[eccollision]

hello i was wondering if anyone knew when colt stopped using the nickle finish and went to the bright stainless also what is the difference between the two thanks for any help

 

[JudgeColt]

Nickel finish was last shown for the Python on the 1984/1985 price list. Bright stainless was first shown on the same price list.

(Apologies to anyone offended by my "delivery.")​

 

[dfariswheel]

The difference between the two is bright nickel is a thin plating of nickel deposited over standard carbon steel by an electro-plating process.
Nickel can be rather easily damaged by scratching or chipping, and cannot be repaired by anything other than stripping the finish off and completely re-doing it.
When cleaning a nickel plated gun you have to be careful with bore solvents around it since many solvents can infiltrate under the plating and cause it to flake off.

Stainless steel is a steel and it's stainless all the way through. If it's scratched the metal can be simply re-polished.
Stainless is not easily damaged by any bore solvent unless it's a really aggressive solvent and you let it soak on the metal for hours.

 

[skeeeter]

Bright stainless and bright nickel also have a slightly different color especially in the top strap where the stainless guns are more matte gray and the nickel guns have more shine