German (or not) nickel silver

[hotfxr]

Quick question, will nickel silver or german nickel silver take to browning or am I better off just trying to make parts out of mild steel? Decided against brass furniture on the half stock and found some decent prices from f*****r c******s for trigger guard and butt plate but don't want to make a $35 dollar mistake.

[Dogshirt]

As far as I know, GS will not brown or tarnish. But it will dull down( I HATE the word patina!) with time.

[Hawken50]

  Yur on your way hotfxr.  Patina.......does sound kinda sissyfied dont it?

[mongrel]

German silver is simply a variation of brass, and won't brown either artificially or naturally. Over time as it tarnishes it can become nearly indistinguishable from brass, though this isn't always the case (depends on the precise alloy, so far as I know, which isn't saying much).

You might look over the offerings here: http://www.cainsoutdoor.com/default.asp There are a number of buttplates and triggerguards on sale for $6 apiece, and being as how german silver is less popular than brass the selection of german silver items is better. You might find something that trips your trigger for less than half the price you'll pay through any of the other suppliers. The casting quality on the guards in particular isn't that great -- the various components of the guards are somewhat cockeyed in relation to one another -- but most of them, being sand-castings, have meat enough to be worked down to a graceful shape if you want to take the time with them. The buttplates are just fine and I use a lot of them on my rugrat and trade rifles.