"Blued guns suck alright if you are too lazy to wipe them off with a soft cloth before putting them away!"

Spoken like a man who has never hunted in alaska. YOu spend 10 days in the rain, everything is wet, nothing left dry to wipe the gun down with. Throw in a little salt spray from hunting the coastlines you have a great recipe for rusting a gun right before your eyes. Blued guns are fine for people who only carry thier rifle to and from thier hunting stand, and have a nice dry home to come back to every day.

One cheap alternative is a good coating of ultra flat paint.

The french gray seems to be a really nice finish from EA brown. Decent price and great turn around time.
http://www.eabco.com/cssfg.html