XD Bi-tone starting to show TINY amounts of rust. Now what?

[petey1]

Hardchrome that beeotch

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[losttj]

Check out rusty tales at bottom of forum. Lots of good info.

[Rustynuts]

Next question, did you buy this gun new? If used, maybe someone polished off the blued slide, which is NOT stainless! Maybe that's why it's rusting?

I still say it has to be some surface reaction going on, maybe minute copper from the blowback reacting to your skin oils/sweat? My bi-tone seems of very high-quality stainless which doesn't seem like it would rust, ever. Anyone know the actual alloy that SA uses for stainless slides?

In quick searches online, most say rust on stainless is merely surface rust usually from some kind of iron contamination deposited microscopically onto the material from tooling, or cleaning with steel wool, etc. Stainless usually "corrodes" not rusts and shouldn't have the distinctive "rust" color with the corrosion.

One other check is to see if a magnet is attracted to your stainless (yes, some stainless is magnetic!). Magnetic stainless is usually of a lower grade. I have a stainless grill that parts are magnetic, and I am getting surface rust on it being in a corrosive atmosphere near my pool.

[dogboy]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

One other check is to see if a magnet is attracted to your stainless (yes, some stainless is magnetic!). Magnetic stainless is usually of a lower grade. I have a stainless grill that parts are magnetic, and I am getting surface rust on it being in a corrosive atmosphere near my pool.

It could be that, although magnetic stainless isn't really of "lower grade." Just less rust resistant. Stainless knife blades tend to be magnetic, and you can harden them higher than non-magnetic. But they will corrode, some much worse than others. BUT, knife-grade stainless would be overkill in a pistol slide, I believe. I don't think that has to be hardened that much. And I think if you temper stainless knife steel to lower hardness, the corrosion resistance can go down (on some of them).

Or, I could just be rambling.

[Don]

Take a look at your catalytic converter some day, they have a stainless case and while they get "rust" they do not go anywhere with it. That is one stainless extreme. I have worked in a chemical plant where even 316 stainless (maybe the most universal resistant) would show "rust" spots.

I was reading on-line about why stainless is corrosion resistant, and it forms an oxide layer (like aluminum does) and in the absence of oxygen can merrily corrode away under the right conditions.

Basically the series of stainless most resistant to corrosion are not heat treatable for strength and are not suitable for pistol slides and such. Springfield will not say the actual alloy in the slide but it is not in the softer stuff so expect some coloration to show up here or there, but not enough to change structure or dimension. This is just normal signs of use.

[cut_cutta]

I bought my XD at the very start of the year, brand new. Really it is not "rusting", it just has slight marks on it. They will probably come off with flitz, as others have suggested. No, I hadn't been wiping it down or oiling the exterior at all. Yes, I have carried it under my arm pit quite a few times.

All steels will oxidize eventually, it's just a matter of resistance and rate of oxidization.

[chad_quixote]

Originally Posted by jnclement

Gun oil works too. If you'll hit those spots lightly with extra fine steel wool, they're probably come right off. Then keep it oiled.

i hate to admit that i am related to this guy, but my cousin drug his 30-30 out of the closet last summer, and i ALMOST BEAT him with the 30-30.

after i wiped teh tears off of my cheek , i confiscated said 30-30 and took it home.
I spent easily 4 hours, stripping cleaning
oiling, fine steel wool with generous oiling , i mean i went all out on this poor neglected piece of iron and wood.

after i gave it back to him, i, very untactfully, told him if i ever catch ANY of his wepaons in this shape i'm just gonna take them home and hes not getting them back.
but it still was nothing compared to teh M4gery that my buddy bought from his brother in law....