stainless or blue?

[wrangler]

[I am about to buy a new Rossi in .357 but can't decide whether to get blue or stainless. It will only be used for cowboy lever silhouette .Does anyone have any preferences and why.
Don't post much but have done a whole lot of reading over the years.
Jim

[missionary5155]

Greetings and Welcome to the lever gun world.
BLUE ! Just me.. I cannot tollerate that bright shinny stuff. Glare can be awful off the barrel.
Look past shooting at targets.. you might one day want to go pop a groung hog or a coyotee and that no rust type metal reflects light all over.
I think that is why cammo tape was invented...
Having said all that there are some very nice SS lever guns out there.

[Bret4207]

Blue.

[rollmyown]

Like lot's of guys here I've got both. To me blued looks better and has a more traditional look and feel. The stainless gun has a major advantage as far as durability and being able to take some rough and tumble better. Iv'e done stuff to my stainless M77 that would have had the blued version looking very tatty (and be worth considerably less) - It still looks great 15 years on.

[oldhickory]

Blue.

[johnvid]

Blue, it just looks right in a lever gun.

[winelover]

Stainless for it's rust resistant qualities in inclement weather. Get it Cera-Koted if reflection is a problem.

Winelover

[Calamity Jake]

Don't know about new SS guns but the older ones are made out of 400 series stainless, IT WILL RUST, takes a little longer but it will rust.

I like BLUE the best

[winelover]

Don't know about new SS guns but the older ones are made out of 400 series stainless, IT WILL RUST, takes a little longer but it will rust.

I like BLUE the best

All stainless will rust given the right conditions. Some faster than others. Depends on the carbon composition of the alloy. You have to look at stainless as rust -resistant not rust-proof.

Winelover

[JJC]

My vote is blue. Take care of it and you will be ok. I agree with Winelover, know a guy who took the opposite stance and put his stainless rifle in the corner wet after hunting. It rusted, he was mad cause it was stainless and not supposed to do that.

[thx997303]

Blue.

If you wipe it down here and there, and give it a little oil, it wont rust.

Took 3 days of constant wet to make my marlin get some small amounts of surface rust, and it literally wiped off with my hand.

[JJC]

Not to hijack but while on the water proof subject. Many people here have the Johnsons paste wax anyway. http://beartoothbullets.com/tips/archive_tips.htm/3 I admit to never trying it, never needed to but the option is there.

[thx997303]

I may give it a try, but seems to me if you have any water beneath the wax, that just aint good.

[wrangler]

Thanks for your input. I like blue myself and have 4 Winchester 92's in 32/20., 1 Win Trails end ,357,1Win. 94 in38/55 and a 94 in 32/40 . They are all blue. We have high humidity and high rainfall here so I know all about rust.
I 've seen some guys with stainless that seemed to have a bit more trouble with accuracy but may be shooter more than the gun. I've never seen a Rossi that wouldn't shoot .Just need some tweaking and using ideas from this forum.
jim

[home in oz]

Go for the blue

[old turtle]

Go blue.
I live in Florida and we have to cut our way out of the front door and put the block of humidity on the floor inside during the summer. That said, I wipe my rifles down With Marvel Mystery Oil. No rust.

[pmeisel]

I have been watching all my John Wayne VCRs over and over looking for scenes where he was using a stainless rifle. Couldn't find any ;-)

[NickSS]

I have both and like both for different reasons. My CASS gun is a stainless Rossi that i have had for years now and like it a lot. All my other lever guns are blue except one ratty old 94 Winchester that I bought several years ago in a hock shop. It was so ratty that I disassembled it and sprayed it down with oven dry baked on enamel paint on the metal. Now it looks like it was parkerized and in several years of being my truck gun it has not rusted or the finish been mared in any way. I originally bought this paint to refinish the gas cylinder on my M1 that was all shinny (they are stainless steel). My gas cylinder has held up just as well. By the way this stuff is more weather resistant than stainless steel.

[Jon K]

***Stainless generates more heat***

Jon

[John Taylor]

Not sure what Rossi uses for SS but most US gun makers are using 416 for the barrels. This type of stainless is softer than the standard 4140 barrel steel. It is not as scratch resistant as 4140 so stay away from using stainless bore brushes. Also SS is a little heavier than blued in most cases.
Hope this helps

[Firebricker]

I definitely like blue better especially on a lever gun. Both we'll hold up fine and serve the purpose hopefully you can look at both side by side. Good like with whichever you choose. FB

[deepwater]

Compared to the chrome-moly steel used in the blue barrel, stainless has a lower coefficient of conductivity and a higher coefficient of thermal expansion. What this means is that the heat stays localized and the barrel moves more. This may explain the accuracy differential between the 2 types of barrels.

The "Guide Gun" in stainless for everyday use in the Northwest and Alaska makes some sense. To have fun and shoot traditional guns as a hobby, blue is the one to create the desired affect (smiles).

deepwater

[Jeff H]

I eyeballed and pawed a new stainless Rossi .44 mag. in Gander Mountain today.
It was way too shiny, too high of a polish. Looked gawdy and would be like carrying around a big mirror. Maybe if it were more subdued, but this one was just too much. I like stainless firearms, but that was an awful lot of shine in one package.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got one stainless levergun but really do believe that a lever gun should be blued and real walnut. I actually do have probably more stainless syn. bolt guns then blued ones anymore but a lever gun should be blued