M&P black stainless components

[Col_Crocs]

Exactly what finish did S&W use on their stainless M&P slides and components? Anyone know what could be used for touching up scratches? I hear the birchwood-casey re-blueing stuff dont work on them.

[Alpha Sierra]

The bluing solution won't work on stainless steel.

M&P slides are not blued, they are made black by a nitro-carburizing heat treatment process known as Melonite.

http://www.burlingtoneng.com/melonite.html

If you have a scratch that exposes metal below the case hardening depth, just rub it with a black sharpie. It's stainless steel, so no worries about rust.

[ToddG]

Alpha Sierra is correct.

One word of caution, however. If you do actually put a deep enough scratch or nick in the steel to break past the Melonite (which is a clear layer of metal underneath the black finish), then the grade of stainless steel Smith uses is not particularly corrosion resistant. It was chosen for other properties, particularly durability.

[Col_Crocs]

THanks for your posts and the link.
My concern is more on preserving the finish and not so much on corrosion. I get pretty obsessive with keeping my guns' finishes as brand new looking as possible. My M&P 40c is my daily CCW, I guess I just have to be more careful with this one then...:D