A large variety of steels are available today. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Some steels at the high end of strength... say 180,000 psi can be hardened up to over 300,000 psi but they become more brittle and have much more notch sensitivity. This means a sharp interior edge is much more prone to cracking. It also significantly reduces fatigue life. So a cyclic load or eccentric load significantly reduces life. Stainless steel tends to gall if in contact with moving parts made out of the same stainless steel so different types of stainless are best used in these cases. Stainless also have a higher coefficient of thermal expansion which was forgotten by S&W when they first came out with the Mod 66 K frame revolver. The LAPD had some of these guns freeze up when fired with +P loads rapid fire. For a time, the LAPD forbade the use of ANY S&W until S&W changes the design to open up some tolerances.
Strength of materials is an interesting subject. The first shotguns with modern high strength steel were the Win 21 and Browning Superposed which came out about 1930/31.
