Blued finish or Stainless steel pros and cons

[Primer]

Had a go with a Ruger old army on Thursday and it was a hoot, now my budget doesn't stretch to a Ruger but I've been recommended a Pietta Remington 1858 .44 Target (adjustable rear sight), they appear to get favourable reviews and I see you can get them in blued finish or Stainless steel, however the stainless one is £155 more.

Not sure I can justify the extra for stainless, what are the pros and cons apart from easier cleaning of the stainless version ?

[bradaz11]

the look, and easy cleaning are the main reasons

[safetyfirst]

And the rust with the blued...

[dromia]

Blued guns are no more difficult to clean than stainless.

Stainless steel does rust, just resists it a little bit longer than blued. It is what it says on the tin it stains less but still stains. As you will be cleaning your gun after use anyway this is of no relevance.

Put away coated with water displacing fluid I can leave my blued BP guns for days before cleaning with absolutely no rusting. Perhaps the only benefit of stainless is that you may notice any rusting a tad sooner, on the other had any rusting on stainless and it leaves dark patches on the metal which cannot be removed without removing metal so your nice shiny finish is spoilt. A bit of rust on blued can easily removed and touched up with cold blue so that you won't notice. But then you wouldn't let your guns get rusty anyway would you?

There is really no practical difference between the two in normal shooting, it is just down to looks.

I am no fan of shiny, it looks cheap and tacky to my eye, too many memories of poor nickel plating flaking off guns, bikes and the like, so all my guns are blued.

If I was going to spend the winter in Alaska with nothing but a gun, a straw hat and a pair of garters then I might consider stainless.

[Primer]

Blued guns are no more difficult to clean than stainless.

Stainless steel does rust, just resists it a little bit longer than blued. It is what it says on the tin it stains less but still stains. As you will be cleaning your gun after use anyway this is of no relevance.

Put away coated with water displacing fluid I can leave my blued BP guns for days before cleaning with absolutely no rusting. Perhaps the only benefit of stainless is that you may notice any rusting a tad sooner, on the other had any rusting on stainless and it leaves dark patches on the metal which cannot be removed without removing metal so your nice shiny finish is spoilt. A bit of rust on blued can easily removed and touched up with cold blue so that you won't notice. But then you wouldn't let your guns get rusty anyway would you?

There is really no practical difference between the two in normal shooting, it is just down to looks.

I am no fan of shiny, it looks cheap and tacky to my eye, too many memories of poor nickel plating flaking off guns, bikes and the like, so all my guns are blued.

If I was going to spend the winter in Alaska with nothing but a gun, a straw hat and a pair of garters then I might consider stainless.

Thanks for the informative reply, reckon it's blued for me then and with the savings over the SS I can get the other gubbins to go with it.

[dromia]

A wise and tasteful decision.

[Ludders]

I have a .44 Remington that is blued and a .36 that is stainless. I wish I had not gone for the shiny one. The main reason is that I find it harder to see the sights as clearly with the stainless as I do with the blued ones. Light reflections perhaps? I agree about the blue being more more tastful.

[WelshShooter]

Holly cow, thread resurrection!

On the topic Ludders, you may want to try and soot the sights on the stainless 36. I used to do this one my blued pietta to provide a more matt finish as the indoor lighting reflected badly even on the blued finish. You can do this with a match, lighter or candle. It'll probably wash off each time you clean the revolver so re-apply each time.

[dromia]

Holly cow, thread resurrection!

Aye lot of it about, post count building Lazurus.

[Ludders]

WelshShooter, I have done that outdoors on my Lee Enfield but had not thought about doing so for the .36. Cheers!