Tikka T3X Canadian Special Edition.
- Thread starter YukonBrett
- Start date
Ceracoat scratches quite easily in fact. But it's hard to get a camo pattern made from stainless steel.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I always hear that, haven’t seen it. I guide in the salt on the coast and my Glock turned red spotted after a single season. The stainless Model 70 .375 has seen far worse and the only spots on it are the blued sights. The anchor on our big boat is stainless and has ridden the bow for 30 years, not a speck of rust, only washes it gets are being dipped in salt water. If you lay stainless in contact with a dissimilar metal (aluminum boat etc) it’s possible to create electrolysis and corrosion, but usually the other metal takes the brunt. Check stainless shackles and hardware on fishing boats too... stainless doesn’t rust the way blued gun preferers would like to think.
Very true,
I have a rem 700 SS that had a couple specs between the action and recoil lug in the stock.
AND a Sako 85 finnlight that had a couple specs the sizes of maybe a grain of sugar starting in a couple spots fresh out of the box in the stock.
SS guns definitely rust, still cant be even remotely compared to a blued gun though.
Agreed, there are many different grades and types of stainless steel. But I've never seen rust on a stainless steel rifle. Or on stainless steel mounting hardware used offshore drilling in marine environments. I keep reading that stainless will rust but it doesn't seem to be a big issue with stainless steel firearms.
It’s pretty hard to get stainless to rust. Usually it’s non stainless parts on the gun rusting. For Salt water hunting stainless rules
I had a Ruger stainless 7RM that was stolen from my cabin one summer. I found it poking out of the snow the next spring when the snow was melting. Only rust on it was some on the non stainless Timber trigger. Cleaned the rifle up in 10 minutes. A blued rufke would be a much different story!
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Usually it’s blued gun lovers who will quickly chime in “Stainless still rusts!” I believe in extreme conditions it’s possible, but they should see what we put stainless guns through on the coast and zero issues. I can only speak for the stainless Ruger and Winchester guns, but it’s truly stainless out here with zero maintenance. I’d ask the blued proponents to post pics of their rusted, seized stainless Wins and Rugers.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
I've seen exceptions to the stainless doesn't rust sentiment, although I have to agree that stainless doesn't rust much, even in salt water. Examples I've seen run from insignificant brown spots on the surface of a stainless Browning to serious problems with a Remington 870 Marine Magnum where the extractor fell out of the bolt when the plunger rusted in the depressed position. The best reason to spray a coating on a stainless gun is because some people don't find stainless particularly attractive. I like the look of a stainless barrel, screwed into a blued action, in a wood stock, but if I ever get another full stainless gun, it'll probably get a paint job. I might even paint my 4" S&W M-66 . . . some day.
the only stainless steel rifles that i ve seen with rust where the sako85 and tikka t3 all in stainless after a week or so of hunting in our moutains and forest. it was not rusty as the blued one but brown some spots it was about 7-8 years ago. i had to clean few of them but never seen that again so maybe a bad batch. ruger stainless is very good.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Now that I think about it, I believe you are correct.
My kimber MA has a couple rust spots in the barrel fluting, about the size of a couple sesame seeds. If I had treated a blued rifle in the same manner it would have been a lump of rust. Pure north western bc abuse, and it’s holding up great.
I have a stainless classic M70 that has been beat to snot. The inside of the floor plate was brown with rust, or so I thought. After I cleaned it up I realized it was just rust from the mag spring that had transferred to the stainless floorplate. Cleaned right up with a little oil.
I have a stainless classic M70 that has been beat to snot. The inside of the floor plate was brown with rust, or so I thought. After I cleaned it up I realized it was just rust from the mag spring that had transferred to the stainless floorplate. Cleaned right up with a little oil.
It depends on the grade of Stainless steel. Most things made of stainless are of the 300 series (304, 316) which will still rust if exposed to the elements long enough. Things need to be of the 400 series stainless or higher to avoid rusting.
Your anchor is most likely a very high grade of Stainless steel. Stainless steel is ferrous (contains iron).
Or so I am told ��
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
A lot of misunderstanding here. Yea, stainless steel is principally iron- it’s steel. The difference is it’s minimum 10.5% chromium, allowing it to form an inert surface layer over, and over. If it’s scratched or did corrode, it will immediately form another layer of chromium oxide and protect itself, over and over. Even the trace oxygen in water is enough. Rust can’t “start” on stainless like carbon steel as the chromium oxide forms faster and more readily than iron oxide, it basically outcompetes it for the oxygen in the reaction as chromium oxide forms essentially instantly, and iron oxide (rust) needs time.
Most rifle barrels are 416 series stainless but the series does not denote its corrosion resistance, lower series stainless steels are often more corrosion resistant, like 304 which has one of the highest corrosion resistance. 304 is what a lot of cutlery is made of, it makes a decades of trips through hot, wet environments without a mark. Put stainless in the presence of another metal and water, and you can get electrolytic corrosion. Usually it’ll eat the other metal first. True stainless doesn’t rust, it can stain or corrode however, both at a tiny fraction of carbon (blued) steel’s sensitivity. It is a better material, no question, but that doesn’t make blued guns “bad”.
Most rifle barrels are 416 series stainless but the series does not denote its corrosion resistance, lower series stainless steels are often more corrosion resistant, like 304 which has one of the highest corrosion resistance. 304 is what a lot of cutlery is made of, it makes a decades of trips through hot, wet environments without a mark. Put stainless in the presence of another metal and water, and you can get electrolytic corrosion. Usually it’ll eat the other metal first. True stainless doesn’t rust, it can stain or corrode however, both at a tiny fraction of carbon (blued) steel’s sensitivity. It is a better material, no question, but that doesn’t make blued guns “bad”.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Good example of stainless is kitchen knives, most affordable ones are 400 series stainless. They’ll go a lifetime of dishwasher cycles and wet, acidic veggies and fruit, not a mark on them. A carbon steel knife (or rifle bolt) would be rusty in a couple days. I used to think stainless could rust, then I learned more about it. It can corrode, but that’s rare in rifle applications. Some stainless rifles use steels with lower chromium content than is conventional for stainless, Sako / Tikka may, as the one weakness of stainless in rifles is it’s weaker in extreme cold than carbon steel. Given where Sako / Tikka come from, they may lean towards a more carbon steel “stainless”.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
We had several company gun marine magnums at helicopter camp a few years ago, they were all rather corroded basket cases, as they’d been signed out of pilots and frequently fired flares and bangers without cleaning. Bores looked like sewer pipe.
