Stainless vs blued. Range report

[Confederate rifleman]

Chrono results! Two TC Omegas. One blued one stainless, with similar round counts. Same loads. 45 cal 250 gr XTP in Harvester crush ribs over 70 grains Swiss 3f Holy Black lit with Winchester 209 primers.
The blued gave 1640 fps with 11 fps hi/ low variations.
Stainless 1695 fps with 9 fps variations hi/lo.
The bores were swabbed between shots with rubbing alcohol.
Now 55 fps isn't a lot, but it is something. I think it a good comparison, using same make and model rifle and same loads.
My 24 inch stainless Firehawk beat my 26 inch ( blued) Black Diamond XR by 40 fps with this same load. Seems to confirm my thought that all things being equal, stainless gives ( slightly) higher velocities.
Ymmv.

 

[GM54-120]

Not really. All it takes is a couple 1000ths difference in Land/Groove size to gain or lose 50fps. I can change a sabot in my NULA from a MMP to a Harvester and gain a solid 40fps. Main difference is the MMP is a few 1000ths larger loaded OD.

Bore quality is another factor and even more difficult to compare without a good scope. My Pacnor Super Match grade yielded more fps vs my Green Mountain barrel with the same sabots. Both are nearly identical land size but the Pancor SM grade is a smoother bore.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Someone should compare Nitride.

 

[short_start]

I look at it differently. Although there are many different types of stainless, I think, as a whole, they're harder to work with; harder to cut, harder to drill straight and more difficult to rifle and remove machining marks. Bore quality can suffer. My evidence is, at best, anecdotal. I've had problems with new stainless barrels that have never appeared with blued barrels.

I've seen stainless barrels bored noticeably off centre while another wasn't bored straight and couldn't be zeroed. I haven't noticed any of this with new blued barrels. Going by my admittedly limited experience, I'd say that at least some barrel manufacturers have or have had difficulty working with stainless and a blued steel barrel is probably the most problem free choice.

When you do get a good stainless barrel, they are a joy to clean and shoot. I have a few and the effort involved with cleaning is much reduced. I know I sure like my Greyhawks and Black Diamond.

 

[bronko220002]

Not really. All it takes is a couple 1000ths difference in Land/Groove size to gain or lose 50fps. I can change a sabot in my NULA from a MMP to a Harvester and gain a solid 40fps. Main difference is the MMP is a few 1000ths larger loaded OD.

Bore quality is another factor and even more difficult to compare without a good scope. My Pacnor Super Match grade yielded more fps vs my Green Mountain barrel with the same sabots. Both are nearly identical land size but the Pancor SM grade is a smoother bore.

I agree. I don't think that the material has anything to do with the velocity. It has to do with bore diameter difference and surface condition. And yes, like short start said, SS is harder to machine to a smooth surface than a more ferrous steel. It has a tendency to have microscopic tears. It's always a good idea to lap your bores, especially SS. Another thing to consider is variation in sabot thickness and bullet diameter and weight. Even slight variations will have an effect on velocity.
When manf. say its 240 gr on the box that is the average weight. These weights can and do vary even within the same lot. When I cast bullets I get pretty consistent weights and cull/remelt any that are +/- .5 grain over the norm. My cast lots do not vary more than 1 gr. on a digital scale.
A lot of us tend to make shooting muzzys more than we really need. Except for the few that shoot competitively and at super long ranges, most of us are recreational shooters and hunters. I know we all try for that holy grail one hole group but sometimes we try so hared we take the fun out of it.
Take a look at Black Powder Maniac - he goes out more than most of us and has fun without getting too technical. Remember K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple (I won't say what the other S is for)

 

[bluebanana]

This could simply be barrel to barrel differences. Not practical but the better test would be to compare 5 blued with 5 stainless and see what the variations are.

 

[earlthegoat2]

TC “stainless” barrels rust so much more than the typical stainless steel I am familiar with, they might as well just make them from carbon steel and blue them.

I’m sure the manufacturing tolerances in the mass production product that TC made were not exactly precise.