stainless hunting rifles are not always stainless

The world has allowed the term “stainless” to define a color/finish.
Has nothing to do with corrosion resistance or material composition.
Even when they make it “stainless steel” it doesn’t mean everything is stainless…
Many manufacturers only consider the barrel, receiver and bolt to count if they say it’s made of stainless steel.
Everything else isn’t…better but still not great.
And after owning more than a few stainless steel guns not all stainless steel is equally resilient to corrosion, some is better than others.
For corrosion resistance in a wet, salt water hunting environment the best stainless steel gun I’ve used is the Sako 85. They also get bonus points for their stainless steel scope rings and mounts.
Seems since Covid the market has drifted away from stainless steel and deep blued steel somewhat and gone to paint…a trend I’ve managed to happily avoid so far.
 
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EJG said:
1, Even some German rifle manufacturers painted actions/barrels in silver to make fake stainless rifles. The only part of a rifle I really want in stainless is the inside of the barrel all else can be painted/oiled/protected. 2. My steel barrels are rusty after a few hours of wet hunt on the coast.
edi
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Ah the Irish.

1. the Germans have higher standards than most industries, I never encountered a firearm advertised as stainless (neither in Europe nor America), which was "painted silver".
Privat sellers on the other hand, are trying to sell nickle plated guns a stainless, this is very common, due to their incompetence.

2. rusting after a few hours of hunting?
You must be hunting in the ocean, under water with corrosive ammo.
 
mkrnel said:
Rossi M92 lever actions were all Stainless steel except for the locking bars and sights.


Rossi-M92-utilizes-Browning-designed-lever-action-that-first-appeared-on-Winchester-Model-1892.jpg



Pretty sure the Ruger No.1 stainless was too.



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Neither rifle is all stainless. Everything, including springs, screws, and trigger parts were stainless steel on the model 70’s.
 
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Highwind said:
Stainless is fine as long as it's a dull finish.
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The finish has very little to do with the overall performance of stainless steel. In fact, a dull finish would be a rougher finish and thus have the ability to hold corrosives to the surface more so than that of a smooth finish. The old Remington SPS rifles were notorious with their blasted finish for rusting as did the 870 Express shotguns. The surface had much to do with this. I've seen this while hunting ducks on the salt water here in the east.

The composition of the stainless is a bigger factor to it's performance.
 
conor_90 said:
Are nickel and chrome coating not effective at repelling rust?

At some point you just want a gun that doesn't rust, even if silver looks cool.

If nitride or nickel or whatever is better at repelling rust I'm into it. I understand being unhappy about ceracote.

What is the cva made out of?
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Scout is 416 stainless.

If you start googling there is an absolute ton of discussion about steel types for precision shooting.

For hunting purposes,

Moderate Resistance: 416 stainless steel exhibits moderate corrosion resistance, particularly in dry atmospheres, fresh water, and mild acids and alkalis. However, it is less resistant than non-free-machining grades and is not recommended for use in marine environments or areas with high chloride exposure due to its susceptibility to pitting and crevice corrosion
 
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Certainly a pervasive issue. Had a vendor I worked with a lot on new products tell me one day that the OEM has subbed some stuff he'd supplied out to Taiwan, just said that if you see rust complaints on this , this, and that---we didn't supply it to the OEM. He wasn't kidding, one winter theose items were done. Nice part is he could say when he last shipped stuff to them, so we had an idea when the OEM had run out of his goods. Ended up with dealers across N America causing quite the kerfuffle with the OEM the next year about rusty "stainless" product that did not used to be an issue.
 
I'm reading this with interest, my understanding of stainless is that it just corrodes slower it is not impervious to corrosion. Accordingly I still always wipe even SS firearms down after use and rub a light coat of gun oil on them after use.

The two examples of my experience with stainless steel rifles are with my fathers old Winchester Model 1300 "Marine" shotgun and it was highly resistant to corrosion - although we still kept it lightly oiled to help it resist corrosion. It spent about 6 months in a kayak when my younger brother borrowed it from dad for bear spray when he circumnavigated Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands back in the mid 90's. The shotgun is still pristine with no signs of corrosion. I have a customized New Haven Winchester Model 70 stainless steel classic that has been extensively used in all weather for over 20 years. While it does show wear marks there is no corrosion I can see on it.
 
