Besides looking at the model number stamped on the revolver itself, what is an easy what to tell a stainless gun versus a nickeled gun? I don't know why but I cant seem to tell the difference sometimes. I guess I need my eyes checked.

Look at the butt under the grips.

Nickel has an N stamped there.

Nickel plate on carbon steel, a magnet will be strongly attracted to regular steel, note that some stainless steel grade are weakly magnetic.

if they are polished a LOT ,some stainless guns can be made to be bright and shiny.much like nickel, BUT if you see enough of them, nickel is really a bit on the yellow side, as chrome and stainless are more 'white'............especially in bright or sunlight............

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dan
NRA Benefactor,PMA

When looking at a highly polished stainless steel gun it can be hard to differentiate from a nickel gun. In addition to a N stamped on the side of the butt frame under the grips, also look for a N stamped on the back of the cylinder.
John
Scoundrel and Ne'er-Do-Well in Training

Actually most Stainless revolvers start with a model number beginning with a 6 and the blued and nickel revolvers don't.

Open the cylinder. If the ejector is blue, and the rest of the gun is white, the gun is nickel finish. A stainless gun will be all "white".

Edit, this won't always be true for an after makret nickel finish

Nickel has a slight yellow hue to it compared to stainless.
Oops I see dan already said that.

Thanks for the info. It really helped.

Yes, obviously if one has time on their hands and are allowed to actually "handle" the gun, you can look/see , some of the markings that tell you it is a "nickel" finish ,many folks don;t like it when you start to remove grips and take things apart to "find out" what-ever........I see so many that will not even let you pick and handle their guns......makes it tough at times.
Bottom line , in good light, one can "see" the difference in color 'hue'.....

run into this often with 'chrome' and nickel plating..............the parts, trigger, hammer, sights, may often help to "see" the stainless guns of various models, not all the time.

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dan
NRA Benefactor,PMA

The stainless steel S&W uses will attract a magnet. Now I'll have to do a test to determine how weak that attraction is compared to a carbon steel gun. That would be a handy bit of knowledge to possess, and very definitive test if the effect is pronounced.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~