In White?

[Jerry45]

Received my 30 cal. Bartlein barrel today. I've purchased pistol barrels and parts before and they were marked Stainless or SS for stainless steel or WHITE for non coated / non blued carbon steel. The Bartelin box is marked WHITE. My heart sank as it was supposed to be SS. Grabbed a magnet and it stuck. Aaaaaa! OK! I know depending on the type / grade of stainless it may are many not be more or less magnetic so I gabbed the Cold Bluing. It just runs off with no coloring. Started to feel better. Came in the house and put the magnet to my Krieger barrel on the bench gun that I know is SS. Stuck. RELIEF!

My question is... Why is it labeled WHITE? I though that term was only used for unfinished non stainless "steel".

Yes, I could write of call Bartlein but why bother them with such a "trivial" question? That's why I keep you guys around.

[James K]

Do they offer a blued or blackened Stainless Steel? Or maybe they just marked the box wrong. (I know it doesn't happen here, but some people do make mistakes!)

Jim

[Pahoo]

My question is... Why is it labeled WHITE? I though that term was only used for unfinished non stainless "steel".

I can understand your confusion as the same thoughts would be running through my head. You might be okay ....

I have never seen a SS barrel and most frames, that did not attract a magnet. In fact, I once won a bet on this subject at a gun show. I'm sure some of you guys are going to your safes and prove this for yourself and that is good ...

I have an M/L that is listed as being; all- SS. All critical parts, like the barrel, attracts a magnet. All the non-critical parts, such as the trigger guard, do not. If it were mine, I'd do some further confirmation with the vendor as I have always read; "White" the same as you .....

Be Safe !!!

[Jerry45]

James, I didn't see anything other than SS offered on Bartlein's site, but then I didn't read the entire site either. They do offer services so coating could be one.

I'm not upset by the labeling just curious. Never seen SS marked white. But then if they offered coated / treated SS it would make sense. Looking back my first clue that it IS SS should have been... it came from a distributor in Florida to SE Louisiana. Can you say HUMIDITY? There is no oil on the barrel and no sign of rust.

Just one of life's little mystery that made me say... Huuuuuummmmm?

Pahoo, many years ago I bet a machinist that SS was non magnetic. Lesson learned. He then showed me that some is and some isn't and that there are varying degrees. Now I'm older and know everything. Bbbbbrrraaahhhh.

[Pahoo]

A dealer I know, was negotiating with a customer, over a GP-100 6" SS. The fella was claiming that the gun was not SS, cause his magnet stuck to the barrel. The conversation was getting a little "warm" and I had to get involved..

Proceeded to tell the customer that indeed, it was SS. Conversation got warmer. Finally told him that I'd give him $50.00 for every advertised SS barrel at the show, that was not attracted to a magnet and if he did not find one, he could come back at noon and give me a $50.00 bill. Never saw him again .....

Be Safe !!!

[James K]

It's stainless STEEL, folks. Due to the percentage of non-ferrous metals, SS will not attract a magnet as strongly as carbon steel, but it is still STEEL.

Jim

[Jim Watson]

Some stainless steels are nonmagnetic. The 300 series is.
But they aren't used much in guns. The usual 416 is magnetic.

I have one mystery part.
A 1911 FLGR that is weakly magnetic and noticeably heavier than steel. Lighter than tungsten, though.

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

Jim is correct. I don't even like to call the 300 series 'steel', though it is, as it has about everything other than iron in it, though it still has some. The 400, though, does have more iron, and it can show a light rust, and it is also the only one hardenable out of the two types. That is why it is magnetic.

When I worked at a large machine shop, we made a lot of pump parts, and used the 400 series a lot, and most was hardened, then we finished it to size. You can harden it to the point of being unworkable with carbide, and only grinding will do it. The 300 series was used on stuff that could show no oxidation like the 400 could, though I don't think I've ever seen 400 pit badly from rust, it just produced a dusting of oxidation of iron, or rust, on the surface.

Below if the SAE nomenclature of what the steel is:

1xxx Carbon steels
2xxx Nickel steels
3xxx Nickel-chromium steels
4xxx Molybdenum steels
5xxx Chromium steels
6xxx Chromium-vanadium steels
7xxx Tungsten steels
8xxx Nickel-chromium-molybdenum steels
9xxx Silicon-manganese steels

For stainless numbering, go to this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_steel_grades

[dahermit]

Below if the SAE nomenclature of what the steel is:

1xxx Carbon steels
2xxx Nickel steels
3xxx Nickel-chromium steels
4xxx Molybdenum steels
5xxx Chromium steels
6xxx Chromium-vanadium steels
7xxx Tungsten steels
8xxx Nickel-chromium-molybdenum steels
9xxx Silicon-manganese steels

That is the numbering system for non-stainless steels. the numbering system for stainless steels is listed here: http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=470

There are still a lot of people who think that stainless steel is a single alloy and make the mistake of stating the alluded to: "Stainless Steel is non-magnetic." However, there are at least four very general classifications (Austinetic, Ferric, Martinet, etc.), and was way more than thirty individual stainless alloys listed in the "Metals and How to Weld Them", welder's handbook from about 35 years ago, so there would be many more now.
FYI, if you do not already know. SAE = Society of Automotive Engineers. AISI = American Iron and Steel Institute. The authorities that create the identification system for metals.
All steels including Stainless Steels have as the base metal, iron. The structure of the grains/space lattice is what determines if the alloy is magnetic or not.

[BobCat45]

If any of y'all have more time and interest than pressing things to do, you may find these links informative.

http://www.aksteel.com/markets_products/stainless.aspx

http://www.atlassteels.com.au/docume...Aug%202013.pdf

Regards,
Andrew

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

That is the numbering system for non-stainless steels.

Yes, it is a SAE list of steel, then I included a link to Wikipedia for the list of stainless, as it is too big to include here. The reference is to show how the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) numbering system works. The SAE system for stainless works the same.

I added wording above to follow the link above for more info.