SuperCub said:
The finish has very little to do with the overall performance of stainless steel. In fact, a dull finish would be a rougher finish and thus have the ability to hold corrosives to the surface more so than that of a smooth finish. The old Remington SPS rifles were notorious with their blasted finish for rusting as did the 870 Express shotguns. The surface had much to do with this. I've seen this while hunting ducks on the salt water here in the east.

The composition of the stainless is a bigger factor to it's performance.
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I think you have a very valid point in regards to surface finish vs corrosion.
It seems to me that older blued guns that several seasoned hunters I knew used didn’t seem to degrade all that much over time and I’ve never seen rust on them.
Wear and scratches, yes.
Rust, not that I could see.
Pretty much a quick wipe down with an oily rag or WD40 after a day in the field is all I’ve ever seen; no special magical processes that I could see.
But they were all early 80’s or older smooth high polished guns.
I’ve hunted with newer blued guns a few times and even oiling out the wazoo they still started to rust quickly no matter how much cleaning and care I tried to provide which is what got me hooked on stainless steel guns.
Something I think that contributed is these newer guns all had a rougher machined surface that left the bluing fairly flat in color. I thought it might help hold the oil in but it seemed the opposite.
Maybe the older steels were better but I lean towards surface finish making a difference; on stainless steel or blued.
 
mephisto002 said:
Ah the Irish.

1. the Germans have higher standards than most industries, I never encountered a firearm advertised as stainless (neither in Europe nor America), which was "painted silver".
Privat sellers on the other hand, are trying to sell nickle plated guns a stainless, this is very common, due to their incompetence.

2. rusting after a few hours of hunting?
You must be hunting in the ocean, under water with corrosive ammo.
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I live in Ireland, never said I was Irish.
I have a blued Lothar Walther barrel on my Mauser. De-oil the clean barrel before the hunt and have to run patches through it in the evening that are then brown even with no shot fired. Also visible with the bore scope. Outside has no issues only the bore. We have a very wet climate. Never have issues with stainless barrels. Neither factory nor custom barrels.

I know about German standards ... worked for the German car industry for over 20 years as a development Engineer. The Rifles mentioned were either Sauer or Mauser. Shops advertised as stainless but were Ilaflon coated as far as I remember.
edi
 
Jimbobob08 said:
Curious sake, I went over to ruger.com to check what they use. They don’t specify exactly.

The Ruger M77 is made with a 400-series stainless steel, which is a proprietary blend used for its high-quality components. This type of stainless steel is known for its durability and resistance to corrosion, making it suitable for firearms.
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Keep in mind many Ruger parts are made from castings, all the grades mentioned to date in this thread are wrought products. Castings can be very easily customized at the foundry ladle (and marketing inevitably then tries to spin the end result as some kind of special formula).
 
SuperCub said:
The finish has very little to do with the overall performance of stainless steel. In fact, a dull finish would be a rougher finish and thus have the ability to hold corrosives to the surface more so than that of a smooth finish. The old Remington SPS rifles were notorious with their blasted finish for rusting as did the 870 Express shotguns. The surface had much to do with this. I've seen this while hunting ducks on the salt water here in the east.

The composition of the stainless is a bigger factor to it's performance.
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True. I've had carbon steel rifles that were highly polished (Mauser did quite a few of these back in the day) that resisted corrosion quite well. - dan
 
m1008 said:
View attachment 1046524
s&w
  • Forged 416 SS Receiver
  • 19.25" 410 SS Barrel

You’ll find some “higher end” gun companies using 17-4

They’ll all “rust” corrode, even the 300 series.
I’ve decommissioned environmental monitoring wells made from austenitic grades that are completely pitted and generally “rusted” to 💩.
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This ^^^^

If you "run 'er hard and put 'er away wet" every steel will eventually corrode. Now, the 4XX SSs will generally blotch, rather than pit (where a blued steel would be in really rough shape, but it isn't proof against rust by any stretch.
 
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