Galling

As stated, similar steels will gall much sooner than hard/harder combinations - if the surfaces have been honed slick, that is better - likely because smooth surfaces need less lubricant.

However, galling is still possible if the lubricating film is broken - maybe by extreme force - like on the locking surfaces where the bolt lugs mate or if parts are overheated.

That red jewelers rouge paper can slick up the slides etc. while making no measurable dimension change - it makes things feel like a custom gun - so slick.
 
John in B.C. said:
What grease are you using? I have tried a couple but haven't found any I really like.

John
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At first I just used the synthetic boat trailer grease that I was using on my commuter bicycles. Some time back I got a tube of Mobil1 synthetic grease to try. I'm amazed at how much slicker it works.

When I first got it I cleaned some guns and tried the good ol' wheel bearing stuff. I then cleaned the parts and tried the Mobil1 and found that in probably half the cases I could actually feel the difference. The bolt lugs on my Mosins were clearly slicker with the Mobil1 than the green trailer stuff.

If I'm into the guns where the hammer and sear are available I dab a little of the Mobil1 grease on the hooks. In easily half the cases the trigger feels lighter and more crisp compared to simply oiling the hooks. For the rest there's no real noticeable change. It sure doesn't hurt anything though.

I also like to rub a smear on the hammer reset heel and rub track on the inside of my semi auto slides. Again in some cases it makes racking the slide noticeably easier. In some others it makes no noticeable difference compared to oil.

I'm not suggesting that we dump all the other products and bathe in the stuff. But it's worked well enough for me that I like having it around for the things where it seems to work a little better.
 
mmattockx said:
Use the right material combinations and make sure the gun is properly lubed. The first part is the manufacturers job, the second is yours.

I didn't mean to make it sound like stainless will always gall no matter what, just that it has a stronger tendency to than carbon or non-stainless alloy steels. As noted, there are a lot of stainless guns made now and they don't seem to have many problems with it any more. The machinist in OP was probably basing his opinion on the lower strength stainless steels like 304 and 316. They are very gummy and tough and are a b!tch to machine and get good results with. The stainless steels used in guns are much higher strength grades that have a lot more carbon in them and are much less susceptible to galling than the 300 series steels.


Mark
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Yes, I've worked with 304 and 316 pipefitting and they can be a sunofa ##### to deal with. Guns are made from completely different materials, no issues with the stainless in my M+P. And the Remington R1911 looks kickass.
 
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