50calty

Your barrel is not completely Stainless steel. Its only partly made up of SS, even Thompson Center will tell you that. If your going to just shoot it at the range then get SS. But if your going to hunt with it get blued. And this is why. Every gun that I have owned in SS has marked up very easily. Especially the Pro Hunter Muzzleloader. One hunting season and it looked like I had it for years. Even my family members that have SS guns seem to have the same issue. I take very good care of my guns and blued has never shown much wear. I have a .450 marlin that I got from my dad when I was 16. Being that young and dropping, falling, etc. That bluing is almost still new. SS is just not worth it. Now that TC has weather shield and other gun maker are coating the blued barrels. They have the same benefit as SS. Save your money.

moridgerunner

Different powders take different cleaning methods. If your concern is over water cleaning of a blued barrel you can use windex or alcahol which evaporates quicker. dirt is the biggest problem with rusting, fingerprints or specs of anything left on or in the gun will attract moisture and hold it on the metal surface for a longer period of time. I bought stainless thinking it would be better and have not experienced any problems with it. If over time you get minor surface rust on a blued barrel, polishing and cold blueing is extremely easy for anyone to do. Removing rust on stainless might be harder to accomplish. If you keep it clean it will never rust.

SuperKirby

Thanks for all the responses. There's some very good points. I guess I hadn't thought about it but until I started shooting muzzleloaders all I had ever shot were blued guns. All my dad had shot and his dad ever shot were blued. The ones that have been passed down from them were blued. I guess I find stainless to be a little more visually appealing, but when it comes down to it I don't know if it's really worth the added cost or not.

Breechplug

Stainless hands down! Not only do they take the Weather so much better the Bore's clean up much easier too. And Im only guessing on this but I suspect the Bore life is better too with Stainless.
(BP)

Gm54-120

SS mainly because you can always have it covered in BlackIce if you want a blued like finish and still have extra corrosion resistance. A SS barrel with BlackIce outside is very easy to clean and very durable....Just ask Doc White.

Now if you are talking about a high end target rifle...thats another story. Even Knights target rifles based on the Extreme used a blued barrel. There are many fine quality SS barrels that can easily compete well in competition also.

cayugad

Blued or stainless. I see no difference in accuracy between them. One is said to.. stain less. That does not mean it will not rust. Or go bad. It just takes longer. If your a gun cleaner (and I am sure you are) and provide your rifles with a good cleaning and oil regiment, that blued barrel will last as long as a stainless and shoot as good. If the price is a concern and the blued can be had cheaper, go with the blued.

I have several stainless rifle barrels. They are nice without a doubt. Do they shoot better then the blued? No. Have the blued rusted? No. Sometimes I wish they were blued, but then I paid the extra for the stainless and I do like them. BUT if I could have saved a chunk of money for the difference they would have been blued. You can rest assured on that.

Breechplug

I also agree that Accuracy wise either will do. Both can Rust, but it seems as the Blued will rust Faster on the outside during Rain or Snow. Befor I had any Stainless Steel MLer's I'd have to wipe off the Rust when returning Home from a Hunt in the Snow or Rain, it would Wipe off but they still Rusted. You also had to be real Careful with a Blued Barrel, Scratch the Bluing and now you have a place where it will rust everytime when it gets moisture on it, with Stainless it will take more abuse.
To me the little extra cost for a Stainless Barrel is well worth it for Cleaning and Maintenance, they also look better too on (certain) MLer's
Now again and this is just me as I Hunt with a Fouled Barrel, I can go longer between Cleaning with My Stainless Barrels without the worry of them rusting inside, with the Blued ones I'd only go about 3 Days Max befor I cleaned them, with My Stainless I've gone over a Week and they clean up Spotless inside with No Worries.
Did we all get along just fine for years with our Blued Barrel's, yep, but now that I've owned Stainless it's gonna be hard for me to go back to Blued.
(BP)

hometheaterman

For stainless steel only when it comes to muzzle loaders from now on. When it's rifles, it's a different story. I shoot Pyrodex in my guns so it's not the cleanest powder, but I clean the gun when I get home from shooting it every time. The blued one I had still started rusting. For example, I shot it 3 times in the morning. Took it hunting that afternoon, and shot it once more at a deer. I went and skinned the deer, and came home to clean the gun. It was around 9:00 by the time I got back to clean it. So it had been approximately 12 hours since I shot it the first time. When I started cleaning it, I noticed that it had already started rusting. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, and I never got it completely rust free, but I got most of it out. It also seems to really get flash rust badly when trying to clean it. Overall, it's just a hassle to keep it rust free.

Where as the one I've used with a stainless barrel, it's gone all day without cleaning and never a hint of rust or corrosion or anything else. It just holds up much better. I'm sure if you left it a week or two after shooting it, it would probably rust too, but it doesn't seem to have rust in it in just a few hours. I've also found it a lot easier to get clean, but that may be the design of the barrel instead of the metal, I'm really not sure.

After having used both, I don't want another blued muzzle loader, as it seems to required maintenance a lot more often and a lot faster, and the one I had still didn't hold up great.

lemoyne

I have more blued than Stainless but that's mainly because I could not get what I wanted. The Stainless is noticeably easier to clean and to keep from rust in bad conditions, I much prefer the Stainless.

50calty

Its amazing how climate and location decides what we like best in a muzzleloader. Most of you that would never get a blued muzzleloader live in a humid moist climate. Thats probably what you guys say its easier to clean too. Which isn't bad. Just unique that location can deceided that for us. In Montana we worry about the dryness. I've never oiled the inside of a barrel. Now I do wipe down the outside. Even hunting in the snow and rain no gun has ever shown surface rust. I guess that makes Montana a ideal place to have muzzleoaders.