Blue or SS?

Gene L

Best as I can count, I own only 1 SS handgun, a Model 65 that was given me upon my first retirement.  i seem to prefer blue, which reinforces my stance as an old codger.  SS guns require less maintenance, but that shouldn't be much of an issue unless you sweat a lot and carry a handgun next to your sweaty body.  SS seems to be the preference now, but are there other benefits I'm over looking?  I don't much like the finish on SS guns, they don't seem as "crisp" as blue steel. The only nickel gun I own is the I frame I posted earlier; wish it were blue, more rare in the early Smiths. 

GunNut

Just off the top of my head, I seem to have more older blue guns than SS and that includes rifles too.  I love classics and they just don’t come in blue.  That doesn’t mean I don’t like or appreciate a nice SS gun.  Two of my favorite .44 mags are SS guns and my beautiful 624 is a work of art as far as I’m concerned, but even those are classic designs.  I don’t think I’ve actually given it much though.  Just has worked out that way as I buy or build guns I prefer.

Gene L

Yeah, My Redhawk is SS, now that I think of it.

Bigslug

As pretty as it is, and as classy as it is, bluing is just a lousy finish for a working firearm dating back to when controlled rust was the best you could do to protect a steel surface from rusting further - - and we all know that simply doesn't work.  I carried my Combat Commander small of back for the best part of three years working at the local gun shop and wiped it down regularly.  It still suffered from the experience.

I've come to regard nicely blued guns as being like high end sports cars - - the depreciation starts as soon as you roll off the dealer's lot and the downward slope is STEEP. . .and that SUCKS.  Sadly, with the surface polish work required to do it RIGHT, the non-durability of bluing is just a heinously inefficient thing to do today.

What I'm a little puzzled by is that none of these modern, super-tough black tenifer or DLC finishes has made it from the duty auto world and onto carbon steel revolvers.

Jayhawker

Not a fan of SS at all, but I married into a stainless Model 66 which lives in the back of the safe

Gene L

BigSlug, that car analogy doesn't work.  Every blue gun i own is worth more than when it came from the dealer.  SS has many advantages if one doesn't maintain his gun.  If I were going to arm a Police Department in the days of yore, I would go SS.  But since I don't have that option and because I now no longer carry a SS revolver, I prefer blue and a wipedown.

shotgunshooter3

Are we only talking handguns? If so, I really enjoy the craftsmanship of a blued revolver. Then again, for me, revolvers aren't working guns (though I've considered a 3" .44 Special a few times). 

My carry guns are all Glocks, IE SS with Tenifer or DLC over them. 

Funny enough, both my hunting guns are blued steel (but with synthetic stocks). However, I'm pretty religious about wiping them down. 

Zee

Function = Stainless
Form = Blue

orchidman

Zee said:

Function = Stainless
Form = Blue

This.

Cant comment on handguns, but nearly all my working rifles are stainless/synthetic. The only exception is the Sako Vixen in 222 and my (t)rusty Norinco JW 15 .22. Got a safe full of blued/wood which rarely gets an outing.

Antonio

Only have 2 SS guns: Ruger Blackhawk and 10/22 Takedown. Local humidity is NASTY and worsensd by the fact that I live 4 blocks from the sea, so wish I had more "non classic/surplus" guns in that material, like my MkIII or my Single Six.

Bigslug

Gene L said:

BigSlug, that car analogy doesn't work.  

If you're only talking dollar signs, then maybe.  But as long as we're talking automobiles, bluing is kind of like the wet-sanded, triple clear coat paint you'll find on a show car - it looks AWESOME, but any time you want to take it somewhere, you start channelling Cameron Frye from Ferris Bueller's Day Off as regards things that could happen to his dad's '61 Ferrari:

"It could get scratched!  Stolen! BREATHED ON WRONG!  A pigeon could **** on it!"

Paint on a show car is largely incompatible with the job of transportation that a car was made for - you end up parking it at the far end of the lot to avoid dings from shopping carts and other car's doors; you worry constantly about some jealous fool keying it; you pay a ridiculous amount of money to specialists simply to get it washed; a 30 yard stretch of gravel triggers an acid reflux response; and other cars kicking up stones with their tires has you travelling in the slow lane with all the following distance you can muster.

And so it is with bluing on guns - especially the nice stuff.  Just about any non-competition gun was made to be carried next to the human body (which sweats and bumps into things) in conditions that often involve rain and snow.  A quick glance at a rack of military surplus rifles will tell you immediately that carbon steel is not compatible with that life - - it's just what we used because at the time, that's what we had.   The truly tragic thing about the blued handguns of the 1920's and '30's is that no one but the collecting connoisseurs have any conception of the amazing work that went into finishing them - - because the original finish on most of them has died the natural death that goes with that process when it gets subjected to its intended use. 

Cars or guns are tools that are supposed to be an accessory to your life, but with the added care required when the car or gun gets fancy, your life becomes an accessory to the maintenance of the tool.

