Is it true that stainless Howa rifles rust faster than their blued counterparts?

[Hunter270Win]

Been hearing and reading this a lot

 

[Hunter270Win]

It would be common sense to think the stainless are more rust resistant, no?

 

[BBob]

It would be common sense to think the stainless are more rust resistant, no?

Depends on the alloy. Some alloys like 410 don’t have very good corrosion resistance. If it’s just the action rusting it could be it wasn’t passivated post heat treat. Could be a surface contaminant from manufacturing that’s inhibiting the passivation layer from forming. Could be a number of reasons.

 

[Castle Rock]

It’s a Howa, who cares?

 

[Hunter270Win]

It’s a Howa, who cares?

What do you mean?

 

[Hossauce]

Stainless will rust in air, gotta keep oil on it, blue prevents the reaction from occurring!

 

[Johnwell]

Stainless will rust in air, gotta keep oil on it, blue prevents the reaction from occurring!

This doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The chromium in stainless forms a protective barrier of oxidation that should keep the steel from rusting. The nice thing about stainless is that this barrier is self-forming. No processing is required to get the chromium to make the protective layer; and if it is scratched/machined off it has chromium all the way through. It’s not stain-proof though (with a few exceptions), just stain-less so it can and will rust or discolor under certain conditions. Oiling helps but depending on the grade of steel shouldn’t be necessary in most applications.

Blued steel is a steel oxidation layer to protect carbon steel from rusting. It can still rust though, because the oxidation layer isn’t a perfect barrier. Oiling helps keep the moisture off.

Carbon steel left “in the white” will rust in air with humidity without a barrier of oil.

I don’t have any experience with the stainless howa rifles, but I would assume they’re using similar grades of stainless steel to other companies.

It’s a Howa, who cares?

Not sure what you mean by this either; my howa mini is by far my best shooting rifle. Never had any issues with it other than I think their bottom metal/magazine is straight trash.

 

[Terrapin]

I’m not sure what steel they are using for their blued models, but I turned down a barrel about six months ago. I figured the bare steel would rust immediately. So far, it’s still as shiny as the day it came off the lathe.


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[Hunter270Win]

Stainless will rust in air, gotta keep oil on it, blue prevents the reaction from occurring!

Explain. The bore of a stainless rifle vs a carbon steel would surely be more rust resistant, no?