If I buy a CM barrel from, say, Krieger, that will need to be blued, what happens to the handlapped bore? Does it maintain its mirror finish? Does the bore not get blued as well?

Doc,
A handlapped bore is not shiney. It is a flat finish. The lap is no finer than 320 grit. Bluing has no effect on accuracy.
Butch

Isn't the bore plugged with rubber corks when it's blued?

My curiosity is peaked. If a custom bbl is CM, has no accuracy difference than a SS, then why are CM less popular? Is it b/c they have to be blued?

If I bought a few CM custom bbls b/c a barrel maker happened to have them in stock, can they be stored for long periods of time "in the white?"

I've had them plugged and un plugged. I could tell no difference in accuracy. I have used a few CM barrels in Benchrest Competition and could tell no difference.
If you take care of your CM you can store them indefinitely.
Butch

Butch, many custom CM barrels come wrapped in plastic. Are they already coated with a protective oil so I can just put them in the safe and not worry about them?

The ones that I got from Kreiger, Lilja, and Shilen were just wrapped in newspaper. Now and again they put the expanded or spider web type plastic on them. I think that if I were keeping it for a while, I would put some protectant on them
Butch

The SS one I got from Krieger came in a plastic mesh sleeve. It had no oil on it...

The last 3 Liljas I received were in a long plastic bag sealed at both ends. These are SS.

I suppose the best thing to do is unwrap them, clean them with a general cleaner like G-96, run a couple of wet patches with something mild like Shooters Choice down the bore, then dry that out and put 2 oil patches down the bore, put them back in the bag and then into the safe.

Even 416 SST will rust from high humidity and finger prints.

I do have a dehumidifier bar in my safe. I hate finger prints. I rarely touch any metal on my rifles anyway other than trigger and bolt handle.

quote:

Originally posted by Doc:
If I buy a CM barrel from, say, Krieger, that will need to be blued, what happens to the handlapped bore? Does it maintain its mirror finish? Does the bore not get blued as well?

I am not a big fan of bluing the inside of barrels, all my barrels have been rust blued. Last year we fitted a new CM barrel to my Stevens 44 ½ .22LR and I spent the summer testing it with different ammo. Once I was happy with the barrel then it was time to blue it. I removed the barrel, cleaned the bore really well, plugged the end and filled it with shellac, let it set for a minuet, pulled the plug and drained the shellac out and let set for a day to dry. After the barrel was blued I filled it with alcohol, let soak for some time then cleaned it out, took several times to get all the shellac out. The bore is perfect, no bluing at all.

Michael,

I just love the Stevens 44 1/2. Bet yours is awesome.
My favorite gunsmith here rebuilt one to original, and it's rust blued too.. Talk about a magnificent rifle, he has it. There is no way I can talk him out of it either.. I tried.

Don

Don

Doc,

I asked that same question to Ed Shilen about 25 years ago and he said that the SS will machine much smoother than the CM barrels. That does make for more accuracy, but the SS barrels are easy to bend in a hunting rifle with a fall. CM seems to be more like spring steel if it is properly heattreated. Just my 2cents worth.

Les