I am wondering why so may people will rebarrel a rifle with a stainless steel barrel, to a chrome-moly action? Why not use a chrome-moly barrel? What are the advantages of using the SS barrel?

Shorter lifetime.
Lower sterngth
more job to the gunsmiths
a littel more rustresistent

I borrowed this from Lija Barrels .

Q. What are the differences between chrome-moly barrels and stainless steel barrels?

A. We buy our steels directly from the steel mills. Our steel is made to our specifications as far as chemistry and heat treatments are concerned. Our chrome-moly is a modified 4140 type steel and the stainless steel is type 416 with a few extra steps and tests in its manufacture. We have used steel of both types from several different mills and have settled on what we feel is the best available.

The primary difference between the two types, as far as rifle barrels are concerned, is that chrome-moly can be blued and stainless steel cannot be using conventional methods. Rifle barrels made from stainless steel will last longer, as related to throat erosion, than chrome-moly. Stainless steel resists heat erosion better. Also we can get a slightly better internal finish when lapping with stainless steel.

Approximately 90% of the barrels we manufacture are made from stainless steel. In our experience, most of the chrome-moly barrels we make go on high-grade custom hunting rifles that are going to have a nice custom made wood stock. And some shooters insist on having a blued barrel.

An exception to the above is the large number of 50BMG barrels we make from chrome-moly. Our recommendation for steel choice with 50BMG barrels depends on the bullet type the shooter intends to use. If you are going to use conventional jacked bullets, such as the Hornady or ball ammunition, then the stainless steel barrels will probably last longer and foul less. But if your choice is one of the custom made lathe-turned bullets made from brass, bronze, copper, or even steel, then the chrome-moly barrels will probably last longer and give better accuracy. Please see our comments on moly coating and these types of bullets. If you plan to shoot both types of bullets then the chrome-moly barrels are a better choice.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

1. Don't have to blue them.

2. Looks cool.

The reason I use stainless barrels is pretty simple. It is not easy to find truly competent people to blue chrome-moly barrels to the standard I desire.

If one does find them, that usually means shipping the firearm to them, waiting 'til they get to doing the work, then shipping it back here. Risk of loss involved in that much shipping may not be great, but it is more risk than not having to ship at all. And it adds $15 or so each way to the cost, not to mention the time.

Sure, I could polish the CM barrel and not blue it at all, but that would be foolish in this damp climate, and it wouldn't look much different than a shiny stainless barrel (until it inevitably rusted).

So, I just use stainless and leave them semi-polished (matt) but without any colouring process applied.

Total cost is usually about the same as a CM barrel, but I don't have to take the time to ship, worry about losing it, or have to refit a new replacement barrel if one shipped for bluing had disappered in the process.

With very limited use of CM, I'll say that I think that SS barrels break in easier. If you are one that does not beleive in "breaking in" a new barrel, that is not a concern.

I have found CM (custom) barrels to have a bit more affinity for copper, so SS cleans a tad easier.

Although I prefer the look of blued steel, it is often cheaper and more expedient to put on a SS barrel and bead-blast.

Finally, some barrel makers (Hart springs to mind) only make SS barrels - possibly because they primarily sell to BR shooters, and SS is all they buy.

- mike

If you want a looker by blue. If you want a shooter buy stainless.

Yeah, yeah, save all the posts. Your blue barrels are one hole accurate and better than any stainless barrel.

Look in the winner's circle at any big match shoots in almost any discipline, they're all stainless barrels. There is a reason for this.

quote:

Originally posted by Demonical:
...What are the advantages of using the SS barrel?

There are any number of advantages that make Stainless much better for "me".

1. A dull finish(brushed, bead blasted, etc.) Stainless Barrel simply disappears in our Southeastern woods/swamps. From a short distance they look quite similar to small tree branches. With some of the Beautiful(Easily Rustable) Deep Blue barrels, you might as well wear a Camo suit made of small mirrors to Flash your location to any Game in the area.

2. When you Kill something and get it back to the Skinning Shed, it is nice to do the Skinning, showering and eating "prior to" the Bore Scrubbing. You can do the same with the (Easily Rustable) Deep Blue barrels and increase the opportunity for good old Southern RUST to form on the outside and Pit the inside. Toss in a light Rain, High Humidity, High Heat, along with Sweaty Hands, and the Stainless is a serious advantage.

If you don't care that the (Easily Rustable) Deep Blue barrels actually Rust, then they can attain a fine Brown Patina which also hides right well in the woods. Plus by then they really don't need cleaning since they are Rusted piles of scrap anyhow.

3. My newer Stainless Barrel rifles are all waaaaaay more accurate than the older (Easily Rustable) Deep Blue barrels that I had.

4. A much longer actual Barrel Life if treated properly.

5. When the inevitable "Mar" gets onto a Stainless Barrel, due to some kind of unintended Barrel Whamming, is is easy to remove, or just leave it alone(as I do) because it doesn't hurt a thing.

6. I'd agree that Stainless Barrels are not normally as "Beautiful" as a High Gloss, Easily Rustable, Deep Blue Barrel. But over the years I've found you can't Pretty the Game to Death

Well from the Barrel Makers themselves here is #4 for stainless and # 0 for CM .

Unless you want a Blue looker as Frank posted .

Stainless seems to be a winner hands down .

More resistant to throat erosion .

