[quote][Guns with blued barrels don't work. You need stainless, and you need to pay a lot more for it/quote]
Your kidding right?
Oldelkhunter, You mentioned about s/s loosing strength at low temperatures. Could you elaborate. I just purchased a new rifle with s/s barrel and it can get pretty cold up here when hunting.
As an example Weatherby's which have thin barrels to start out with builds their barrels with 410 steel which is harder then 416 steel. I had a weatherby lightweight a few years back in 300 wthby that had a fluted barrel, they stopped making it a year later. If you go to the Krieger barrel website and look under profiles they have a disclaimer at bottom about not going below a certain dimension and recommend 410 steel at a higher price. USMC has pointed this out as well. SS looks great and all but maybe it isn't all they are cracked up to be. I wouldn't turn down a NULA rifle or a D'arcy Echols Legend just because they come with a chrome moly barrel. Echols doesn't make it in SS and it is an option on the NULA. And if recent events are any indication concerning Sako , manufacturers have to be extra careful making barrels or any other high stress component out of this material. So happens that Sako was able to isolate the production dates of their rifles to recall them and it will cost them dearly in sales and a smear on their reputation but do other major manufacturers have the same documentation in place...I seriously doubt they all do. I would say that any stainless steel barrel that is not fluted and has a regular contour and not minimal contour should be be fine.