Blued Vs. Stainless Steel

[Echohim]

I love the look of stainless steel on rifles.

Is there any benefit to having blued or stainless steel rifles?
Is one easier to maintain?

Thank you!

 

[IndyDave1776]

I love the look of stainless steel on rifles.

Is there any benefit to having blued or stainless steel rifles?
Is one easier to maintain?

Thank you!

As I was taught, stainless is more resistant to rust and corrosion and does not have a finish to wear off. Carbon steel both in the mechanism and the barrel are more resistant to wear and erosion from use, so I would say that it comes down to whether you intend to carry much and shoot occasionally or you are going to be doing a lot of shooting. Like most everything offering a choice, it is not so much a superior/inferior choice but rather one of trade-offs that have to be tailored to your needs.

 

[unlimitedrubicon]

Stainless steel can look much nicer to some, just like some people love the chrome look but with the high-gloss shiney finish comes some additional maintenance to keep greasy fingerprints from detracting from the gun's looks. Stainless should be rust and corrosion proof throughout the material by nature compared to a finish added after machining that can be comprimised due to mistreatment or normal wear as well. A downside with stainless, especially when hunting is the glare caused by the highly polished surface can quickly give away your position and magnify every move you make. Another downside with stainless is that it can quite easily show wear such as scratches that would need to be polished out whereas a proper coating / finish on a firearm would either protect the gun from the abrasion, or at least better hide it from standing out.

 

[hrearden]

My choice would depend on what kind of rifle. Stainless barrels offer great corrosion resistance and help with your velocity (how much Im not sure probably not a lot) as they have less friction on the slugs. Durability isnt going to come into play unless you shoot a ton of ammo at a time.

 

[Grelber]

Stainless should be rust and corrosion proof throughout the material

That is what I thought until I found some rust on one of my stainless steel pistols. A couple folks at the range told me that there are ss alloys that won't rust and others that will. Maybe somebody who knows more about the subject will comment. I now treat my ss guns the same as my regular steel guns.

My only gripe with stainless parts is that they can be a bugger to work on due to a tendency for screwed connections to gall. At work we started using thread lube on stainless connections that we thought might have to come back apart now and then, seems to be a big help.

Had a job interview at Bethlehem Steel near Gary In many years ago. The guy taking me around pointed to a fenced area where samples of test alloys were kept. He said that a custodian noticed that one sample had been sitting on the ground a long time and was still bright and shiny, the custodian asked about it and that is how ss was discovered. At least according to the guy giving the interview.

 

[netsecurity]

I just got a Ruger LCP, and to my surprise the barrel and slide weren't just stainless, as advertised, they are coated in chrome. I thought that was pretty cool, and probably made the gun more valuable, however my research returned almost no information regwrding the benifits of using chrome. So my question is, how does chrome compare to blue vs stainless? And what about nickel finishes? I would assume that nickel and chrome are the best, because they are likely covering stainless steel, but maybe not. I wish there was a list of which finishes are best and why. It would help me in determining the value of guns if nothing else.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Just remember:

It's stainless steel, not stainproof steel.

And there are also various grades / blends of stainless steel. They are NOT all created equally. Some of your super high end stainless steels will indeed stain even less than quite cheap stainless steel.

-J-

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

I like stainless myself.

 

[Cerberus]

I work with stainless on a daily basis. Some alloys will rust if neglected, and some are even mildly magnetic.

I hate the stuff.

 

[vanguard2010]

I think stainless is much easier to maintain, but I really prefer a nice deep blue finish on a gun. Especially a handgun.