How important is stainless steel/synthetic vs blued/wood for a backpack hunter? I'm planning a backpack sheep hunt next year and my current light rifle is a 308 Win, Model 70 featherweight, blued/wood. I've glass bedded the entire barrel channel to help prevent any warping, but I am still thinking of getting a synthetic stock to make sure the rifle stays zeroed. Any drawback to blued steel other than it may develop some rust (which I imagine can be removed after the hunt)? Thoughts/comments welcome.

FWIW:

I'be hunted almost exclusively by backpacking for about 25 years. Most of the time, the issue does not come up, but up there in AK, (It's wet). I hunted goat and black bear 4 times, flying out of Ketchikan. Two of the 4 trips were spent 70-80% of the time in somewhere between a drizzle and a downpour.

It was not that hard to keep the rifle rust free. But the wood stocks seemed to soak up water no matter what I did. I'd say that for the small investment, it would be worth getting a synthetic, just for that hunt. Heck, if you hate 'em, you can just take it off afterwards.

There you go...$0.02

The peace of mind is worth it. I like to hunt stone sheep on long backpack hunts and have done them with blued guns and stainless. I'll still use either type depending on the caliber I want to use for that trip (ie. depends on which of my guns are blue and which are stainless), but I really do prefer the stainless for this kind of thing. One less thing to worry about when you're dog tired after a long day.

FWIW, Canuck

I'll buy the SS/Synthetic is superior to blued and wood for rust resistance, etc.
What bothers me is the idea of glass bedding the whole barrel channel to prevent impact shift.
Not on that stock. That thin forend flexes alot. I've got one. Even with a grapite added McMillian stock installed, it will still flex a touch.
I suggest you bed the barrel about an inch at the reciever, then give it plenty of clearance by free floating it.
Above all, test it's point of impact using field positions, not bench positions. E