I am a traditionalist and from that point of view, I was not impressed when handguns began to be made out of stainless steels rather than the traditional blue. However, after owning and using one for awhile, it became apparent that stainless steel handguns are the superior media for a handgun, not only for corrosion resistance, but wearability of the finish. The blue is eventually worn from all blued handguns leaving them with a worn look which lowers their value. Stainless however, is stainless all the way through and does not generally leave holster wear patterns typical of blued guns on the side of the muzzle and cylinder. In short, stainless guns will look better longer and logically retain their resale value significantly longer than blued.
When I saw my first stainless gun, a S&W 66, it appeared to have an unpleasant yellow cast that was off-putting. I much preferred the S&W blued equivalent, M19 at the time. However, current stainless steel handguns seem to have a more pleasant blue hue, which is way better to my eye. I have a later model (still pre-lock) that is of blue cast to it, so if I am not mistaken, S&W changed the Stainless type to a different one at some time or another. Anyone have any info on that?