Stainless Steel Vs Treated

You scratch deep enough through a treated slide or coated slide and you will hit the unprotected carbon steel. You can scratch and gouge all you want on a stainless steel slide and it's still corrosion resistant because stainless steel is throughout and not a coating.

A bit of corrosion resistance and cosmetic appearance but other than that no real others that you would ever notice.

Stainless will tarnish and even rust if subjective to harsh conditions. The old (but not really old) Glock finish (the shiny black) coupled with the rear tennifer treatment is pretty astounding with regards to rust prevention.

Stainless is great for pots and pans. :dunno:

Stainless is decent for a firearm, but it can rust, is subject to galling, and is generally weaker than carbon steel. I have a slight preference for a coated carbon steel, but just slight.

I have a Springfield Loaded that is all stainless. Not much of a fan, though it's hard to say why. The machining is very rough, and the stainless probably shows that more than a coated steel gun might. :dunno:

Others I have are partly stainless, like the slide on the P229 (which is still has a black finish) and a P938 that is stainless "in the raw".