Any real benefits to Stainless steel Barrels?

[Elton]

I am struggling to find any information relating to the benefits of SS barrel aside from the SS to resist rust a bit more than a blued barrel.

 

[TMac]

I like them for less upkeep worry/effort while hunting. But I hunt the W. USA, not Africa, often in some rain or snow. They will rust and blood will stain them. Iirc, the SS is actually a little softer than regular barrel steel. SS and a synthetic stock will lose a beauty contest to good wood and blued steel for most I think, but many look good to my eye. I like my guns like I like my women I guess, low maintenance being among the top considerations.

 

[Red Leg]

The new coatings, such as used by Blaser and others, are as effective as stainless with no compromise in barrel steel. My S2 and R8 have hunted at lot of places under every condition with no corrosion issues of any kind.

I will admit, I prefer a rust blue finish on a finely stocked quality rifle, but that can be a challenge in some environments. Though, southern Africa generally is not one of those places.

 

[thriller]

I am struggling to find any information relating to the benefits of SS barrel aside from the SS to resist rust a bit more than a blued barrel.

Less rust and some people like the way they look but I don’t see any other reasons personaly.

 

[Alistair]

The main advantage of stainless is of course, it's more corrosion resistant. It's not 100% of course, but wander around in the rain for a day with a stainless barrel and leave it overnight 'cus you're out at camp, you might get away with it. Chrome-moly (CM) steel, not so much.

I understand there are Cerakote type coatings now which help externally, but I'm thoroughly unconvinced that they will give the same protection as true stainless, and they also offer no solution to the issue of moisture and therefore rust on the internal barrel surfaces and chamber, which is where I personally care the most about it. For my part I've discovered the first beginnings of surface rust in the chamber of my CM barreled .270 merely from making ready with a round whilst out in the rain then removing it later without firing. Total water contact time on the surface was less than 4 hours. A rusty crown and muzzle end of the barrel from leaving a moderator in place is also an absolute classic.

The next advantage of stainless is a double edged sword. It's (often) a bit softer than CM steel. The advantage here is that it's easier to machine, especially if cut rifling, which in theory gives a smoother finish, more precisely cut rifling and less tool chatter. Easier to lap too, potentially giving better accuracy, at least on paper. They also tend to foul less for this reason, subject of course to degree of finishing and quality.

I don't know of many 'match quality' barrels that aren't stainless, nor that many that aren't cut rifled.

The flipside of this is that they also don't last as long. I hear from competitive types at the range that stainless barrels tend to shoot pretty well for a longish time, then suddenly drop off a cliff (often when an entire chunk of a land flies off). I've seen this with my own eyes with a guy shooting F class starting his 20 round detail with a sub 0.5MOA rifle and ending with a 2MOA gun. On the other hand CM barrels tend to just get progressively and slowly worse over time, often shooting pretty well even when in appalling condition (I've seen old SMLEs and the like with a smooth bore till 6" past the chamber still shooting to the original 2MOA ish specification.

 

[bruce moulds]

another benefit of stainless is that it copper fouls a lot less than chrome moly.
what fouling is there is also more easy to remove,
copper left in the bore can set up an electrolytic action with the barrel, removing atoms from the barrel surface, shortening the accuracy life of the barrel and increasing its tendancy to foul more.
bruce.

 

[Red Leg]

another benefit of stainless is that it copper fouls a lot less than chrome moly.
what fouling is there is also more easy to remove,
copper left in the bore can set up an electrolytic action with the barrel, removing atoms from the barrel surface, shortening the accuracy life of the barrel and increasing its tendancy to foul more.
bruce.

I suppose that may be theoretically possible, but I have never experienced that with any rifle.

I personally think way too much is made about copper fouling. My rifles get a swab of Ballistol after a trip or once a year whichever comes first. I truly have never had copper fouling be an issue with accuracy of one of my rifles. Not once. Indeed, several benefited with a bit of copper filling imperfections. That is over a lot of years and a lot of rifles.

 

[Professor Mawla]

Yes . Stopping this from happening .

Of course , unless if you really neglect your arms and happen to live / hunt regularly in an area with high concentrations of salt water ; this is unlikely to happen .

My own arms have blued steel barrels and in the last 40 plus years , I have never experienced any need to make a switch to stainless steel barrels . Despite hunting in many areas with high concentrations of salt water .

 

[sestoppelman]

another benefit of stainless is that it copper fouls a lot less than chrome moly.
what fouling is there is also more easy to remove,
copper left in the bore can set up an electrolytic action with the barrel, removing atoms from the barrel surface, shortening the accuracy life of the barrel and increasing its tendancy to foul more.
bruce.

