Does anyone have actual experience (not opinion) coloring stainless steel parts to match the durability and black color of the manufacturer's finish on the M14/M1A gas cylinders. If so, please share your experience, what you used and how you did it. I did not know the part was stainless and I bead-blasted it all nice and pretty for parkerizing. All my other parts parkerized beautifully, but it was soon obvious the the gas cylinder and nut were stainless as they sat in the tank as white as new. It is a GI part.
Thanks, Theo

Well

I have been there. I had some part for a FN FAl that were stainless. I contacted a company that did black cromeing. There is blueing salt for stainless but I have no experince and never used it.

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Johan,
Thanks. I did find out something that might solve my problem. Brownell's aparently has a product called Oxynate #84 that reportedly has good results on a wide range of stainless alloys. It is similiar to hot salt bluing but with slightly lower temperature ranges. I am going to try it out this week.
Theo