Stainless vs carbon steel for smoothness........

[ABPOS]

I did this exact same thread on arfcom, so if you are members over there, I apologize. But there are a lot of guys here that aren't over there and I'm wanting to hear their thoughts as well.

So... I'm just wondering, does stainless have typically a smoother finish for triggers to be better right off the bat?

I went and fondled a bunch of J frames lately at my LGS and every single one of them new and used had a significantly better trigger than my 442's. And the same thing goes for the two K frames I have experience with. My 19 and my Dad's 66.

Now it's possible my Dad's 66 has had work. But I think my step dad claimed his 19 had work. But the 66's trigger is also significantly better.

I also remember fondling an SP101 quite a long time ago that also had a significantly better trigger than my 442's. It's possible I just had a heavy one. But I've also heard of others with 442's having heavy triggers. I'm not sure I've heard as many complaints on 642's and stainless airweights but I do know people try to lighten them up.

I do remember fondling a 637 a long time ago that had a pretty heavy trigger. So this might not be a thing. But I'm curious if what I'm seeing lately does support that idea. I realize that the stainless airweights have the same type of metal frame as the 4 series (aluminum). But then again, maybe the finish on the stainless airweight frames make it slicker than the matte blue on a 4 series. Plus there are some surfaces that are stainless that are contacted in the cycling. Like I'm assuming the star is stainless. And the cylinder itself. Maybe the extractor rod.... Etc.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[robertrwalsh]

Stainless steel rubbing against stainless steel has a much stronger tendency to "gall" than does carbon steel rubbing against carbon steel. Part of that is why they make special lubes for all stainless guns. That being said I have no idea how significant it might be on something like a trigger. I guess if you have a real sensitive finger it might.

 

[Protocall_Design]

I have a bunch of blue and stainless S&W revos. I can (and have) made mine better than most people would believe possible. As far as the action and smoothness goes, the smith makes the difference, not the metal it's made of.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I have thought that my Blue Guns were smoother.
But that may be because my Blue ones that I’m referring to have been honed-tuned better than my Stainless Guns.
Some of my newer guns which are mostly Stainless don’t have trigger pulls which are that great and in most cases that’s the way they came from the factory.

 

[Rpg]

Stainless steel rubbing against stainless steel has a much stronger tendency to "gall" than does carbon steel rubbing against carbon steel. Part of that is why they make special lubes for all stainless guns. That being said I have no idea how significant it might be on something like a trigger. I guess if you have a real sensitive finger it might.

I recall this being an issue with early stainless steel revolvers in particular.

Jeff Cooper told me that stainless guns were viewed as a bit ‘sticky’, particularly by competitive shooters (Weaver and peers) and undesirable in comparison to carbon steel guns.

 

[scooter123]

The parts used in the Stainless revolvers are either MIM, Color hardened Steel, or Hard Chromed Steel. So there is nothing involved in the sear surfaces that is actually stainless steel. Quite simply stainless is only "smoother" because you have a mind cast expecting Stainless to be smoother or you are looking at a well tuned revolver.

BTW, the J frame revolvers fall into their own class in regards to the lockwork. Not only do they feature a coil mainspring but they also feature distinctly smaller trigger leverages on the hammer. Which is why they can only be tuned to a low limit of about 10.5 lbs for the DA trigger pull. Note, at some point I expect to see someone come up with a hammer cocked by an electric motor so that may change at some point. The downside to doing that is we will start seeing stories about the batteries in handgun blowing up. Yeah, I'm being a bit sarcastic here but I'll bet there is someone out there right now tinkering with small servos.

 

[muddocktor]

Yep, scooter123 is right on. All internals are not stainless steel. So I think it's all in perceiving one is better than the other, not in actual usage. I don't notice much difference at all between my 627 Pro and my old 5" 27-2 which I've owned since 1974. Both are well broken in, both have the same spring packages in them and both feel much the same. The 27-2 has forged internals and the 627 Pro has MIM internals but both have very similar single and double action triggers.

 

[ABPOS]

Scooter, I wasn't expecting it to be smoother. I just had experienced it in the last several that I had fondled and wondered if there really was a thing.

It sounds like I'm about opposite of what others think, so.... maybe carbon blue is actually typically smoother.

I don't want to be argumentative but some things said are not completely adding up to me.... As far as what Colonel Cooper said, maybe he's right. Yet an overwhelming majority of wheelguns in competition are stainless. Well, I mean if you watch the like top competitors. I'm pretty sure Jerry Miculek is usually shooting something with a "6" in front of it. 625, 627. Maybe that's because Smith isn't really offering blued carbon steel guns in these types of models......

In the airweights, I wonder if there is something in the finish surfaces that might have a factor. The matte blued verses the satin aluminum finish. Because there are things either rotating on the pins or sliding on the inside of the surfaces going on while the action is moving. When I removed the plate on my 442 you can see marks where things moving have worn the finish down.

But yeah, maybe there isn't a whole lot of stainless parts in there. But again, the cylinder is stainless and it's rotating on a stainless extractor rod. And the hand is pushing on a stainless star. Wouldn't that be true? Those surfaces wouldn't have a bearing on the action feel?

I'm not trying to be a wise guy. I'm still learning how these things work. And yes, I know that that j frames are different spring set ups than the bigger guns.

Again, I'm no expert and trying to learn. It may very well be that I've got it completely backwards. It's just that the guns I've dealt with recently displayed what I noticed.

Having said all that, the Colt DS I have is pretty darned smooth and it's a blued gun.