Blued or stainless?

B

B-Fox

Inactive
What are advantages/disadvantages of each finish aside from the looks? I heard that if you get a blued gun you will have to refinish it once in a while because the finish will fade. On the other hand highly polished stainless will also fade with time... Which finish is more durable and easier to maintain?

Which one would you prefer for a revolver which will only be held at home and taken to the range weekly?

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It is less the metal than an indicator of craftsmanship and quality. There are exceptions but as a rule, prestainless blued are better made. They came out of the factory right, for the most part. In fact, nickeled guns tended to come out even better than the blued ones.

Early stainless was hell on tooling. At it's best it was rougher finished than regular steel. Later they were able to make internals much better, but by then the era of "made with pride" had been replaced by "good enough" and if it wasn't right, send it anyway and 2/3rds or 3/4 of the suckers wouldn't notice. The few knowlegeable shooters would either spot the problems and let someone else buy it, or return it to the factory.

Too me, the way to go is buy good used guns, keep them oiled to prevent rust, and when it's become an old friend, cleaned up internally, then send it in for a plating job.
 
I agree with Rusty; plus.

Stainless selling point is the corrosion resistance and the trick colour. Blued steel requires the same care as any good tool, keep it properly lubed inside and wipe the outside down with the corrosion inhibitor of your choice.

A good blue job doesn't fade, it will wear through in time; mostly from holster friction. I have a 50s J frame that still has 99.99 blue. My 70 K frame shows holster wear at muzzle. I have stainless L frames that are good tools but I dont like the appearance, too shiny, easily scratched, and parts wear is much faster than good 4XXX series steel. My youngest shotgun is fifty years old and the blue finish is still nice.

Stainless does not fade so much as it will scratch and wear, thus becoming dull. Stainless is generaly much softer than good steel.

Sam....my favorite 9mm is the 9X32R
 
Some people like the looks of chrome plated cars some like highly polished cars with no chrome. Some like the looks of a well polished stainless some prefer well polished blued. A stainless gun will show a different kind of wear.
I have purchased used blued guns that look awful because of scratches, holster wear, or minor neglect. I enjoy the process of using cold bluing agents and repeating the process until the metal no longer shows and the blue blends in well. A dremel tool and repeated polishing really works well. If the exterior is dinged it can be refinished with patience and increases in value substantially. I make sure the mechnical parts are in good shape.
Polishing stainless seems to take much more time and I personally don't get as much satisfaction. Again, some like shiny, some don't.
 
IMHO, stainless is easier to take care of overall, especially cleaning off stubborn carbon and lead fouling from the cylinder face and all of a revolver.

Regards,

Ledbetter
 
Stainless rusts slower.

All my wheels are stainless; all my autos are carbon, one hardchromed, one NP3.

Prefer stainless, don't care about 'appearance'.



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"All my ammo is factory ammo"
 
I can't stand Blue Guns. To really preserve the finish you have to keep them kinda "wet". Oiled that is.

And for carry Blue just flat out SUCKS.

I carry a 640 .357. It wears rubber Boot Grips. The boot grip's screw is blued. After a few weeks of carry the entire head of that screw is covered with rust.

Yuck.

I wish I could find a stainless replacement screw for this grip!

Meantime I am waiting for Hogue (www.get-grip.com) to send me the new Bantam grips I ordered for my J-frame. It uses NO SCREW or stirrup whatsoever!

;)
 
Unless you live on a boat in the tropical seas, then go for blued. (Even then, I kept my blue guns in good shape living on my sailboat in the Keys, South China Sea, and various other hot salty environments.) I figue if you LOVE guns, you're gonna fondle them a lot, so it's easy to wipe them down. (And no back talk from them either).
 
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