how can you tell if its stainless steel?

I have springs and they are shiny and my magnet wont stick to it? Also I I have these heavy steal like rings and my magnet wont stick what is it?

Use a grinder. If it throws sparks but is not magnetic, it is stainless steel.

Just this morning i found a piece of shiny steel sticking up out in the pasture, it must have been there many years, been chewed up several times by the brush hog, and didn't have a speck of rust on it. I thought sure it was stainless, but the magnet clamped down on it. It looks like maybe some headlight or side trim. Solid chrome?

Nothing is solid chrome that I know of. Everything is chrome-plated. Your piece might still be stainless steel as some grades of stainless ARE varying degrees of magnetic.