More and more I'm seeing blued actioned guns (often Remington 700's of varying variety) with blued ring, sights, etc. but with stainless barrels.

I understand why some people like stainless for either it's look or it's resistance to rust, handling of incliment weather, etc.

But what is with the blued receiver with stainless tube? Is it an aesthetic thing or is there some advantage to it? Why not just use a stainless receiver, or use a CroMo barrel on the blued receiver? It can't be cost IMHO.

Remington wants as much for a stripped CroMo action as the entire 700 rifle costs at WalMart. And the stainless actioned guns are not alot more money than the CroMo ones if you are stripping a WalMart 700 for the action. For the amount of money that goes into a nice custom 700 build, one would think you'd spend another $50 to start with a SS action unless there was a specific reason to use the cromo action as a base.

I'm likely overlooking something obvious - anyone?

Claven2,

The SS barrel and chrome-moly blued action rifles I had were for practicality. The stainless barrel had a longer life by a fair amo8unt, while the chrome0moly action did not give the galling problems common with stainless steels.

I had enough of galling when I was a Navy nuke in a previous life.

jim

What Jim said, and, some people don't see the need to replace a perfectly working receiver and so they use the one they have to build on. The contrast can be pretty striking. Whenever I get a chance to put something together for myself, I always use a Chrome Moly action, and occasionally a stainless barrel...

It's akin to the two-tone look on 1911's and other pistols. Most people have a reaction, they either love or hate the look.

As Jim notes, it's a galling issue, but there are ways to match the finish (blue or silver) if the two-tone look displeases you.

Thanks for the lo-down I figured it was mostly for cosmetics.

Frankly, I've always been a blued steel and walnut man, so I don;t know much about galling. Is it really common on modern stainless guns? I'm guessing you mean from the bolt lugs travelling in the raceways?

As for stainless barrels lasting longer, everything I've read recently seems to indicate that that's a myth and that any percieved durability difference between good CroMo and SS is negligible.

quote:

Originally posted by Claven2:
As for stainless barrels lasting longer, everything I've read recently seems to indicate that that's a myth and that any percieved durability difference between good CroMo and SS is negligible.

Stainless has properties that allow it to withstand prolonged exposure to higher temperatures a little better than chrome moly, which makes it a little more resistant to flame damage. Stainless is more easily damaged by abrasives than a good chrome moly barrel. But, stainless cleans up really well.

Stainless barrels are also less expensive as they don't have to be blued.

nope

blue actions are cheap

stainless actions arent (weren't)

BBQ paint covers a myriad of sins

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by HunterJim:
I had enough of galling when I was a Navy nuke in a previous life.

jim

F***'in Nuke!

Class 7801

ex MM-1(SS)

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

BBQ paint covers a myriad of sins

jeffe

I guess if the sins you are trying to hide were bad enough to where you ended up having to eat the job, BBQ sauce might be a better choice huh?

Malm,
the BBQ paint is meant as a double joke.. one it's ugly, two a to-tone rifle is uglier (to me)

and, frankly, gunkote (and others) isn't really anything other than plastic (solids) in a solvent, that's baked like powder coat (plastic),....

or, BBQ paint!!
jeffe

Yep they bought a blue rifle, doesn't shoot so good, maybe not cleaned properly is all, get a good new barrel and most seem to be SS. They won't clean that properly either but at least it won't rust (so quickly).
And yes I have a blue and SS rifle too, but that's different.

i recently found out i built a two tone rifle for my 11 year old son. i ordered the barrel blank and checked it when i got it. it was the right cal,twist and contour, and it wasn't stamped stainless. paid for a chrome moly barrel. fit it to the action, completed the stock, sent it for bluing. got a call from the bluer, the barrel won't blue. imagine that.

I have a CM action with a SS barrel - largely because I had to rebarrel a CM rifle, and the barrel maker/smith suggested using a SS barrel.

I actually prefer CM actions - SS actions tend to be just a tad sticky when you work them. CM barrels, on the other hand, tend to have a bit more affinity for copper, plus SS is easier to maintain. So there are good practical reasons for going with the combination of CM action/SS barrel.

Other than that, I actually like the "blued" look of CM the best.

- mike

Max, considering stainless barrels cost more, sounds like you got a good deal. Sometimes they are marked with an "S" on the breech end. I have received some where it wasn't particularly clear what the material was. A quick swipe with a "Q" tip and a little cold blue will tell you in a hurry.

That being said, you can "blue" a SS barrel, it's just a different process and not many guys are set up for it (ie, it's expensive).

malm,
i know of what you speak. i just think the folks in wv got some barrels mixed up before they were marked. i ordered it as a single barrel so i had no reason to doubt it was anything other than the chrome moly barrel i ordered.

max

quote:

Originally posted by max(hm2):
malm,
i know of what you speak. i just think the folks in wv got some barrels mixed up before they were marked. i ordered it as a single barrel so i had no reason to doubt it was anything other than the chrome moly barrel i ordered.

max

So after you discovered the mistake, did you let the company know they had sent you an unmarked stainless barrel by mistake so they don't make that mistake again?

I just bead-blast the stainless barrel and I think the combination looks good. Would I do that to a classic action in a fine stock, probably not.


Escapee from Admiral Rickover's funny farm, 1970.

yes i did. i just wonder how many others are out there like that. i don't care as my son will like whatever he gets. it would really suck if it was a customers gun who insisted on a blued barrel.

Just a little facts about barrelmaterial

Cromo barrels has a yeldstrengh up to 60%higher than many custom ss barrels

only the best 15% of ss barrels has a lifetime compared to cromo when properly maintained

many custom select match barrels last only 30-50% as many rounds as matchquality cromo barrels, when replaced at the same accuracylimmit

SS used for actions is weaker, has a bad habit of ripping of metalchips when repeadet heavily(if possible at all).
In my world ss for rifles is only a fashion gimick, whith short lifetime, its only purpose is hunting in mild rainy weather, as it gets much weaker in arctic temp

when properly QPQ treated cromo has all the weatherresistant advantages of ss, but still maintaining the much higher strengh of real steel.

Sorry for sounding provokativ
The expierince is collected from handeling over 17000 different rifles over 25years of long hours in both reparing, rebarreling and production