Why Stainless

I prefer the blued ones...bright and shiny or worn.

I for one don't know HOW one gets the burn rings on a blued revolver clean

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You don't.

I prefer blued guns as well, but I as others have said, I'll take stainless over a poorly blued gun.

I don't like nickle. Too shiny and I perceive it as fragile because I've seen too many neglected nickle guns. High polish stainless has its place sometimes though.

"One day" I'll have a nice blued revolver. I don't think you can beat the classic look of a rich blueing job. But it would be a range gun only, nothing I'd ever carry. Even with my blued semi's like my Mark after I wipe them down with an oily rag after use I I have to be meticulous about putting it back in the safe while holding them with a rag or I'll get speckles of rust wherever my hand touched the metal. The same thing can (and has) happened with my stainless guns, but it is much more forgiving.

Hi...
I have and use handguns that are blued and stainless both, along with a few in nickle finish.
I actually prefer blued with case-colored frames but if the gun is standard blued or stainless, it isn't automatically rejected.
I prefer SA and DA revolvers, mostly Ruger Vaqueros and Blackhawks along with S&W revolvers, mostly L and N frames. A good deal on a Cimarron or Uberti SAA clone will almost always have me reaching for my wallet, if funds allow.

I like the way the above-mentioned revolvers look and the finish as long as well done doesn't factor in, unless I am specifically looking to acquire a specific finish, such as a bright nickle finish SAA clone Cimarron Cattleman Cody that I bought specifically to carry in a black leather cowboy-style rig.

I bought a stainless L-frame 686 in stainless specifically to hunt with in bad weather.
I have bought several SAA clones and full-size Vaqueros with case-colored frames specifically because I really like that look in a revolver, especially when mated up with a brass grip frame.

What I do not like is the colored frame handguns I see in gun shops...I see no need personally for a pink handgun or even the sand-colored large frame autos I see from time to time.

I like steel handguns...it took me a very long time to buy a polymer handgun. I eventually did by one...an M&P40, but only to try out a then new to me cartridge and polymer frame. While it is a perfectly functional and accurate firearm, it evokes no emotional reaction the way a conventional 1911-style auto does. My M&P is simply a test bed to try something new...a means to an end. Even if it eventually makes it's way into being a carry gun...it will be only because of its large magazine capacity and because it is functional. After several thousand rounds through it, it still has no emotional appeal to me whatsoever. It is just a tool...nothing more.

I prefer the look of blued, but stainless cleans up easier and is more corrosion resistant.

Well, you must have been in the dry part of Florida, because my
blued guns started rusting up the first
year here, and I've been seeking rust-resistant finishes ever since.

Yes, right next door to the Arizona swamp land.

CraigC said:

Yes, right next door to the Arizona swamp land.

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I live in that "Arizona swamp land", if what you're referring to is the swamp coolers so popular in these desert climates. And I've seen some horrible things that happen to blued guns left in the vicinity of a swamp cooler's outlet.

One student in my CCW classes showed up on range day with a gun in a sock that had rested on top of a dresser right under the vent for a swamp cooler...for years. What they pulled out of the sock it was an old M&P S&W that was completely rusted shut. I could not open the cylinder without beating on it, hard. Even when we finally got the cylinder open and unloaded it, the hammer wouldn't cock and the trigger only moved a little. I told them to take it to a gunsmith to see what they could do but I think it was a total loss. Very sad.

Dave

I love the look of a very highly polished and well blued firearm, don't care what type but revolvers are particularly beautiful as functional tools that can also be considered art.

I also appreciate a well finished stainless steel. Most manufacturers don't do a very good job here though. Ruger and Smith & Wesson both offer a poorly brushed finish on most of their stainless guns. Some of the Smith & Wessons do at least have a nice bead blasted finish that is uniform and looks good, but you have to step up to Pro series or Performance center guns. Freedom Arms does a good job on their Field Grade with glass bead finishing, and the Premier Grade brushed finish is very nice (really like mine) and carefully hand applied. High polish stainless is not personally my favorite, but those can look very nice and certainly take skill to achieve.

Current blued revolvers are just not consistent. The few that Smith & Wesson puts out look pretty decent, until you put them next to an older Smith in pristine condition. At least they are trying, I'm guessing a lot of the old guys who knew how to polish out a revolver retired and didn't train their replacements in the years S&W didn't make any classic blued revolvers. Ruger revolvers are to be quite frank, atrocious in the metal finish both stainless and blued, with the blued guns being particularly lackluster.

Maybe Smith & Wesson, and Ruger should offer an optional high polish blue where the gun costs reflect the extra labor. I'd probably be interested.

Another consideration would be to just salt bath nitrocarburize a lot of the revolvers that aren't going to be highly polished for blueing. We know that controlled oxidation after the parts come out of the molten salt will produce a nice durable black finish, and the surface conversion process leaves a super hard surface finish that is also very corrosion resistant, and abrasion resistant. Plus the bore and chambers benefit as well. Since a lot of these blued guns don't look any better than a nitrided finish, why not just nitride them?

