Stainless worth it for backpack hunting?

G

gorby

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Greetings all!

Trying to decided on my first centerfire rifle and wondering how much of a priority I should place on stainless.

I am pretty good about maintenance of my gear, but my aspiration is to do some 3 day backpack hunts next fall. So, this rifle will be subject to rain and snow for days on end. After which, I will clean, oil, and store with ventilation.

My concern is not so much the price, just that I want iron sights and there seem to be few stainless rifles with sights. My budget is $800-$1200. Of course, I can always get iron sights mounted after the fact.

Thanks for any advice or recommendations on rifles.

Matt
 
Depends how meticulous you are with maintaining your guns. After a hunt I always restock my rifle and give it a good clean. After the range I clean if I shoot corrosive or as required for other guns. If I only fire a few rounds I don't go crazy cleaning my guns.

I would assume that a synthetic stocked stainless hunting rifle will be much more tolerant to the elements between cleaning on average. Depends how much that is worth to you.

Perfect budget to get a CZ 308 557 do a search wolverine will have 557 range 1175 soon and another dealer had preorders on the 557 with irons and internal magazine where the range is detachable for 899...

I like you will not buy a rifle without iron sights. I may mount a scope but I'm not interested in a gun that is useless if I break my scope.
 
If you could find an older stainless Ruger MKII with irons that would be pretty perfect!

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Or maybe a Ruger guide gun, they are a bit heavy though.

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philhut said:
Depends how meticulous you are with maintaining your guns. After a hunt I always restock my rifle and give it a good clean. After the range I clean if I shoot corrosive or as required for other guns. If I only fire a few rounds I don't go crazy cleaning my guns.

I would assume that a synthetic stocked stainless hunting rifle will be much more tolerant to the elements between cleaning on average. Depends how much that is worth to you.

Perfect budget to get a CZ 308 557 do a search wolverine will have 557 range 1175 soon and another dealer had preorders on the 557 with irons and internal magazine where the range is detachable for 899...

I like you will not buy a rifle without iron sights. I may mount a scope but I'm not interested in a gun that is useless if I break my scope.
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I really like my CZ 452, so that 557 Ranger in .308 is pretty interesting to me. If I go blued that will likely be the way I go. That being said, can you remember the dealer selling the 557 for 899?
 
Stainless is great, bad weather is what its made for however there are many coatings that also do a great job. I have one hunting rig duracoated and it works great. Blued will rust quite fast in the right conditions.
 
GMC403 said:
Is Stainless worth it for backpack hunting?.

100% yes.

There’s zero downside that I’m aware of (other than esthetics to some)
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A perfect maintenance schedule isn't always possible when hunting the backcountry out of a backpack. SS isn't rustproof, but is definitely more forgiving.
 
From the late 60's many many backpack sheep, goat and caribou hunts in the BC mountains, sometimes for a week or ten days straight. In the early years before stainless rifles were available my go to mountain rifle was a Husqvarna M4000 featherweight .270 and I always carried a tiny bottle of oil, an oily rag and a pull through and I was always able to prvent rusting. Put tape over your muzzle and just shoot through it, a waterproof sleeve for the gun works great if not anticipating a quick shot. Inlater years I tried numerous other guns that were usually too heavy and always came back to the Husky. My last mountain rifles were Browning A Bolt Stainless Stalkers and they were true all weather warriors. This is what I would recommend today in a non magnum ( lighter weight) backpack rifle. J
 
I build all my guns in stainless. I'm a big fan of the remington 7xx series, especially for backpack hunting. My perfect rifle is the one I just completed (it is a bit heavy but I'm no wilting flower) its a 700 SS BDL with a schillen select barrel 24" in 300 WM. All my guns have aftermarket stocks (i.e McMillan) but to preserve the little bit more hunter / classic stock I just took the factory stock, relieved it from the barrel and then filled the forestock (and bedded the action) with marine epoxy to stiffen it all up. Somehow despite building more tactical type rifles for the last 10 or so years I came up with the straightest shooting iron I've ever built.

I have hunted in the mountains in nasty nasty weather (multi-day hunts) for elk and deer the made me question my sanity (not really.... I loved every minute of it) and the last thing I want to be worried about is my rifle. I put an ear plug in the end or a kids party baloon over the end (the condom trick works well but meh, I bought a pack of party balloons 5 years ago for 1.99 and I still have like 200 left).

Yes you can blue a rifle and you can do this and that but with Stainless you don't have to. Sure if you left it outside for a long while it might start to rust (corode) but really? Hard to scratch or wear a finish of stainless off either vs bluing as it is the finish and it goes all the way through.

just my thoughts as my hunting rifles are not show peices but rather very reliably kill sticks.

Stainless ALL THE WAY, COMPOSITE STOCK ALL THE WAY. Unless your buying a classic to hunt a classic (45/70 or muzzleloader) go with something modern for the small increase in price (sometimes).
 
You have to neglect a blued rifle to have rust pits on the exterior of the rifle. You have to grossly neglect a stainless rifle to get any corrosion. I find it fairly easy to keep the exterior of a rifle rust free. It's the bore of the rifle that is the hard part of the rifle to keep from corroding, especially if you tend to hunt with a fouled bore in damp weather. It does't even need to be damp, just needs a little cold weather and bring your rifle into a warm room or truck. Instant condesation. Putting tape on the end of the barrel does not stop condensation.
Talk to any gunsmith, that uses a borescope, about the chromoly barrels they replace. Most of these are pitted. Have yet to see a pitted stainless bore.
 
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