[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?

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.

Of course, kind of like the larger penis statement. Just having some fun.

But you have to admit, there are some guys out there buying stainless barrels when, for all intents and purposes, a blued barrel will fit their needs just as well. Some guys (me included from time to time) just like to pay more for bells and whistles.

USMC, From your comments it sounds like you’re talking about custom barrels. So regular s/s barrels from manufactures should be ok.

oldelkhunter, Thanks for the info........

Many very experienced metallurgists will argue that stainless loses no more strength than chrome moly at low temperatures.Due to the added corrosion resistance that stainless provides, our company uses a great deal of stainless steel at our plant in many applications where strength is very important.We often experience -40 and don't have any strength problems with stainless steel failing.

It would be interesting to know the temps at the time of the current rash of stainless failures...Although the thing they seem to have in common was the few # of rounds to failure less than 50 I think...anyone with more info

Trailer, I can not go as far as to say that any factory SS barrel is perfectly fine. I would attempt an edcuated guess that in the companies interest they would not push the barrier of common SS barrel practice simply to prevent any lawsuites stemming from a barrel malfunction. Personally I would try to stay away from Ultra Light or super thin tapered SS barrels even from the factory. If well known companies that produce high end aftermarket barrels are not willing to stake their name on the thin SS barrels, I'm not so sure I am willing to possibly stake my life on it. I am not qualified to judge SS as I am not a metallurgist, I am just pointing out best practices of well know companies regarding SS barrels. I would read what others have to say on the topic and possibly consult a custom barrel manufacturer via phone, most are more than willing to answer any questions that you may have. I would trust the folks that produce barrels for a living.

I refer you to Krieger Barrel and click on the profiles tab and go to the bottom of the page.

Maybe Canadian Chemist argue that, but its pretty well known observation and fact in the metal world. At my engineering college it was anyway 15 years ago. Maybe things have changed.

Of course it will depend on the alloy used.The most common stainless by far, used for barrels is 416 stainless which is much harder than many of the more commonly used stainless alloys.A magnet will also adhere to it and it is not as corrosion resistant as many other stainless alloys.