I have a BDL in wood and it's too nice to take in the woods, so I take one of my 700's with the synthetic stock.

Since you're asking I'll give you my opinion based only on my opinion. LOL!

I'd go with the XCR in the blued barrel. Stainless barrels look awful ugly to me! I've passed up many deals because of having a stainless barrel. The only one that looked nice to me was on a Thompson Center Encore Pro .270.

Sorry I couldn't help any more than that. I don't know the merits of stainless over blued... and even wonder if there is, if it's worth it because blued barrels have treated me well for over 3 decades.

iSnipe