PacNW Hunters: Stainless or Blue Rifles? $$$
I know this topic has been opinioned to death in general, but I am looking for specific bang for buck expert opinion.
No need for handgun, CCW, target, desert, high plains discussion.
I only want to discuss the bang for buck difference for HUNTING RIFLES in the RAIN in the PACIFIC NORTHWEST (Cascades, Olympic Peninsula, BC Coastal ranges).
I have never had a problem with blued rifles, but I properly service my weapons as my father, grandfather, and staff seargent beat it into me. Then again, I have also never hunted the rainy PacNW. I have hunted the Canadian Prarie, Rockies, BC Interior, and California mountains and deserts (so cold/snowy or dry/hot). Here there is a good chance my rifle will be wet all day(s) long and subjected to more moisture, humidity and potential salt spray than anywhere I have hunted before.
[?][?]Bottom Line[?]: Is it worth the extra $50-100 of my hard earned cash for SS over blued rifles given the rain up here?
Thanks to the experts in advance!
No need for handgun, CCW, target, desert, high plains discussion.
I only want to discuss the bang for buck difference for HUNTING RIFLES in the RAIN in the PACIFIC NORTHWEST (Cascades, Olympic Peninsula, BC Coastal ranges).
I have never had a problem with blued rifles, but I properly service my weapons as my father, grandfather, and staff seargent beat it into me. Then again, I have also never hunted the rainy PacNW. I have hunted the Canadian Prarie, Rockies, BC Interior, and California mountains and deserts (so cold/snowy or dry/hot). Here there is a good chance my rifle will be wet all day(s) long and subjected to more moisture, humidity and potential salt spray than anywhere I have hunted before.
[?][?]Bottom Line[?]: Is it worth the extra $50-100 of my hard earned cash for SS over blued rifles given the rain up here?
Thanks to the experts in advance!
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I would say that whatever rifle it is, a synthetic/composite stock would be more in line. If you take care of your iron as you say you do, then blue would be okay. What did all those folks hunt with BEFORE SS barrels and actions were available?
John
A friend will post your bail. A good friend will be sitting next to you in the cell saying, "man that was fun!"0 -
BUY THE STAINLESS WITH THE BLACK STOCK. YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID.[:D][:D][:D]
I WOULD RATHER BE DUCK HUNTING.0 -
i too would recomend the stainless/synthetic . but if you take proper care of your rifles they should all do fine .
hope this helped , good luck [;)]0 -
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and hunted all the time in the rain and bad weather. My dad and grand dad were nuts about drilling it into us kids about taking good care of the guns so we did, if we'd been out in wet weather we cleaned and oiled them. We all had blue guns and wood stocks, and I have to admit I never had an incidence of a warped stock or point of impact change not even once. However after every deer and elk season we tore the guns down and inevitably under the barrel concealed by the stock we would find rust starting to appear, cleaned them up good and put them back together and we were good again. I'm not a big fan of stainless and plastic but they theoretically should fight the rust and weather better than blue and wood, I just have a hard time warming up to that chunk of plastic rather than a personable peice of wood. 0 -
I'm of the opinion that there is nothing more beautiful than a richly blued piece of steel wrapped up in a lustrous oil finished piece of select Walnut! (Well, O.K., a shapely young lady barely wrapped in a floss bikini finishes first but they aren't much on a hunt!) I have hunted the greater midwest for most of my 40 years and, like yourself, had the virtues of gun maintenance drilled into me by an Engineer father and a variety of friends dad's who were every bit as picky as he is. I grew up all over Michigan (upper and lower) and there is some really extreme weather there as well; bitter cold mornings and scalding hot, humid afternoons! The hundreds of pheasant hunts I did while living in Iowa were either nasty hot or freezing cold and wet as a bathtub! My Remington 870 20 ga. lightweight, which has taken thousands of birds (seemingly mostly in the rain!) is as free of rust as the day it came out of the box! Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance!!!
Having said that, in your desired hunting climate, I would strongly advise the stainless, composite stock route! Most of my hunting was done during day trips or cabins where you could spend the evening cleaning and maintaining. It sounds as though you may be out for a few days at a time where it would be difficult to really put in the effort I assume you normally would! It has also been proven fairly conclusively that synthetic stocks tend to be a bit more forgiving not only to heavy cover cosmetically, but provide a very sound bedding base that will be much more forgiving to the extreme elements. Stainless is of course actually merely stain resistant but it should buy you the extra time you will likely need between detailed maintenance.
Never give up on the beauty of wood and blue, but allow yourself the convenience and workhorselike attributes of plastic and satin silver. Durability and ease of maintenance should win out in this case!
"When I cease learning...I'm dead"(Me)
"Power corrupts...Absolute power corrupts absolutely"(Descartes?)
"History is written by winners"(Patton)
"You get a lot farther with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone!"(Al Capone)
"There is nothing lower than the human race...except the French" (Samuel Clemens)0 -
I also grew up hunting in the Pacific Northwest (northern Oregon coast), during the 1960s and 1970s, and I used nothing but blued steel with wood stocks... and never had a problem. Good maintenance is the key to success. I still call the Pacific Northwest home (west Puget Sound), and I only own one stainless steel gun... a Ruger Super Redhawk .44 Mag handgun.
Bert H.
Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!0
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