Which barrel do you like the best?
 

Just curios which kind of barrel you like the best, a blued or staninless? Do you feel like one shoots better than the other or do you think one cleans easier than the other? I'm very partial to stainless fluted myself.

stainless. Looks better, cleans up easier it seems and i dont have to deal with it rusting badly. Just more forgiving.

Stainless works for me.

The Omega X7 is the only stainless ML I have. Got to say I like that stainless barrel a lot. But at the end of the day I really don't have anything aginist my blued barrels. They all get cleaned the same way and I don't have problems with any of them.

Until I started BP shooting all I ever had was blued barrels on my pistols and rifles. Now after getting a couple of rifles with stainless barrels I think if I have a choice I would go for the stainless because I like the looks and it seems to require less attention..

I have both.

I can't tell much difference in accuracy between the two.

The stainless is definitely much easier to maintain over time. However I also believe a stainless barrel has no place on a traditional rifle. Inlines are OK. But definitely not on a traditional rifle.

Personally I think a blued barrel is considerably better looking on any firearm.

So it really is a toss up as to what you like best. IMO. Tom.

Now if you wanted the best looking/I would have to go with a blued . Because there are some manufactures that can sure put a deep dark finish on there barrels( and wood) that you really dont want to hunt with it. Being. you dont want to scratch it

My flintlocks have rust treated browned barrels...

The only stainless gun I own is a Ruger Mark II that I
bought in stainless as I put it in the boat to shoot water
moccosins...

My Knight Disc which is about 10-12 years old has a blued
barrel...It has no rust as I know how to keep my guns clean
and lubricated...

Any steel barrel will rust, if you are going to shoot muzzleloaders
it's best it you slow down and learn to properly clean and care for
your equipment...If you aren't the type to do so, might want to pass...

Blued or browned with wooden stock for me. I have seen deer shy away from the reflection of the sun off of stainless steel barrels so I have a problem getting my mind around a gun with a camo stock and stainless barrel. Of course I think that full camo guns are ugly as hell and wouldn't have the best one made as a gift. Same way with stainless.

I have both and a couple times had both blue and stainless in the exact same gun. No difference in accuracy that I can tell.

Cleaning is no different either. They both get cleaned the same way and take just as long and come just as clean.

Depending on the gun style, I sometimes favor stainless looks over blued but that's not too often.

It's all a matter of personal prefrence.

I like blued with a wood or a wood laminate stock best for appearance sake.
To me the stainless looks best in a composite stock.
My stainless rifles have a matte finish to minimize glare so I don't worry about that when hunting, I just move very, very slow.
I think that stainless gives a person a little more time before corrosion starts but I always clean my guns right away anyhow.
As for accuracy I haven't noticed any difference.

Appearance : a dark rich blued barrel with some nice wood is really hard to beat. When I look at a stainless barrel.. that is what I see, that blaring stainless color. Not that it is not pretty in its own way, but if I were to hang a rifle on the wall to look at (and I have) it would have a nice wood stock and a blued barrel.

Accuracy: I really see no difference between the two in the accuracy department. I give a lot of credit for accuracy to the person behind the barrel and the work they did at load development. I personally think it is easier to work up a load in a blued barrel. I can't put my finger on why, but I seem to be able to tune them up to a good load, faster.

Cleaning : I think they clean up the same. But I can tell a stainless is clean sooner then a blued. Not so much because they give up their fouling faster, you notice sooner when they are clean. How many times have you swabbed your blued barrel, the patch is clean, you check it, and then decide... lets run a couple more patches. I do it all the time. Only because my eyes tell me there "might" be a spot I missed, and like a lot of you.. I am anal when it comes to cleaning my rifles. With a stainless barrel I clean it, I can look and not see any fouling and my eyes again tell me.. "ok. its clean."

Which do I like better : Wow.. that is a hard one. I like the looks of both, but I guess I would have to go with stainless. Stainless gives you that confidence that the rifle is clean. Also I don't know why, but when I see stainless, I see stronger. And I know that is not the case. But one's mind can play silly games in their head. So I guess I like stainless better.

Blued, or browned.

SS is for yuppies.

Don't be hating on me. He asked.

X2, SS just doen't lokk natural to me!!

I'm with you brother. I want a gun to look like a gun not some manufactures concept of what people should have. No fiber optics sights on any of my side-locks or anything that distracts from the beauty of a well made gun. If people fed their families with blued or browned guns for hundreds of years it is damned sure good enough for me.

i actually like the parkerized finish a bunch, had it on a 870 of mine and it was very durable. wish more gun makers offered it.

I have always loved blued guns. I bought a stainless DA revolver and the SS has grown on me a little bit. On the other hand, I received a Traditions Pursuit as a gift. It has an alloy barrel (maybe nickel) with grey finish, topped with a silver scope and housed in a wood stock. It looks out of place.

British spies posing as hunters were smoked out because they were carrying standard issue Brown Bess with bright barrels. The locals who confronted them said" no hunter in his right mind would use a gun with a silver barrel" It was wisdom then, and still applies now. I prefer rust brown, but will settle for blue/black.