Indentfication question, is it a stainless Contender or not??

[Oxynomoron]

I have a (or what I thought was a) stainless contender, 14" bull .357 Herret. However, based upon the serial numbers listed on the Handgun Hunter web page, it should have a "S" prefix, and it does not. Can anyone enlighten me? It's s/n 1698xx. Did T/C make a Contender in a nickel finish?
Thanks,
Pete

[Keith L]

TC made firearms with what they called Armor Alloy coating.  Perhaps one of the collectors here can fill you in more completely, but fi that is what you have I thought it had AA somewhere stamped on the gun.  Look for that.  Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[Oxynomoron]

Thanks Keith,
Don't the Armor Alloy barrel parts not interchange with the blued parts? I can swap barrels and pins between my blued frames and this frame, both ways, with no problems.

[Gregory]

Armour Alloy frames can be modified to fit standard hinge pins.  You could have an AA frame.  I have an AA frame that I modified myself.  Seial numbers on an AA frame begin with an "A".

[hhi8041]

i have had two tc frames bead blasted and clear coated and the really look like the ss frame one of them matched perfectly with my 7-30 ss waters barrel. This could be what happened to your frame.

[uncle joe]

Could be a "French Grey" finnish like the one offered by EABrown.

[BeverlyHillbilly]

I believe all the stainless frames started with an S, and the armor alloy frames started with an A on the serial numbers.  I would need to dig mine out to check, but I am sure others would know for sure. 

Is the cougar a full cougar or just a cougar's head?  Is the hammer, selector, trigger, trigger guard, and hinge pin stainless/silver?  I have the silver Duracoat finish on one of my frames and several barrels and french grey on a previous barrel, and they are slightly different in color to stainless.  I really like the finish and don't have much of anything blue anymore, and use a matte black on the others. 

[Oxynomoron]

It has no letter prefix. I stripped the grip off the frame, and all small parts, even springs, are the same color, with the exception of the barrel pivot, which is black. Even the hex socket screw that holds the buttgrip in place is the same. (Although a previous owner brased a sling swivel pin to the head of the screw.)
I do a fair bit of sand and bead-blasting and finishing, and I would think it nearly impossible to add a finish that does not show anything more than typical stainless rub-marks during assembly of the internal springs. That is all that shows on the inside of this frame.
The trigger group has a pin in the front of the receiver, unlike my blue frame which has a small pin directly above the trigger, fwiw.
It has a complete cougar on the sideplate.

Thanks to all the responses!
Pete

[Javelina]

It could be SSK Krome by J.D. Jones at SSK Industries.  Also, it could be hard industrial chrome applied by another source. . .industrial chrome has a similar appearance to stainless steel and is usually harder and more rust resistant than stainless steel is.  There is a lot of SSK Krome around on TC pistols.  I have a 6.5 JDJ in SSK Krome and after almost 20 years, it still looks as good today as it did the day I got it, and it has had some extremely hard use.  It's an excellent finish.

Javelina

[BeverlyHillbilly]

I checked mine to be sure, and all of my SS frames start with a S and have just the cougar head.   I don't have an AA frame anymore, but I believe it had a similar marking starting with A.  Is the hinge pin itself also SS?  Perhaps, that is the barrel pivot that you mention.  That makes me think that it was a blued frame that was finished by one of the many processes out there.   A full cougar makes me think it was originally a blued frame also. 

I also believe that SSK also had a finish like this that they do on frames, or did.  It may be some sort of plating also, I seem to recall something like that and the name escapes me and who did the work.