Stainless vs Cerakote

[colonel00]

I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger (pun intended) on a rifle purchase. I have been planning on picking up a Tikka in stainless but I was curious as to what people thought about just getting a blued version and then getting a Cerakote application. I will probably still go with stainless but figured this might be an interesting discussion.

Oh, and cost-wise, it is about a wash between the extra cost of stainless versus the cost of the Cerakote application...give or take.

 

[pyroducksx3]

Guncoat is tougher, from what I've heard

 

[LaHunter]

You could go stainless AND cerakote. The bore would be more corrosion resistant with stainless vs blued.

 

[GKPrice]

there is a Tikka T3 SS standing in the corner of my office that a buddy didn't take care of IN MY CAMP and it has rust pits all over it - as said, it was my camp and I cannot figure out how it happened - my "smith" says go CM and cerakote, CM steel is stronger / tougher

 

[mtluckydan]

My local gunsmith says the biggest cause of accuracy problems he deals with is rust on the inside of the bore. Good quality stainless barrels pretty much solve this issue. I also have all my stainless guns cerakoted. If done properly, they are disassembled and even the small parts are coated and protected. Check out this site http://falcongunfinishing.com/

He does work for some of the high-end gun makers and has done all my guns. There is a big difference between good and bad application jobs with cerakote. Very happy with the results with Jeff at Falcon.

 

[duchntr]

stainless all the way....all gun coatings chip or scratch if used hard enough

 

[bradb]

I din't have the barrel done but had an action melonite treated and so far BY FAR my favorite of the coatings/treatments(as its not really a coating) Would like to try it on a barrel but not enough to risk the cost of a match barrel.
Otherwise I am a stainless fan. Cera when that option is not available

 

[dotman]

there is a Tikka T3 SS standing in the corner of my office that a buddy didn't take care of IN MY CAMP and it has rust pits all over it - as said, it was my camp and I cannot figure out how it happened - my "smith" says go CM and cerakote, CM steel is stronger / tougher

Pretty much what my smith said. The stainless used today still has a high iron count which makes them rust as well.

 

[5MilesBack]

I don't exactly live in a so-called "wet" environment, but I have several blued rifles that I've had and used for 30+ years without any issues at all from rust or pitting.

 

[GKPrice]

anything Cerakoted will have virtually the same resistance to rust as any SS will - On another note, I recall a known gunsmith who's name is presently escaping my memory who openly stated that in cold temps SS is not as strong as most CM's - It occurred to me at that time to ask just how cold he was talking about but I never had the chance to pose that question - I will say that in my lifetime I've had the privilege of owning and working with quite a few very nice rifles and in all but a limited number of them the CM barreled ones were more inherently accurate and much easier to arrive at good loads - If you notice the chamberings that Tikka offers the 338 Win Mag is no longer on the list and it used to be, a stainless T3 I had for a while was one of the 2 T3's that I could get nowhere with in load development AND there was a picture floating around several years ago (Alaska Outdoors Forums I think) of a seriously blown up T3 and that was said to be a 338 Win Mag too, definitely SS too) Now that Cerakoting is around I am going with CM on anything I do in the future, personally

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Personally I would prefer the cerakote, but can't say I have any kind of data to support it one way or another.
Personally, I have a couple of blued guns that have made it more than 20 years with no rust issues in some very wet conditions. So I imagine whatever you choose will last a while if you take care of it.

 

[dotman]

http://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com/news/article/why-stainless-isnt-always-stainless/