[Vikingdad]

I am wondering if there is a significant enough difference in accuracy between stainless versus blued steel to make you prefer one material over the other. Stainless costs more but is less rigid. All military rifles are blued steel (I think. Could be wrong) is this due to cost or accuracy or durability or a combination of these and more? If you could buy a Garand (or any other gun. AR15, Mini14 or what have you) in stainless or blued steel which one would you choose?

[spittinfire]

You will see absolutely no difference in accuracy between the two metals if the surround rifle is built to same spec.

I like stainless for it's corrosion resistance but the stainless used in guns is not like that used in knives or surgical implants....it will rust and it's slightly magnetic. It won't rust as fast as a blued gun but give it enough time and it will.

[JonM]

stainless steel is more expensive thats about it.

[500mag_guy]

i have seen this post so many times its killing me! lol search the forum man you will find anything and everything you want to know on this subject you will find there. at the bottom of this page it shows all of the past posts on this.

By the way stainless will not mess with your accuracy. this is a huge argument but one of my most accurate rifles is a stainless steel. three shots in or touching the first hole at 100 yards. id say that would fit most peoples classification of accurate.

[Vikingdad]

The reason I ask the question is because I am making a barrel strut for my stainless Mini14. I asked my engineer buddy if he had any chromoly steel tubing (I thought that was stiffer than mild cold-rolled steel) and he was saying that it is not, the two are nearly identical in stiffness (off the top of his head). He had the chromoly, mild and stainless in 3/4" tube and I also picked up some 1" heavy-wall aluminum that he said is far stiffer. He also said that the stainless is the least rigid and least strong of the bunch (I know it is softer and not as strong).

I am thinking of building several different barrel struts and doing direct comparisons using the same gun. If I ever get them all done I will post results. Don't hold your breath though.

[Durangokid]

Do you think stainless is used because it takes less labor than a Chrome Moly tube to make. The hand labor needed to polish and blue a carbon steel barrel is more than just polishing a stainless one. Marlin cut their cost cost big time by going to Micro groove rlfling. After all profit is what its all about.

DK

[Vikingdad]

I did try using the forum search but it didn't bring up any results. After I posted the threads came up. Not my fault. I searched before posting.

[spittinfire]

You're comparing apples to oranges when you start talking moly, steel, aluminum and stainless all the same group. They have different properties and different uses. There are also countless variations of each as the alloys are manipulated to fill a certain need.
Without knowing what grade of each material your friend has there is no way to know which will work best.

Gun metals are not hard at all, they're actually quite soft. Going with the most rigid material could hurt your accruacy more then help it. A gun needs to grow as it gets warm and softer metals tend to grow more uniformly because they tend to displace heat more evenly. Rigid metals are also more prone to cracking and stress fractures.

[lonyaeger]

Originally Posted by 500mag_guy

i have seen this post so many times its killing me! lol search the forum man you will find anything and everything you want to know on this subject you will find there. at the bottom of this page it shows all of the past posts on this.

Wow, I'm sure the OP didn't mean to bother you.

[M14sRock]

Originally Posted by lonyaeger

Wow, I'm sure the OP didn't mean to bother you.

No kidding. I had the same thought but you beat me to it.

Maybe we should just start a forum where it is forbidden to ever ask a similar question more than once?