Hi All,
I was posting something in another thread, about 10/22s, and that got me thinking about the quality of finishes on modern guns as opposed to older ones. Is it just me, or do new guns today seem to have lower-quality bluing on them than they used to? My 10/22 is about 15+ years old, has been abused to no end, and to this day doesn't look like it's lost so much as a micron off of the finish. On the other hand, I have a much newer Browning shotgun, and the bluing came off every edge on the receiver where I handle it over the course of one summer.
I have a friend who is one of those strange "I have to buy this really old gun" types (not like any of you guys, I'm sure...) and he has a basement full of 30-50 year old guns - most of them also look like their finishes have held up better over decades than some of mine have over 2-3 years...
I'm just wondering if I should buy any more blued rifles, or just stick with the phosphatized or stainless models going forward. What do you guys think?
EDIT:
I wonder if it's just the manufacturer - do some makes have better / more durable finishes than others?
I was posting something in another thread, about 10/22s, and that got me thinking about the quality of finishes on modern guns as opposed to older ones. Is it just me, or do new guns today seem to have lower-quality bluing on them than they used to? My 10/22 is about 15+ years old, has been abused to no end, and to this day doesn't look like it's lost so much as a micron off of the finish. On the other hand, I have a much newer Browning shotgun, and the bluing came off every edge on the receiver where I handle it over the course of one summer.
I have a friend who is one of those strange "I have to buy this really old gun" types (not like any of you guys, I'm sure...) and he has a basement full of 30-50 year old guns - most of them also look like their finishes have held up better over decades than some of mine have over 2-3 years...
I'm just wondering if I should buy any more blued rifles, or just stick with the phosphatized or stainless models going forward. What do you guys think?
EDIT:
I wonder if it's just the manufacturer - do some makes have better / more durable finishes than others?