Going to be getting a new rifle soon. While I do like wood/blued steel, I'm a little afraid about the rust issue. I don't typically hunt in a rainstorm, but I don't want to scared to be still hunting when the weather man says we might get some drizzle.
What can I do to keep the blued steel free of rust and the wood from warping?
If it helps, the rifle will be a Ruger M77 Hawkeye. Trying to decide between their wood/blued model and their stainless/laminate
Boy, how did our grandfathers ever kill anything with all of those wood stocked, blued steel rifles rusting to powder in just one hunt?
In other words, no you don't need stainless. If it gets wet just wipe it down.
If it had not been for a great deal on a stainless steel 338RUM I wouldn't have a stainless rifle. All of my rifles would be wood stocked, blued steel.
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Stainless sure doesn't hurt, but it's not essential. The key is good maintenance. To keep the wood in good shape, make sure that it's 100% sealed from outside moisture with either a polyurethane clearcoat varnish or a thorough rubbed oil finish (like tung oil). Either will seal the wood and keep moisture out.
For the blued steel, a high quality gun oil with good preservative properties is essential, and should be applied as often as warranted by conditions. Personally, I very much like BreakFree CLP (CLP mean Cleaner-Lubricant-Preservative). BreakFree CLP is commercially branded version of the milspec CLP that is issued to all troops for use with the M16 variants. It's basically a Teflon impregnated light oil/solvent mixture. It'll dissolve a lot of crud to clean the weapon, the oil provides immediate lubrication, and if applied correctly (meaning sparingly), it'll dry to a non-dust attracting coating that provides adequate lubrication (remembering that the M16's are select-fire weapons capable of full-auto/burst fire), and very good protection against the elements. If you're hunting in bad weather, you'd just need to dry the moisture from the rifle and reapply a light coat of CLP every day. It's also not a bad idea, if the rain is really pouring down, to shelter the rifle from as much rain as possible so as not to totally water-log it.
But if you like stainless steel, go for it. Just a side note, though. The type of stainless steel they make guns out of (usually 410 or 416 stainless) is not the same stainless steel your forks and spoons are made of. Firearms stainless CAN RUST. It takes a lot longer, and requires much more extreme conditions and/or neglect, but it can happen. So buying a stainless barreled action is not a ticket to getting out of gun maintenance. I am personally a very big fan of the stainless/laminate look for rifles. It's both an aesthetic and practical thing.
I prefer stainless only because when I elk hunt, the conditions are usually pretty nasty and it is nice to know that I can go a few more days before I get paranoid about corrosion starting and feel compelled to do a thorough cleaning. But, I have never had a problem with my blued/walnut rifles. If you take good care of a gun, it won't matter much.
Nothing uglier than a deep gloss blue finish and a pretty walnut stock w/ scratches and dings all over it. SS doesnt scratch and even if does, you wont see it. I also think SS/laminate is pretty cool looking.
Theres also something to be said for low maintenance in a rifle or shotgun , when i come home from a cold wet hunt, i dont even feel like lugging all my gear in the house , much less cleaning or drying it.
Stainless is only slightly more than blued. For that reason I get stainless. I don't have to worry about it at all. Does it rust. Yes. I've had a few get little spots of rust before but it wipes right off with a some 0000 steel wool.
Tom
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Get one to keep in a cabinet and one to hunt with.
As you can tell, all of my "newer" rifles are synthetic and stainless.
It's up to you, but it seems like you worry about dings and scraches.
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I am not big on stainless (yes stainless does rust) plus I personally like the look of the blued better, but I do prefer a laminate/composite stock,
Just my
Do I need stainless???
