Why are there so few stainless barrels?

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joe2004

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I see a lot of the Dark barrel's But i don't see any stainless steel barrel's.

I mean my preference is stainless steel just look's nice and clean and easy to clean. But i was wondering if there is a reason why there aren't much stainless steel rifles.

thanks
 
There are more out therr than you would think. The ability to manufacture and work with stainless has come a long way. Strange to say, but blackened stainless steel barrels are gaining popularity. Even in handguns as S&W uses coated stainless slides on their M&P semi autos.
 
I am with you there Joe. I don;t have many rifles but most of my handguns are stainless.
I have got a Rossie stainless lever action that I just bought because of the look and workmanship on it. It has walnut wood. I looked at henry and Rossie at the same time and I thought the Rossie was made better.
 
More expensive, harder to machine, and said to be less accurate than chrome moly.
 
Stainless barrels contribute to global warming.
They are evil.
Denis
 
From what I understand is that both are equally accurate, however, the blued will gradually decrease in accuracy while a stainless barrel will remain accurate until a certain point is reached, then have a more dramatic decrease.

I've got a.stainless Marlin 45-70 GS that I will match up against any other 45-70 for accuracy at 100 yards.
 
Redlg155 said:
From what I understand is that both are equally accurate, however, the blued will gradually decrease in accuracy while a stainless barrel will remain accurate until a certain point is reached, then have a more dramatic decrease.

I've got a.stainless Marlin 45-70 GS that I will match up against any other 45-70 for accuracy at 100 yards.
Click to expand...
YES - this - the CM will gradually go off and the stainless (will hold it for longer BTW) and drop off suddlenly....and yes - most match barrels are stainless.
 
I just ordered a kimber 84L classic select with the stainless barrel and action over the blued version simply for longevity and its just something different from what i already have. Everyone is right about costing more, it was $1499.99 compared to $1249.99 for the same model but blued.
 
Just guessing, tradition and aesthetics control demand--and thus, more blued steel.

I've never seen any difference in accuracy insofar as group size. I've never had any problem in maintenance of blued steel or wood for some seventy years, so I'm indifferent to that issue.
 
I don't know personally but all I have studied says that a stainless steel barrel is likely to be more accurate than a CM, and the chrome lined barrels are overall the least accurate. But that's not to say that the reverse can't be true in many barrels... it's just an average.

I will soon find out in my little corner of the world... I have a SS on order. :)
 
Seems to me that if a barrel is air-gauged down to a ten-thousandth, odds are it wouldn't matter if it were stainless or not.

I enjoyed a guided tour through Bo Clerke's operation in Raton. One ten-thousandth. He turns out around 150 to 160 barrels a week for .17, .204 and .22 rimfire and maybe .223. The box of barrel blanks didn't look like stainless. :)

Granted, as a hunter, it doesn't take much below one MOA to satisfy my needs. 1/2 to 3/4 is plenty good, and I've been doing that for quite a few decades with regular old blued-steel barrels.

I'm just one MOA with my 700 Ti, though. :D
 
A lot of hunters prefer not to draw animals' attention with a bright, shiny, glaring-in-the-sun stainless barrel. I don't hunt, but I've heard this many times. Sounds reasonable enough.
 
What Buckeye said.

Dark metal doesn't flash.

I see plenty of stainless in target and varmint applications. In those cases, your targets are either inanimate, or not close enough or smart enough (usually) to take notice of a little glint.
 
i see a lot of stainless barrels on custom guns here in montana i guess because they work. I like them on my customs because i dont have to get them coated to be able to start shooting them. coatings are expensive and blueing in my neck of the woods is a pain in the rear. I like the two tone look of a stainless barrel blued reciever and a wood stock. never noticed a problem with glare but get tired of all the clanking and rattling associated with hunting with an AR! just kidding all you ar fans
 
I have to respectfully disagree with driftertank and buckeye8 as far as the barrel flash goes. Alot of times while hunting I can see a flash of light off my buddies blued rifle and it seems that no matter what way the sun hits the stainless barrel on my extreme weather it reflects very little. I guess i cant completely disagree though considering most stainless hunting rifles are "matte stainless" and you may have been thinking of raw polished stainless. In any case, most of the stainless hunting rifles I've seen are the matte finished ones.
 
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