Micro-compression experiments were carried out on micro-pillars, with nominal diameter of 10 mu m and height 20 mu m, and fabricated from a high-chromium tempered martensitic steels developed for nuclear applications. An analytical method was proposed to calculate the imposed compressive displacement on the pillar that allows determining the constitutive behavior up to about 5% of plastic strain. The experimental micro-compression curves were showed to be adequately modeled by the finite element simulations, which were used to validate the main assumption considered for the analytical model development. (C) 2014 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.