Abstract: A magnetic recording member with a thin metallic antifriction protection overcoat formed over a magnetic layer. The overcoat is soft ductile and low stress and includes a metal selected from the group consisting of palladium, platinum, silver, gold, cadmium, indium, tin and lead or an alloy of one or more of these metals, and may include less than 20 percent by weight of antimony, bismuth, thallium or copper to improve wear resistance or impede corrosion. In one preferred embodiment the antifriction overcoat is an alloy of silver, lead and antimony formed with N layers where 10.ltoreq.N.ltoreq.40. The even layers are richer in a selected metal of the alloy than the odd layers in order to produce adjacent layers with different lattice or microstructural and associated mechanical properties so that there tends to be parallel shear between adjacent layers under shearing stress of head impact or friction.