Unlike bluing, stainless, synthetics, and the modern wonder finishes were made for the environments that guns get subjected to, and the quality of my hunting increased GREATLY when I could sit in a rainstorm and not think about how I needed to completely disassemble, dry out, and oil my blue and walnut masterpiece when I got it home. 

I own a lot of the "old process" guns and really enjoy playing with them, but I wouldn't say I really USE any of them for the reasons above.  They're my museum pieces.  His personal problems aside, John DeLorean was really onto something - - even if its only in the ordinary, rising and setting of the sun way, a stainless steel body travels through time better.

zorba

Zee said:

Function = Stainless
Form = Blue

Function=Plastic

Form=Blue

PITA to clean=Stainless

I'd go stainless on a working gun that wasn't plastic. I have three stainless revolvers - they're a pain to clean, made worse because two of them are rimfires.

GunNut

Bigslug said:

Gene L said:

BigSlug, that car analogy doesn't work.  

If you're only talking dollar signs, then maybe.  But as long as we're talking automobiles, bluing is kind of like the wet-sanded, triple clear coat paint you'll find on a show car - it looks AWESOME, but any time you want to take it somewhere, you start channelling Cameron Frye from Ferris Bueller's Day Off as regards things that could happen to his dad's '61 Ferrari:

"It could get scratched!  Stolen! BREATHED ON WRONG!  A pigeon could **** on it!"

Paint on a show car is largely incompatible with the job of transportation that a car was made for - you end up parking it at the far end of the lot to avoid dings from shopping carts and other car's doors; you worry constantly about some jealous fool keying it; you pay a ridiculous amount of money to specialists simply to get it washed; a 30 yard stretch of gravel triggers an acid reflux response; and other cars kicking up stones with their tires has you travelling in the slow lane with all the following distance you can muster.

And so it is with bluing on guns - especially the nice stuff.  Just about any non-competition gun was made to be carried next to the human body (which sweats and bumps into things) in conditions that often involve rain and snow.  A quick glance at a rack of military surplus rifles will tell you immediately that carbon steel is not compatible with that life - - it's just what we used because at the time, that's what we had.   The truly tragic thing about the blued handguns of the 1920's and '30's is that no one but the collecting connoisseurs have any conception of the amazing work that went into finishing them - - because the original finish on most of them has died the natural death that goes with that process when it gets subjected to its intended use. 

Cars or guns are tools that are supposed to be an accessory to your life, but with the added care required when the car or gun gets fancy, your life becomes an accessory to the maintenance of the tool.

Unlike bluing, stainless, synthetics, and the modern wonder finishes were made for the environments that guns get subjected to, and the quality of my hunting increased GREATLY when I could sit in a rainstorm and not think about how I needed to completely disassemble, dry out, and oil my blue and walnut masterpiece when I got it home. 

I own a lot of the "old process" guns and really enjoy playing with them, but I wouldn't say I really USE any of them for the reasons above.  They're my museum pieces.  His personal problems aside, John DeLorean was really onto something - - even if its only in the ordinary, rising and setting of the sun way, a stainless steel body travels through time better.

While I absolutely agree with you I also believe that few in here go out of their way to abuse their guns much... Except Zee, that boy can break bricks...  And even he takes VERY good care of his firearms.

The time of carrying pretty blue guns to war is long gone so whatever damage those guns got is now supplanted by TLC and range/safe time so no further damage/depreciation will be coming their way.  

Personally, I do carry my pretty blue guns on occasion and while I will admit my field time is at a severe premium nowadays that was not the case a few years back.  I never really put undue punishment on a blue gun.  And if it got wet a quick but thorough clean and some TLC with an oily rag was all that was needed to keep them pretty.  Not like I'm a LEO with a shinny blue Model 15 in a leather holster riding in a hot squad car all day like back in the day.  That's a different story altogether, but even that is rather rare nowadays.

Jeeper44mag

I agree with BigSlug.  I have a rack of beautiful blued/wood rifles that are my "fair weather hunters" and only come out when there's not likely to be any rain, and then I have a few "working guns" (plastic or SS) that have me covered when it might be nasty.   I don't have a single gun I won't hunt with, but I've got quite a few that see (slightly) limited time outdoors because of their finish.

Luis

Gene L

I don't come out when it's raining!  Stainless steel firearms haven't been around all that long, 40 years or so?  I wonder what our ancestors did pre-SS.  No pre-64 Winchesters were SS. If I lived on the coast, all my guns would be SS.

Jeeper44mag

I'll tell you what they did... a lot of maintenance!   Either that or their firearms didn't stay in good shape for long.

If it's a downpour, I'm staying home too, but a light rain/drizzle/mist is a great time to be out in the woods if you have the gear for it.  ie. Waterproof clothing and/or a good blind.  It's SO peaceful sitting in the woods listening to the rain.

Luis

Gene L

Blue for looks, SS for function.  Wish they'd come up with a blue SS.