Carbon Steel verses Stainless Steel

panhandlepr1 · Dec 29, 2006

I don't think I've ever seen the pros and cons of these two types of barrels. Is one more accurate than the other? Does one last longer the the other? What does the benchrest guys use? Which one gives more for the dollar spent?

Panhandlepr

Guy Miner · Dec 30, 2006

Most of the target shooting guys use stainless barrels. Accurate barrel life is good, and target shooters wear out barrels fast enough that they don't want to be bothered with re-bluing a barrel every time they swap on a new one.

I've got a couple of stainless barrels sitting in the safe now, spares waiting to be installed on my match rifle when needed.

Here's a quote from the Krieger web site:

"Q: Which is better Chrome Moly or Stainless Steel?

A: For the most part neither one is better than the other. The only difference we find is that sometimes the chrome moly might take a little longer to break-in and might have a little more affinity for copper or seems to show it easier. In terms of barrel life and accuracy, we can find no difference."

http://www.kriegerbarrels.com

Regards, Guy

Reloder28 · Jan 20, 2007

The main difference is that s.s. cools faster at the range on a day of hard shooting so not so much down time between group sessions.

Other than that....don't matter to me. Corrosion-X makes my blued guns wear like stainless.

Asa Yam · Jan 20, 2007

Reloder28":1upxt6k8 said:
The main difference is that s.s. cools faster at the range on a day of hard shooting so not so much down time between group sessions.

NO!

Stainless steel has terrible thermal and electrical conductivity - usually worse than that of other alloy steels.