I'm considering a Icon blue in 308, but all of the Icons on display at the Bass Pro and a local gun store have rust to some degree. On one gun at Bass Pro, the entire barrel had light rust pits and the bolt and bolt handle had surface rust. No other guns on display had noticeable rust.

Is this a problem with Icons, or just poor maintenance after handling?

I have a friend that found a bargain gun that had been nicked in the wood during handling. I put out a post to see if everyone liked theirs (before he bought) over at the "fire" and got all positive reports from owners and friends of owners. I'm thinking Thompson is plenty capable of bluing their barrels and there was something possibly wrong with the way they were stored, shipped or handled and not the fault of the gun. But, I'll watch this thread with interest.

I've got one, but it is the stainless syn version, so maybe this isn't helpful, but I have had ZERO issuses with rust on any part, and the gun flat shoots great. I really like this rifle, the integral scope bases are just something that every rifle should have IMO.

I may rechamber mine to regular old 308 Win, mine is a 30 TC, which with the powders we have access to, is not really any better than the 308 case best I can tell.

Good luck!

all the contender stuff I have has not rusted. same for my friend.

TC is a top-notch operation AFAIK, and bluing is not brain surgery. I would bet it was storage.