While stainless is harder and offers an advantage to centerfire bullet shooters. I'm not sure how much of a disadvantage a high quality electro nickel plating is. I say this with all due respect because sabots are made out of plastic anda nickelinterior barrelfinish appears to be slicker than plain steel....so maybenickel produces less friction.
Not every steel barreled gun that I've bought has beenwell finished and mirror polished. Some barrels have lots of striations left in the steel from the rifling process, andthe nickel plating just may smooth them out.Even stainlesssteel can rust if it's neglected too much. Stainless probably costsseveral times more than nickel. Sopeople get whatthey pay for, and a nickeled barrelcosts more than aregular steel barrel model. It offers something, just like chrome lined barrels do. Sure stainless probablylasts longer, but what if plastic slides over nickel with less friction?If Traditions offers nickel instead of stainless, then it's probably not as good as stainless, but it doesn't mean that nickel is bad.
Nickel makes a gun more affordable than stainless,and more rust resistant thanplain steel.So how bad is it?