Blue or Stainless

I like the look of stainless, but I own and have owned more blue and black handguns. The only stainless pistol in my safe now is a 92FS Inox, with a stainless slide and frame coated to match. It really looks nice with walnut grips, and as such is a range and pride-of-ownership pistol, not a carry piece.
 
I have a few stainless firearms but most are blue. A fine deep blue is more beautiful to me than stainless but such a finish is uncommon in modern guns that are reasonably priced. Stainless steel can look very good these days, and usually better than the "blue" we get today.
 
I've got mostly blue. I don't normally care much for stainless but will buy one from time to time if a specific gun catches my eye.
 
I like both, but only have two stainless guns. All the rest are blued. As far as a utility / carry / truck gun, stainless would be preferable for resistance to corrosion and ease of maintenance. You can refinish / polish out most of surface wear and scratches on a stainless gun with less trouble than a re-blue.
 
Blued to look at, stainless to use.

I'm a deep blue and walnut junky, but prefer my working guns be stainless. Blackening the SS is okay if needs be.
 
I prefer stainless when there's an option for three reasons listed in descending order of important from my perspective.

1. Corrosion resistance.
2. The ability to easily repair scratches or dings or to do minor modifications without having to refinish the firearm.
3. General preference for the appearance of stainless firearms.

I buy firearms with other finishes when there's no stainless option or when the finish is at least as corrosion resistant as a stainless finish would be.
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4. It completely eliminates the dread of something happening to the blued finish so you can concentrate on other things.
 
Most are blued/matte black/ black plastic.
Only a handful stainless, or part stainless.
Two all staunless (handguns), S&W 645, and Charter Arms Bulldog.
One stainless slide/plastic frame, Kahr Arms CM9
One single shot "speciity" gun, T/C G2 Contender stainless frame, but more blued barrels than stsinless.
One rifle, Ruger 10-22 Takedown.
 
Most of mine are blued.
I have 18 blued, 12 stainless, and 4 nickel plated.
Most of the time I carry a stainless model 60,or a 637
 
Before the tragic boating accident when all my guns were lost. I had about:
80% blued
19% stainless or nickle
1% FDE or parkerized
Sigh I miss my guns.
 
Gun finishes

You left off a few the grey you get after the bluing is gone, rust, pitting etc. I personly like the gray you get when using Brownells Oxypho on old surface guns. I also like to engine turn some stuff.
 
I just acquired a Model 19-4 4" in nickel - a first for me. I find myself staring at it for no good reason...

Other than that I've got about equal parts blued and stainless in my revolvers, and a mixed bag in my semis. I do agree with the Satin Nickel statement on the BHP, very nice!
 
Before the tragic boating accident when all my guns were lost. I had about:
80% blued
19% stainless or nickle
Click to expand...

The good news is, they aren't all lost - you can still recover the stainless ones!:D
 
It depends on the type of gun...and what's available .../ because in revolvers I prefer the older models of S&W and they were either blued or Nickel...on their newer models I prefer the stainless.

On my semi-autos --- if they're available I'll take stainless.
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So, In handguns in general ( 15 stainless, 4 old style Nickel, 6 blued )....

In revolvers ( 7 stnls, 5 Nickel, 3 blued )
In Semi-Autos ( 7 stnls, 3 blued )

all of my shotguns and rifles are blued...
 
Looking at my handguns of all types and uses, it ends up being approximately at 60/40 split blued vs stainless. Not really intentional; just ended up that way.
 
Depends on the gun, I prefer 1911's and revolvers in stainless, though some old timers might call that heresy. I like my carry guns with some type of black finish. What's nice about stainless though, is you can make the gun look brand new for dirt cheap and do the work yourself. I can remove scratches and either polish, brush, or bead blast it myself and make it look as good as it came from the factory.
 
Blued for me. My only stainless is my 686 Plus, but I love it for that gun and many other revolvers.

There is something sinister and business-like to me about a black semi-auto. Don't really care for stainless for semis unless it's a 1911 or a Sig X5.
 
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