So unless you take a CM an Hard Chrome the Bore , Looks like SS has the edge .

With all that said a Classic Model 70 Safari Grade Exhibition Walnut Stock just doesn't cut it in SS . IMO .

Seeing as I don't own one , I'll use SS and live with my decision .

Classic Military weapons don't wear SS well either , again IMO .


Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Hart Rifle Barrels only make SS match barrels. That's my reason. Both of them mated to CM actions, are painted with flat black Aluma-Hyde.

A CM barrel will shoot ever bit as good as a SS. I am not convinced that the SS will last longer. I do use a lot more SS than CM barrels. The stainless that I use go mainly on BR rifles or glass stocked hunting rifles. I have used CM barrels on BR rifles a couple times. They shot just as well and I removed them with the same amount of rounds that I would on a SS barrel.
Butch

I agree with Butch.I have owned both and was never impressed with the SS.The barrels that sent me home from the range feeling most content were CM hammer forged factory barrels.Lately,a Ruger barrel which was extremely accurate until I made the mistake of bedding the rifle.I once got a one hole five shot group at 200yds with a Winchester factory barrel.I once had a Remington 308 CM barrel that I was sure would set the world record.It would shoot five shot one hole groups week after week for months.These and other CM barrels made me a believer.Nothing can compare with a hammer forged CM barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
... The barrels that sent me home from the range feeling most content were CM hammer forged factory barrels.
...These and other CM barrels made me a believer.Nothing can compare with a hammer forged CM barrel.

Wow, that is a pretty surprising experience.

I also happen to think CM barrels can shoot just as well as SS, but I have a feeling you would change your mind about hammer forged barrels if you actually tried a good (well installed) custom barrel.

- mike

Nothing looks finer than one of Forrest's Rifles made by Duane. They are blued. A stainless barrel on a blued receiver can't compete for looks. But, stainless barrels rule the target shooting world, so that's what I use for my target rifles.
For a nice looking sporter, I use Douglas CM barrels as they have always shot very well, and I just had two rifles built up using Shilen CM barrels. I just can't bring myself to love sporters with stainless barrels.
As far as practical hunting accuracy goes, CM barrels are just as accurate as stainless ones, and make a far better looking rifle in my mind anyway. YMMV

I've been collecting old Remington Model 722's, and the accuracy they are delivering is FAR better than I ever thought they'd shoot. They have CM barrels made over 50 years ago. I haven't run any tests, but from the accuracy I'm getting out of them, I think current production rifles would be hard pressed to equal the 722's. Here's a target I recently shot from the Rem 722 in 300 Savage I bought from Alan Glore here on AR a few months ago. Not too shabby for a rifle made in 1955.
And, the 722's I have in 222 and 222 Magnum shoot better groups, I just haven't taken pix of the targets yet.



One other point; the only things that I did to these old rifles was to clean them well, and adjust the trigger pull weight down to 2 1/4 pounds. No bedding, or free floating barrels as I want the rifles to be just like they were when they were delivered, with no mods. I did use a 20x scope for all load developing, along with a good bench set-up.

Don

It might just be me but I love the look of a stainless barrel and action on a nice piece of wood. Perhaps it's just the fact that it looks different but I do like it.

Ken....

I also like a SS bbl on a wood stock, or coupled with a matte blued action. I like the contrast.

For me, I went with SS bbls simply b/c that is what the bbl makers suggested when I first started buying custom rifles. Krieger, Hart, Lilja, Shilen, all told me that I'd be happier with the SS bbls, that they were generally more accurate, easier to clean, less prone to rust (which I can't stand with a CM bbl...no matter what I did for care, I'd get some areas of rust), etc.

I think a bead blasted SS bbl looks better than blued anyway. In fact, I don't like blued metal unless it is matte finish. Pretty rifles with pretty wood stocks are like collectors cars...I wouldn't want to take it out and use it.

My 6.5x284 is coming with a left hand matte blue action and a SS Walther bbl. and a black McMillan stock.

Stainless barrel finish products
Degrease, rinse, dry without finger prints.
Spray the black one first.




Chrome Moly barrel finish products
Degrease, rinse hot, dry without finger prints.
Use the G96 first, rub it in with a clean tooth brush, then scrub it off the micro peaks.
Degrease, rinse hot, dry without finger prints.
Rub in the Oxpho, leave over night, under oil.
Degrease, rinse, dry, oil, wipe off excess oil.


What does it all mean?
1) The quality of the barrel is much more important to accuracy and fouling than the composition of the metal.
2) The ease of machining is more dependent on the alloy than weather it is stainless or Chrome Moly.
3) The look of stainless will be different.
4) The Leupold Zero Point magnetic bore sighter will stick to a stainless muzzle as well as a Chrome Moly.

It comes down to a personal choice , no different than caliber preferences .

One thing that has caught my attention is accuracy an the method as well as the materials popular barrel manufactures are now using .

As always opinions vary on every subject posted on this forum .

So I contacted several barrel manufactures and ask straight out which was better for accuracy and longevity . Now # 5 have responded in favor of SS . O have responded for CM !.

I'll let you do your own investigation ,here are the addresses for most of the barrel manufactures .

http://www.6mmbr.com/barrels.html

When David Tubbs use's it , I'll have to agree with his perspective on accuracy .

Most of You have all pretty well decided for yourselves already .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...