I love classic blued guns and I have a number of them; but I also love Cerakote. To me it’s not an ‘either-or’ situation, it’s a “both!”
For someone like me that guides and hunts year-round, Cerakote offers me a very tough, element impervious protection and the ability to color (camo, if you will) my weapon to suit my purposes. I always have a truck gun next to my seat for killing predators in the ranch and the Cerakote doesn’t show much (if any) damage from constantly getting rubbed or banged around. Even if it did, I can have it touched up if I ever wanted to. Another advantage, for me, is the reduction in the ‘shine.’ A spooky whitetail that wanders close or a coyote doesn’t pick out a barrel that’s shining in the midday sun, like a blued barrel. Honestly, if I didn’t occasionally sell an optic to cover part of the cost of buying a newer/different one, I’d Cerakote my optics to!
I use my blued guns from time to time but I’m careful with them; and my cerakoted ones I just don’t worry about them - it’s grab ‘em and go!
To the OP: a big part of why there’s a move to Cerakote (even by manufacturers) is that there’s a big move to stainless actions and barrels. Since you can’t “blue” a piece of stainless, Cerakote is the best option if you don’t want a silver action and barrel. Same holds true for titanium. The same argument against coatings was used by guys who opposed the introduction of non wood stocks. Die hard traditionalists decried fiberglass and carbon fiber as firearm blasphemy and a sign of impending End Times. Lol! It’s pretty generally accepted these days that composite stocks offer advantages that wood simply can’t touch. Still, who doesn’t live a beautiful wood stock? I own both but while I love the older fine guns I own (many inherited) I would no more build a custom rifle with a wood stock than top it with a Walmart optic. Lol!
The same holds true for carbon barrels. Since you can’t blue them, if you want your barreled action to look uniform, you really only have the option to Cerakote.
Bluing a rifle was a old solution to treating the metal to help make it more impervious to the environment. Over time we’ve come to admire the look of what was simply a practical solution at one time - that’s called the creation of tradition. Plus, in those days there was a preference for all things ‘shiny.’ Today, there’s also an appreciation for a matte finish on things. Particularly where a shine can be a disadvantage....like hunting. The reality is, blued guns are probably on their way out when it comes to production guns. Not tomorrow but I’ll bet in another 20 years you’ll be hard-pressed to find one on a typical gun shop wall. Blued guns will become a niche market and will live on mostly among collectors of older guns. Same thing for wood sticks, imo. It’s the wind of change. Guns are tools and there are advantages to materials that are more durable and (in the case of non-wood stocks and chassis) improve performance. That’s true from both the consumer’s standpoint AND that of the manufacturer. I don’t think that’s sad, despite my love for my blued guns, it’s smart. Only collectors by guns for their aesthetic appeal - most hunters prefer the most functional tool they can find. I think wall tents look cool and are comfortable but I’m still going to pack a lightweight tarp or tipi in my pack because they have advantages. Doesn’t mean I won’t own a wall tent for base camp/car camping.
Love them both. Buy them both while you still can and cherish those traditional guns because the inevitable winds of change are a-blowin’!
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