Even though I seem to recall this topic recently I didn't find it in a search.

Is there a "home brew" method to color, or coat stainless?? I'd like to have something like the grey or darker, that I have seen on some Ruger stainless guns. I'd prefer some chemical method over paint on coatings. All the catalogs I have state their stuff won't work on Stainless.

You can try a regular matte blue finish [bead blast the firearm and then blue]. The darkness of the stainless will be proportionate the the ratio of ferrous steel in the stainless matrix. Some stainless steels can go pretty dark. I believe this is how Ruger gets their matte stainless finish---by simply blueing stainless steel.

Jordan

Bead blasting with 80-100 grit aluminum oxide at a pressure of 40-50 psi will give you a nice matte grey finish. You can then seal the finish with oil or wax for protection. For me, the preferred method would be to coat the barrel after blasting with a satin clearcoat bake-on finish. Ferric chloide, ammonia and other akaline cleaners will also darken stainless steel but have never used any of these on a firearm.

Another method would be to bead blast as described above and then have it blued. I think that this is the method is used by several custom gunsmiths and maybe one of the firearms manufacturers, but I am not totally sure.

TreeFarmer