Bluing on modern Savage rifles vs. older rifles

[Kirk_Ferentz]

I need to pick up a hunting rifle and one of my criteria is to have a decent finish on the metal that will give some good protection against the elements. I love the deep bluing that you see on say an older Remington 700 or Winchester 70, and I know from experience that it does a good job protecting the metal. I'm more skeptical of newer rifle finishes; maybe it's because I saw a new remington 870 shotgun rust up like crazy with its crappy finish.

Anyway, I'm considering some newer savage rifles; their bluing actually looks pretty good. I don't expect it to be on the same level as you'd find on a nice older rifle, but I'd like to hear any of your experiences in terms of how well later model savage bluing protects against moisture, etc. If it does a good job, I might go that route.

 

[joed]

I owned a later model Savage, never a problem of rust on mine. But, I've since changed my habits only buying stainless now. For the price the peace of mind is cheap.

 

[CApighunter]

Don't know much about savage blueing, but I have a buddy that the "blueing" on the bolt of his Savage (newer basic blued/synthetic) began to peel off, almost like a paint or coating. He touched it up with a blueing pen, but it just makes me glad my hunting rifle is stainless. Don't get me wrong, I love that classic blued look, but the quality from several manufactures has been reportedly falling off in the last few years. By the way, I had the same issue with my 870 Express. It would rust ridiculously easily, so I keep a liberal coat of Rem-Oil on it and am looking into Duracoating it.
CApighunter

 

[Kirk_Ferentz]

Maybe I'm going a little too far but the remington express 870 finish is almost like having no finish at all when it comes to protecting against rust from moisture. It is very, very bad. That's why I picked up an old parkerized police magnum. A nicely blued old wingmaster would also do a much better job fighting the elements.