green, matt black, camo, etc. Smith & Wesson's custom shop uses a patented Black "T" coating, that I believe they call Birdsong, to coat the entire weapon, internally and externally I believe, except for the bore. It is available on the S&W .44 cal. Birdsong revolver. Other gun manufacturers just coat the slide of some autos. The Black "T" product is manufactured and applied by a contractor, but I cannot recall the company's name. It was allegedly tested to withstand 4000 continuous hours of salt spray. I have seen charts that represent the corrosion and wear resistant qualities of the various finishes, and while I do not remember the ratings (listed in hours), I recall that standard blueing and even parkerizing are quite far down on the chart. Black "T" is at, or near, the top. I believe another top rated metal finish is called Seal Coat. There are a few primary suppliers/contractors/manufacturers, and dozens or hundreds of retail businesses (such as gun shops) that advertise such products, but they actually just ship your firearm to on of the primary shops. Try doing some research. For starters, see: , , . If you ask only at a gun shop or gun parts supplier (such as Gander Mountain), you'll get only the info that they receive from the source they use. Research and compare.
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  • cpermdcpermd Member Posts: 5,273 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Remington and Olympic use a process called black oxide.
    cpermd
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  • gunut 1gunut 1 Member Posts: 359 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    S&W had a run of 686s in the early 90s that had a flat blue/black finish, dont know what they used but I dont think is was a coating but an actual change in the color of the metal surface...
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  • martzkj@msn.commartzkj@msn.com Member Posts: 582 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a model 70 winchester from the 40's in 220 swift with a blued stailess barrel and it still looks good.
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  • 101AIRBORNE101AIRBORNE Member Posts: 1,252 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Okay,
    every gun part that I have ever examined that was made out of Stainless Steel was a 400 series. 400 series Stainless is ferritic.
    If you have a SS sink it is a 300 series, non ferritic. Use a magnet.
    Your Stainless parts on firearms will adhere to the magnet. 400 series ss can be blued. Brownells carries blue for SS parts. Winchester was able to blue SS.martzkj is correct. Could not resist.
    Lastly, the "steel pots" as we used in the service were non-ferritic.
    Reason: Magnetic mines. Could not resist! 101
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