Stainless barrels vs. Chrome-Moly

M

Montana Pete

Guest
I recently ordered out a custom rifle from a riflemaker. I had my choice of stainless barrel or chrome-moly. I decided on the latter. I did not have much knowledge on which to decide.

What are the advantages or disadvantages of one over the other? I understand that the stainless can be a little more expensive.
 
I understand that the stainless can be a little more expensive.[/QUOTE]


CM bbls. are in the white.....factor in the cost of bluing or some other coating and then compare the price.
 
Pete ...

Montana Pete said:
I recently ordered out a custom rifle from a riflemaker. I had my choice of stainless barrel or chrome-moly. I decided on the latter. I did not have much knowledge on which to decide.

What are the advantages or disadvantages of one over the other? I understand that the stainless can be a little more expensive.
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I like to go directly to the source. Call the guys here and ask them: http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/. They manufacture barrels everyday. :)
 
I like to go directly to the source. Call the guys here and ask them: http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/. They manufacture barrels everyday.

I was curious enough to do just that last night and this is what i was told. I asked Brux barrels if there was any accuracy benefit with stainless over a chrome moly barrel, or if there was any other reason not to use a chrome moly barrel. The fella at brux told me that the chrome moly was every bit as accurate and the only real difference he knew of was that a stainless barrel craps out all at once when its usable life is over with, and that a chrome barrel will gradually go away, and not all at once.
Abinix has it right when he talks about what barrel cost more. the brux chrome barrel is 245 in the white and the stainless is 300. by the time you have it blued it will be anywere from 295 to 350 depending on actual bluing cost. I like the look of a nice deep blued action and barrel, and i really beleive that Brux barrels are some of the best there is, so i may try one?? I dont know!
Kinda off the topic here a little but, is any one here shooting a brux barrel in there ppc? I dont think i have heard much about them in the ppc circle, but i dont see any reason why they wouldnt be a great barrel. There 6mm 8 twist and 8.5 twist barrels sure shoot well. Thats all i know!! Lee
 
Why don't you get a CM barrel and send it to Joel Kendrick for Melonite QPQ. You will get a ddep blue black finish and a barrel that will last many thousands of rounds.
Butch
 
skeetlee ...

skeetlee said:
I like to go directly to the source. Call the guys here and ask them: http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/. They manufacture barrels everyday. [this is abintx]


abintx has it right when he talks about what barrel cost more. [That's not me!]

Kinda off the topic here a little but, is any one here shooting a brux barrel in their ppc?

I dont think i have heard much about them in the ppc circle, but i dont see any reason why they wouldnt be a great barrel.

There 6mm 8 twist and 8.5 twist barrels sure shoot well. Thats all i know!! Lee
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I don't know of anyone who shoots a 6PPC with a Brux barrel. 6PPC barrel twists usually fall in the range of 13.5 to 15. :)
 
Ya i havent heard or read of anyone shooting them in a ppc either, but i bet they would shoot just fine. I dont need a barrel just yet, but when i do i may try it. Actually i think my next new barrel will be in a 22cal for the short 22ppc. Mike Ratigan was telling me that he hasnt had much luck getting a really good 22cal barrel here lately. Maybe a Brux will be the one?? Who knows, its always a bit of a crap shoot anyway! Lee
 
I have a Brux in 30BR in CM. Shoots just fine. Why worry about rust. Just put a good coat of paste wax or silicone oil on the outside. Besides what if it does rust a tad. Who cares. It sure ain't gonna rust in the bore. I just received a new LV SS 13.5 twist 6mm Brux barrel. Now chambered in 6ppc. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. This is the 3rd Brux I have had. Norm and Ken make some super barrels and are great people to work with. I got in just before the price increase. :))

Donald
 
Bull Hocky on most of this rusting business on the CM barrels. How many CM bolts do you see that are rusted. I have a couple hunting rifles that I don't use anymore. They both have CM bolts and bolt handles, non blued. One I built in 1970 or so out of a FN Mauser action. Had to cut and bend and reweld the bolt handle. I polished that sucker out until it looked like it was chrome plated. No rust at all and those two rifles sat in a indoor gun cabinet for 35 years after I quit hunting and didn't rust. And back when I was still hunting, I carried those two rifles in the snow, rain, sleet, heat, sun whatever. Just dry them off and put a bit of oil or wax on. Guess what....no rust. Everyone is used to a silver colored SS barrel and action. Why not just polish the CM barrel till it is like chrome plated. Just a smidgen of care will take care of any possible rust problems. And if you have a blued action, what makes you think that won't rust. You don't take care of it and it will rust. Would you put a SS barrel on a blued CM action. Most would, except for a few anal types, can't have mixed colors, yada, yada. I talked to Brux about the difference between CM and SS in barrel material. They said they should shoot the same. The only difference they thought was that the SS might, and he emphasized MIGHT, be a little more flame resistant than the CM. So if you are going to shoot one of those big overbore flame throwers, I probably would go with SS. But for a 6ppc or a 30BR, you are just not going to see any difference. There will probably be more difference between individual barrels than between a SS and CM barrel. The gunsmiths like the SS because it machines better than the CM. Maybe that is the reason they are so popular. JMO and your milage may vary.

Donald
 
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Fwiw...

and speaking from experience (as a barrel maker): the real advantage in SS for accuracy applications is that the typical formulations (416R, etc.) are easier to machine than the common CM steels (4142, etc.), and interior dimensions and surface finish are usually a bit better, given equal care in manufacture. Either will result in a barrel with good service life, but there is no great advantage apparent in either case, so far as number of rounds to wear-out goes.
Hardness, per-se, is not an advantage in rifle barrels, because the mechanism which causes them to 'wear-out' is not mechanical stress or friction from bullet passage, but actual hardening of the bore surface beginning directly ahead of the chamber, with subsequent cracking and flaking away of the surface layers under the repeated stresses of firing - the process continuing until accuracy is noticeably deteriorated. Inspection of worn barrels clearly shows this pattern in the throat area, while the remainder of the bore may be unaffected, in any measureable way.
mhb - Mike
 
Best shooting barrel I ever had, was a CM. Have a CM blank in the safe, that's been there for about 8 years, and no rust. Thinking about putting in service.
 
The fella at brux told me that the chrome moly was every bit as accurate and the only real difference he knew of was that a stainless barrel craps out all at once when its usable life is over with, and that a chrome barrel will gradually go away, and not all at once
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.

That is absolutely amazing, I have been shooting Stainless for 35 years and I never knew that.
 
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