High End Stainless Rifle Rusting Question (Not Abused)

[treillw]

So I purchased a high end hunting rifle this past fall and am pretty disappointed with the gun's corrosion resistance. The gun is stainless steel. After my second day trip of having it out in the field hunting, I noticed it starting to rust. I know that stainless steel isn't rust proof and I still treat it as if it were a blued gun - I always let it warm up to room temperature and then oil it shortly after every use. I do this with all my guns, both stainless and blued.

I am really surprised by this. I carry a stainless steel Smith and Wesson revolver with me while hunting as a sidearm. The revolver has been in worse conditions than the rifle and it has no corrosion. I have fallen into snow banks multiple times and had the entire holster filled up with snow and the gun soaking wet afterwards. Once at home, I placed both guns right next to each other to dry and oiled them both at the same time. The Smith doesn't have a spec of rust and the rifle does. I have dozens of other guns, stainless and blued, and none of them have rust. This is my most expensive gun.

I contacted the manufacture to ask them about the issue. They said "As embarrassed as I am to say, I have seen this before". They offered to Cerakote the rifle for free.

Cerakote is great for the cosmetic appearance of the rifle, but what about the most important part - the inside of the barrel? If this stainless steel rusts so easily, won't the inside of the barrel eventually rust and pit as well and potentially harm accuracy?

I left the manufacturers name out of this post because I'm not looking to defame them. Although I think it's pretty crazy that such an expensive gun has this problem. If anybody would like to know who it is PM me.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[bowhnt]

Take a lead polishing rag to it. Should take it off.


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[treillw]

Just as a little bit more info - the barrel, action, and bolt are all rusting. The bolt has this weird black mark on it - not sure what that's about.

 

[TauPhi111]

That's unforutnate. The chromium content of their steel must not be that high. A good fix might be to send all the steel parts to be salt bath nitrided (aka Melonite). I'm not sure how much that costs but it should solve your corrosion problems inside and out. And you'll have a sweet black finish

 

[hodgeman]

There are a bunch of alloys out there...and all of them are called "stainless steel" and their content varies considerably.

Any kind of metal alloy is a series of compromises- corrosion resistance, malleability, brittleness...as well as cost. Not all of them are entirely suitable for firearms.

I'd likely take the maker up on the offer to cerakote it. Nitride is awesome, but it'll cost you to have it done- as mentioned, it protects everything...inside and out.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Couple random thoughts. Personally I have my barrel taped and bolt closed so even in crap weather the bore really isn't seeing much weather. In addition no clue what the fouling in the bore does for/against weather protection. As noted stainless corrosion resistance varies. Are all these affected parts bead blasted finish? If so if they're using the same media to blast stainless and carbon you can get some surface contamination of the blasted exterior which could be a source for surface rusting, in that case the cerakote would make a difference.

Realistically my stainless rifles are a blasted/machine finish, occasionally I see some bloom after harsh weather but it comes off with an oil rag. Keeping the metal rubbed with an oil or silcon rag prehunt helps.

 

[PantherCity]

I bet it's a Barrett Fieldcraft?

 

[EastMT]

We had this problem on a coastal hunt. Browning, Remington, Weatherby Accumark. All rusted in various spots. Only one that didn’t rust was an old beat up $300 ruger 338 boat paddle stock, go figure.

 

[treillw]

Nope. Roughly twice the cost of a Fieldcraft, if you find the fieldcraft on sale.

 

[FURMAN]

The only time I have seen significant rust on stainless rifles was when they have been wired brushed for "finish" purposes.

 

[treillw]

The only time I have seen significant rust on stainless rifles was when they have been wired brushed for "finish" purposes.

The barrel does have a rougher finish. But I'm pretty sure the action and maybe even the bolt are a CNC machined finish - it's pretty smooth. All components are rusting, however the barrel is the worst.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

I've had just about every stainless rifle I've owned rust, some worse than others. Stainless is rarely stainless....

Usually it's small blotches that occur over the course of a couple days, a thorough cleaning and thy're fine. That said I understand the frustration w/ paying that much and having it not live up to your expectations.

I still buy stainless guns when the option is there, but I generally think of them as being more weather resistant than weather proof or stainless. Only way to combat it is cerakote or nitride. If the company is offering a free cerakote I'd probably take them up on it with the condition they re-bed it as it will add to the overall dimensions. Not much but possibly enough to mess with things like a floated barrel.

 

[howl]

That's unforutnate. The chromium content of their steel must not be that high. A good fix might be to send all the steel parts to be salt bath nitrided (aka Melonite). I'm not sure how much that costs but it should solve your corrosion problems inside and out. And you'll have a sweet black finish

+1 The costs of such treatments has been driven down by the tacticool craze. The only reason I can see for a high end rifle builder not doing it nowadays is varying results with reducing accuracy.

Immediately, try soaking it in INOX MX-3. I've had good luck wiping rust off SS after coating it in that for a few hours. I finish my pre-season preparations with a wet patch and then patching dry. Exterior parts are wiped down. The exterior I coat with a visible layer of paste wax. This works for me, but I've not exactly tested it in constant coastal rain for a week.

 

[WJS23]

Both my tikka, Kimber Montana and my s&w 686 will rust if not wiped down with a rag every once and a wile but they way I look at it they are tools and every scratch or blemishes I get on them ads some personality to them. At least the company is offering to coat the rifle for you

 

[ramont]

In the world of machining it's a well known problem (rusting stainless steel). Quite often the problem is due to the manufacturer not ensuring that the stainless steel was properly cleaned after using High Speed Steel (HSS) cutters. Typically a passivation/ pickling process is used to ensure that there are no metal particles embedded in to the stainless steel after it's been machined. If the stainless steel wasn't properly treated then the embedded particles from the cutting process will rust and look like surface rust. All stainless will rust eventually, if it is properly cleaned and oiled it takes a long time before it will rust but eventually it will show signs of rusting.

 

[coiloil37]

I wipe all of my gear with a marine tuf-cloth when I buy it. Since I started using it I haven’t seen any rust on anything. I had a knife made of M4 steel that I used to clean with that cloth. I wanted to force a patina on it so I brakleened the blade and soaked it in vinegar for two days. There was zero corrosion and zero patina. That stuff works well.