I like blued though you don't see them like past times. OTOH I like stainless to because the ease in caring for. Here is a matte blue 686-3, the edges show wear though not as visible in this pic.
View attachment 237203

Swore I'd never own anything but blue till I got my first stainless. Once you get that first one your view changes considerably. Same with nickel, own a good one and you'll spit on blue.

I prefer blue...nothing wrong with some stainless though







or nickel

Why stainless? Cause I'm to lazy to clean my guns and companies are to lazy to develop ways to make black stainless that can be realistically used through out the firearm industry.

Deaf

stchman said:

I guess I'm in the minority on this thread, but I prefer a stainless revolver with a matte or bead blasted finish over blued. As far as wooden vs rubber handles, I personally find rubber grips more comfortable, but wood grips look a lot nicer.

I for one don't know HOW one gets the burn rings on a blued revolver clean, I have to scrub my SS revolver cylinder face with a brass brush and Hoppe's #9 to get them clean.

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I, too like the bead-blasted SS finish. I blasted a 686+ 4", and I like it better than my other factory semi-polished Smiths.

Try a little Flitz on a cloth for the cylinder rings on a stainless revolver. I've found it is as easy as pie to get those rings off with it.

Not just revolvers but I believe a stainless steel gun that has been hard chromed is about as rust resistant one can practically get.

I LIKE EM ALL! there is something special about a blued gun with some honest use marks showing.

I've always loved the looks of blued and nickled steel, but when I first began looking at guns it didn't take long to notice the holster wear on blued guns. And they weren't as nice as the stainless guns, which kept their values far better than the blued guns. I've always loved stainless guns, especially the double action .357 revolvers like the old S&W 66s and the old medium frame Rugers.

If any of these companies ever figured out how to make gun steel black all the way through (and it should be possible), then that would be great. But putting blue on shiny white steel just doesn't work for me because it comes off too easily. Or, if they came out with a hard chrome in different colors, that would be cool. But I've seen nothing in that regard. Ugly plastic pistols seen to be the rage these days, but I'll never own one. They're reliable, accurate, utterly dependable, and about as desirable as a hammer! How many people subscribe to hammer magazines? No one. Put out an ugly gray, plastic pistol, and some nitwit will put it on the cover of a magazine! And these guns are almost always totally forgettable -- not guns like the S&W 659/559 or the 645 or 4506. These guns are easily recognizable on the silver screen and are beautiful, as are the revolvers of the past, but as some have noted, beautiful bluing is so environmentally incorrect that it's easier to use a room full of monkeys with black magic markers to blue today's guns. The days of beautiful bluing jobs are over.

(Actually, Taurus has a beautiful black finish it uses or used on some of their .357s)

I recently got a Citizen watch that is blackened stainless steel. It seems like a tough finish and is black as the ace of spades but you can still see the grain in the metal, so it's not a coating. Possibly something like ionbond.

While I absolutely love the traditional blue finish of my Model 41 and the somewhat less traditional of my Tanfo Witness Hunter, it's a real joy to be able to easily make minor mods stainless guns--removing the crap manufactures etch and stamp all over them (Super Redhawk Alaskan) or removing hideous trigger guard finger hooks and beavertails (Sig Elite Stainless). I'm sure not saying it's great you can buy a stainless gun you don't like so you can modify it...I'm saying it's nice to know that, without the cost of paying a lot for refinishing, you can do some nice things with stainless that I, at least, wouldn't find possible with blued steel. In revolvers, I simply prefer stainless, and all revolvers are, for me, range toys only (I don't hunt). On the other hand, in auto pistols, I tend to prefer parkerized or flat black.

I understand wanting more choices, though. Classic blue steel seems extremely rare.

I love the look of a blued revolver. But all mine get carried at some point or another. They either get sweaty from summer carry, or get rained on when I go hiking, or get snow on them in the winter when snowshoeing. I keep them as clean as possible, but internal cleaning on a regular basis is more than I'm willing to do. So it just makes sense to buy stainless when it's available at a reasonable price difference.

I like the corrosion resistance of stainless steel. That said I hate the look of it. Always made me think of a gun "in the white" with no finish. I like my guns black. So most of mine are blued.

joed said:

Swore I'd never own anything but blue till I got my first stainless. Once you get that first one your view changes considerably. Same with nickel, own a good one and you'll spit on blue.

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I've owned any number of stainless revolvers & semi autos, and a few nickel revolvers. I still prefer blue, so your statement about spitting on blue is false. You are entitled to your opinion but don't tell others what they are going to think.

Dave

Let my Anaconda out of the cage yesterday...I don't think it would look right if it was blued carbon steel.