This is a new one on me. Electrolysis at least in my experience (maritime) requires the movement of liquid, usually water, especially salt water thru, near or on two dissimilar metals. We went to lengths not to place certain metals next to each other in the trade. But it required the presence of water for it to be a problem. I cant quite see how copper just being in a bore is going to either remove atoms, or cause any electrolysis without liquid going thru it.
It would certainly it seems not have any real noticeable detrimental effect over the normal course of barrel life, at least I have never heard of such.

 

[bruce moulds]

possibly there are layers of carbon and layers of copper.
also possibly it happens when moisture is present, even dissolved in the air.
also i have only read about this and am no scientist,
bruce.

 

[sestoppelman]

The presence of moisture is always a problem in a rifle bore, especially if left unclean and in humid conditions, but the problem isn't electrolysis, but rust and pitting.

 

[Elton]

Thanks for the great comments, copper fouling never actually sprung to mind as an issue.

Now to throw a spanner in the works.

SS barrel or Bull/Heavy blued barrel, which one and why?

 

[Elton]

Yes . Stopping this from happening .
View attachment 363549
View attachment 363550
Of course , unless if you really neglect your arms and happen to live / hunt regularly in an area with high concentrations of salt water ; this is unlikely to happen .

My own arms have blued steel barrels and in the last 40 plus years , I have never experienced any need to make a switch to stainless steel barrels . Despite hunting in many areas with high concentrations of salt water .

Beautiful gun though

 

[Cam Moon]

I like my guns like I like my women I guess, low maintenance being among the top considerations.

@TMac Would you please be so kind as to tell me where such can be found?

 

[375Fox]

I suppose that may be theoretically possible, but I have never experienced that with any rifle.

I personally think way too much is made about copper fouling. My rifles get a swab of Ballistol after a trip or once a year whichever comes first. I truly have never had copper fouling be an issue with accuracy of one of my rifles. Not once. Indeed, several benefited with a bit of copper filling imperfections. That is over a lot of years and a lot of rifles.

I had a severe issue with copper fouling in my tikka 223 Rem (barrel is stainless steel whether or not that adds to problem I don’t know). When I got rifle it shot less than 1” groups, when I finally took it to gunsmith I was unable to zero rifle because bullets were so scattered on the paper at 100 yards. Gunsmith recognized problem immediately, we ran a camera down barrel. After I received it back it shot less than 1” groups again. I’ve never had issues with any rifles until this with 223. Copper fouling can happen, you are probably right though that too much is made of it too often

 

[Ray B]

When stainless barrels were becoming popular about 40 years ago I recall reading that the machining was smoother than chrome moly barrels, particularly if the rifling was cut. the barrelmaker that I knew at the time used a button for rifling and also his steel was something called 11L or some such- which meant that it was chrome moly with just a touch of lead in it, which allowed the steel to slice smoothly With progress in barrel making I'm guess that the end result will be very little for a rifle used to hunt, so I'd go with the type that you prefer..

 

[Rule 303]

As a metallurgist explained to me Stainless steel is just that, it Stains Less than other steels. It is not impervious to rust etc just more resistant. The higher the grade the more resistant to rust etc
I have had Stainless barrels start to pit/rust in short order. Culprit was humidity and blood and the idiot-me- who left it over night without cleaning the blood off. Actually did not notice several small spots on the underside of the barrel.

As I am becoming lazy in my old age I have most of my rifles cerakoted. That way I only have to clean and maintain the internals. If I could have the inside of the barrel Chromed like the old Bren Guns I would. Animal blood, urine and intestinal content will cause any barrel/action metal to rust, cerakote prevents this. I would think some other coatings will as well.

 

[TMac]

@TMac Would you please be so kind as to tell me where such can be found?

Where the Unicorns and White Buffalo roam...

 

[Cam Moon]

I kinda figured......

 

[James Adamson]

I had a severe issue with copper fouling in my tikka 223 Rem (barrel is stainless steel whether or not that adds to problem I don’t know). When I got rifle it shot less than 1” groups, when I finally took it to gunsmith I was unable to zero rifle because bullets were so scattered on the paper at 100 yards. Gunsmith recognized problem immediately, we ran a camera down barrel. After I received it back it shot less than 1” groups again. I’ve never had issues with any rifles until this with 223. Copper fouling can happen, you are probably right though that too much is made of it too often

That's funny, my stainless tikka 223 is the opposite, when cleaned spotless with copper remover I couldn't get any ammo (factory or hand loads) to shoot under MOA but left dirty, nothing more than a boresnake pulled through, it shoots half MOA.