Blued or Stainless Steel?

boarder4life81 · May 12, 2012

So my oldest is turning 7 next week and I'm wanting to get her familiar with guns and gun safety. Both the wife and I have .22 pistols, but I'm looking at youth .22 rifles to train my daughters on. I've narrowed my search down to the Marlin XT-22Y series (I want to train on a bolt action, but like the magazine implication). My question is as stated above, should I go for the blued barrel or the stainless steel? We live in the Willamette Valley so moisture is always an issue but I don't want to spend hours cleaning up a training rifle just because it got some rain on it. I realize that stainless steel is more rust resistant but I really like the look of the blued (trust me it will be cleaned with all the other firearms after firing and/or on the 1st of the month). Basically I'm looking for opinions/experiences between the two types of barrels in a training rifle. Is the rust factor really a huge factor with blued barrels as long as they are wiped dry and lightly oiled?

jonn5335 · May 13, 2012

If you want blued buy blued just wipe down with oil every time you handle it I own blued and stainless I prefer stainless over blued for my guns that are used a lot because I don't have to worry about bluing wear as well as rust and stainless is quicker to clean but I prefer a blued finish on guns that I don't carry and don't hunt with because they are purdee. Have you asked you daughter what she wants?

boarder4life81 · May 13, 2012

Thanks for the input. I have asked her, but she just keeps pointing to the pink AR15 on the wall.

. The rifle isn't really meant as a gift for "her" as I will be training all three daughters on it, hence my concern about upkeep. It is meant as a milestone for her so that when she gets a little bigger, and if she's still interested in shooting, I will buy her own personal .22 (or pink AR15).

The more I've been thinking about it, the more I've been leaning towards the stainless just from the "quicker to clean" aspect despite my liking the look of a blued barrel.

Otter · May 15, 2012

You need to treat stainless the same as a blued barrel. If you don't rub it down with oil or a silcone cloth, stainless can start to show discoloration or even pits. Stainless is really just stain/rust resistant. I learned that the hard way. So I would just buy what you like as far as looks goes.

teflon6string · May 15, 2012

Despite what we all know to be he important steps in proper weapon maintenance and cleaning, many guns get the cursory dry towel (if it's been raining), patch sweep/boresnake, and oily rag wipedown.

The only blue weapons I've seen with actual corrosion (active owner and shooter since 1968) were blatantly mistreated. Left under pickup seats year round, stored in damp gunbags, never dried/cleaned.

And don't forget fried chicken. Seriously! I ate chicken on a fishing trip once, popped a few rounds with my Gold Cup, and discovered some brown fuzzy rusty handprints on it a few days later when I got home. It cleaned up alright, but I'm glad I didn't wait any longer.

Bottom line from an admittedly casual perspective? The fact that you even ask tells me you'll show more care than many. You need to exhibit significant negligence to wreck a blued gun, even here in waterworld.