nickel barrels...

[tcuser]

how does nickle compare to stainless is as good or just a cost cutting gimmick to lower price and give the look of stainless, because mostly the "spannish imports" use nickle??

[sabotloader]

tcuser

And so do the Itialians, and even some American manufactures. It gives the look of stainless it is not stainless and it requires care, but so does stainless. Those that do not take of their stainless ML's will get bit also.

I myself prefer stainless but i have a couple of Nickel A&H's and one firebolt that are doing just fine.

[cayugad]

the nickel barrels look nice but they really do not protect the barrel more then a blued one. I have a CVA Staghorn Magnum that is nickel. It cleans nice and stains nice. I like the barrel but it is not stainless.

[frontier gander]

Savage arms also uses nickel barrels. My brother in law has a .270 savage with a nickel barrel. If i had to choose between blue or nickel, it'd buy nickel but that just depends on what suits your taste.

[Underclocked]

Savage uses nickel barrels?

Nickel finish is a plating and if not properly applied and/or cared for - can allow rusting processes to occur under the plating. Usually results in the plating coming off in chunks and looks like crap. That problem doesn't seem to happen much with modern plating techniques though. Nickel steel is an alloy of steel, loosely defined but generally less than 6% nickel content. Some barrels are made of what is termed "nickel steel" but will usually wear a blued finish. Stainless contains a minimum of 10% chromium and will also contain nickel and/or manganese. What you see on CVA and Traditions is nickel plate over steel. I guess some of the upper end CVAs now also come in a stainless alloy.

I asked Remington what the barrels in the blued and stainless version of their Genesis rifles were made of (meaning specific alloy, but did not ask that as it seemed an obvious thing). Some gal answered and told me they use steel. I responded to ask her if she meant steel as opposed to rubber... then explained I wanted to know the specific alloy. She tried but could not get an answer to give me. And that is typical of the information with regard to Spanish barrels - it may be fine but who the heck knows? Remington Arms apparently does not.

[frontier gander]

i know the winchester barrel is stainless. You really cant judge a company due to the person working there not knowing what you are asking about. If the company does not give them that kind of info, theres noway for them to know. They are there to help you out with info they do know about. As for that spanish made shot you took, CVA/BPI is one of the best to deal with. Never had problems from them. Ooops! I forgot, i've never had to send my rifle in for repairs or trigger work. Although they did offer me free replacement sights when i emailed them about a cheaper plastic set. Nice of them but they wernt setup for my eyes and so i bought the $20 replacements from a local store. Cheap, plastic, but they grow bright and big! Love them sights now.