by yoshie » 05 Apr 2014, 7:02 pm
The only reason we see stainless rifles is due to the cost of blueing.
30 years ago the man hour labour cost to blue a barrel was less than the expensive stainless steels of the day, now the cost of labour is higher and stainless is only marginally more expensive to make than blued.
The better weathering is a bit of a false truth. Stainless does corrode, it just corrodes defiantly than normal steel. The other thing worth mentioning is all steels are alloys and have different ratios of other metals. Steels ain't steels.
Stainless is a common term used to describe high zinc (and other metals) steels alloys. Just like cold or hot galv coatings use zinc to sacrificially protect the steel, stainless has the zinc in the steel it's self.
Stainless left to the elements will eventually corrode.