I still have some blued guns because they were brought before stainless was around. I go with stainless when ever I can now.

I've always loved the grace and beauty of blue steel and wood, but to be honest my guns are tools most of all and they see plenty of use and wear. Stainless/synthetic rifles are just about indestructible (especially my Ruger M77's) and I know I can always rely on them no matter how miserable or outrageous the conditions may become.



Stainless/synthetic has grown on me over the years. The synthetic's main advantage is that it won't warp if it gets drenched/soaked like wood sometimes can. Around salt water or extreme prolonged humidity it gives an advantage also.



Stainless is not rustproof, but highly rust resistant. It's more forgiving under prolonged extreme conditions than blue and wood. I've painted some of my guns (OD green or camo usually) when I was concerned about the glare of stainless. Thinner takes the paint off no problem if you want to go back to the original look.



Stainless/synthetic is highly functional and durable. Not pretty, but in a way a functionality to that degree has it's own form of beauty.

I will never buy a stainless gun with a synthetic stock until I'm hunting plastic game on astroturf.

I guess you only hunt walnut trees now. On dirt floors

I got a couple stainless and plastic guns. They are ugly. The rest of my guns are blue and walnut and some have been abused and beaten in all types of weather. Even beaten and bruised with half the finish and blue worn off they still look a hundred times better than stainless and Synthetic and are just as reliable and functional in all types of weather.

It is a serious misconception that people especially hunters believe that stainless means corrosion proof. All it means is the oxidation does not show up like it does on carbon steel. Thus the word "stainless".Stainless tends to corrode by pitting at the grain boundaries which in actuality is far more damaging to the firearm than the surface rust you get on the blued firearm.>John

HAVING BEEN a police officer most of my adult life, I have this "thing" about anything light colored reflecting light.
So even IF I had a stainless, of which I have none, I would STILL darken it.

SO what I do is, I buy my nice Wood stocked deep blued rifles. I get a durable glass stock to fit. I pull the action and then Brownells Krinkle paint the whole thing. A flat black broken finish. I Krinkle paint the glass stock.
The stock and gun now have a gripping capability as if it was lightly checkered. A rifle receiving THIS process will not slip in your grip come rain, sleet, snow or gloom of night.
I have Win model 70 .375H&H that has been dragged all over N.A. for 20+ years and the paint is just now chipping off of the bbl in one spot, and the blue is PERFECT. This gun has been soaked, dropped, horse kicked, and treated just about as hard as an occasional hunter can work it.
SO,
the idea is, when/IF I ever decide to NOT drag my poor .375 out into the bush again, I will strip the paint from it, put it in the good wood stock that has been empty for years and now I have this really minty Win to look at for the rest of my days.
I have done this to my Weatherbys, my Sakos ... just about any rifle I take into the bush, gets the paint treatment.
They may not be pretty looking but they ARE impervious to everything Ma Nature has thrown at them so far. AND I don't have to deal with the other issues of stainless firearms.

I look at guns as tools of the hunt not as art objects, although I must confess to having plotted for about 8 years to finally get a custom .270 with a GEORGEOUS Birdseye maple stock on it from a friend, before I made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

The reason that I have been switching over to stainless is that I have gotten so tired of going on a jet boat moose hunt, fishing or prospecting trip up some remote interior river or remote mountain area where it is raining half the time. I used to have to clean my blued guns nightly! I mean to the extent of removing the stock from the barreled action to prevent rust but I only have to wipe down my stainless ones. I find stainless so much more user friendly.

Cam

Stainless? Blech!!!!!

Though the guide we hired for moose hunting a couple years ago had a Rem. 700 Stainless in .300 Wby Mag. Cased in a damp case, never brought it in the house, always had it to hand (he guides or hunts the entire moose season - 3 months almost). It had rust around the blued iron sights, but the rest was in good shape. Works for him, I guess.

Sorry, I guess I'm just a traditionalist. One of the guys here on AR has his tag line, "Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun!" I have to agree.

I have been switching over to stainless steel rifles from my blued ones as well as to synthetic or laminated stocks.

I find them far more user friendly in the wet conditions that I'm always in. Even my handguns have been switched to stainless.

Is it just me that has done this or has this been a trend to other's as well?

Stainless/Synthetic is all I will ever own.On an elk hunt 3 years ago we had 5 days of rain and wet snow.Two of us had SS and 2 had blued.Everyone wiped their rifles down each evening and when we got back both the blued rifles were showing rust in spots.The SS rifles still looked like new.In 10 years a SS rifle that has seen regular use will still look like new with very little attention.

Back when I first started gunsmithing the idea of a stainless, synthetic stocked rifle was somewhat appealing to me. However, in spite of the fact that I could have had one any time I wanted to build it, I never have had one. Why not? It just hasn't been necessary. The rifles I've been using have worked just fine.
When it comes corrosion resistance, the 416 stainless as used in rifle barrels may not be the ultimate but it is pretty good. I have one piece of hart barrel which laid out in the dirt for more than 10 years and it has only very small amounts of rust. The bore seems perfect.
On the other hand, I have a douglas barrel (chromoly) which was stored in a pretty crappy shed for about 6 years. The out side was quite rusty but the bore, which had been protected only with Hoppes#9, was just fine.
The point is, the stainless rifles really are corrosion resistant but the blued rifles can be surprisingly so as well with just a little care.
My rifle's stocks are very well sealed inside and out. The barreled actions are lightly coated with grease under the stock line. If I'm going to spend the day hunting in the rain, I coat the barrel and action with paste wax and let it dry. The last spring hunt I guided was 7 days of drizzling rain and my blued rifle showed no signs of rust inside or out and the stock didn't seem to warp.
Having said this, I have to say that I can understand why the S&S rifles are appealing to many of today's hunters. I don't hate these rifles. I just like blued ones better!
I think I put my first glass stock on a rifle in about 1976. At the time, I was convinced of the superiority of the synthetic stock for providing a stable platform. There were, and are, drawbacks though. The glass stocks are cold. They just don't feel good. The best paint jobs don't last forever and they don't age gracefully. Some are able to live with these shortcomings though and are obviously happy with their choice.
One place where the synthetic stocks are a great advantage is in the area of cost. To install and finish a glass stock probably takes 2 days work total. To fit and finish a walnut stock takes easily a weeks (40hr)work. Often more than that. This is with out checkering. So the glass stock is plainly cheaper and is an economic way toget a handle on a custom rifle. Regards, Bill.