A new method for determining the ratios of the critical shear stresses has been applied to data taken from the literature and to original results. Measurements of yield strength were found to be not too satisfactory for the investigation of the slip behavior of the body‐centered cubic materials. On the other hand, any method which determined the slip plane and the orientation of the tensile axis gave useful results. In all instances where the data were available, the ratio of the critical shear stresses on {123} and {112} was very close to one, and did not change with temperature. The ratio of the critical shear stresses on {123} and {110} changes with temperature and composition, with the value of S123generally being higher than that for S110.