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Hi NitroX:

Well, I never thought I'd see the day, but there we have it, a stainless double!!!! So it can and has been done!!

It's particularly interesting that we don't see more boxlock shotguns and the like, made of stainless. With all the silver nitrided receiver finishes found on probably 90 percent of over/under shotguns coupled with the fact that stainless is easier to machine (according to the technical post earlier in the thread) I would have expected to see much more use of stainless.

A good rust blue is surely a thing of beauty, but in damp climates it just is not the greatest, although I do now regularly coat the outside of my rifles with floor wax to prevent rust and preserve the finish after having been educated properly here at Nitro Express.

So other than tradition and beauty, what would be the reason double rifle makers avoid stainless? Most of the African Safari trade takes place in hotter dry climates, but surely there is also good safari business that occurs in jungles, rain forests, and the like where the weather is hostile to delicate finishes. Here in Ontario, and in many many other parts of the world, the fall big game hunting season is mostly wet and cold, until the temps get a chance to drop later in the season where everything freezes up. Although I've never hunted west coast Canada or Alaska, I've spent enough time in coastal BC to see and experience what real rain really looks like!! I have stainless bolt guns that I expect would move to the most prominent place in my hunting repertoire should I decide to permanently move there in the future.

I'd think that a good double rifle in a large medium bore caliber would be absolutely ideal for coastal hunting in the thicker vegetation. Maybe one either makes enough money that they can afford to kill a good blued double every few seasons in inclement weather, or maybe one designates a lower cost double as a working gun and turns a blind eye to the ruination one invites by actually using it in inclement weather, or, and it's a big one, maybe an enterprising manufacturer might consider offering one in stainless as a special order item but at a similar price point to their regular offerings? Stainless and laminate? The Sako laminates are not hard on the eye, and are durable even when used as a canoe paddle, walking stick, fall breakers, and the like. I couldn't even remotely imagine thoughtlessly bumping around the stock of one of my beautiful wood upgraded rifles, let alone use it blindly and without care as a working tool in the school of hard knocks.

It's funny. The more I ramble on about the concept of a stainless double, it just leaves me with the feeling that I should leave well enough alone, resign myself to hunting primarily with my Sako Kodiak .375 stainless laminate, and leave the doubles mostly at home, to be perversely fondled in the quiet of the middle of the night. If I lean the Sako on the side of a tree, and it slips and falls on the ground, I'll curse myself, but I'll pick it up, brush off the leaves, snow, and mud, and continue on with my day. If I did that with one of my doubles, it would upset me and absolutely ruin my day and make me cry every time I saw the residual damage.... The reality is slightly different though. I bought my doubles to be used. Even my most expensive one that really stretched every financial fibre of my existence, a bespoke side lock Heym was bought to be hunted with, and will only stay in the truck if it's a nasty rainy day. Maybe if it was stainless though, I'd use it exclusively irrespective of the weather.

And as a final thought, maybe if it was stainless, just maybe I wouldn't have been willing to part with so much of my hard earned money to own it as I did.... And just maybe that's why double rifle manufacturers won't stray from the time honoured materials commonly accepted by the buying public. Nobody really dares to be different, 'cause being different will either make you very rich or very poor, but mostly it will make you poor.

Edited by Postman (07/09/16 09:48 AM)

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