Thread: Rifles that don't age well

With the same amount of care, are there particular brands and models that tend to wear quicker than others?

Is there such a thing?

From what I have heard on the forum:
- Howa's stainless barreled actions is more prone to rust
- Browning Xbolt's stock coating tends to peel off and become sticky fast

There could be more. Keen to hear your experiences.

I don’t no what the deal is with the stainless thing it’s like it’s batch to batch, iv had a brand new tikka with spot rust out of the box nothing major what so ever more stains once cleaned up no erosion as such. A friend of mine had a sako 75 .270 that got spot rust looking at it to hard and a tikka 22-250 that did the same where as my tikka .308 at the time and my sako 85 7rm never got a spot and I don’t no that a rag ever touched the outside of the barrel on either of those rifles . 85 finnlights and carbonlights are both prone to the sort touch wearing like the browning I think a lot of it is probably cleaning products because again my finnlight didn’t get sticky nor peel over years of use .

Blood is terrible for marking stainless and I’m very conscious of getting it off asap now.

Originally Posted by Kelton

I don’t no what the deal is with the stainless thing it’s like it’s batch to batch, iv had a brand new tikka with spot rust out of the box nothing major what so ever more stains once cleaned up no erosion as such. A friend of mine had a sako 75 .270 that got spot rust looking at it to hard and a tikka 22-250 that did the same where as my tikka .308 at the time and my sako 85 7rm never got a spot and I don’t no that a rag ever touched the outside of the barrel on either of those rifles . 85 finnlights and carbonlights are both prone to the sort touch wearing like the browning I think a lot of it is probably cleaning products because again my finnlight didn’t get sticky nor peel over years of use .

Blood is terrible for marking stainless and I’m very conscious of getting it off asap now.

May I suggest not using the barrel as a spear then

Originally Posted by Gibo

May I suggest not using the barrel as a spear then

Able lake Tahr Ballot block 3rd period 2016 arrived to the car part waiting for chopper checking the important bits rifle bolt bullets knife the bolt was broken Now I’m not saying we speared a bull Tahr with a bolt less rifle or their would be a 6 page story about it luckily their were other rifles to be shared but that would have being about the only use for that rifle on that trip

I once had Remington 700 heavy barrel with a matte finish, perhaps some sort of cerakote I'm not sure, whatever Remington used from factory as it was one of the rare times I bought a new rifle. Anyway, it scratched easily and quickly formed a light coating of surface rust overnight just from the dew from sleeping outdoors. I thought it was borderline defective. I ended up selling it after I broke the stock in a car accident. Haven't bought a brand new rifle since lol

There are a lot of European rifle designs which involve overly complex methods of switching barrels or mounting scopes etc.

These often require proprietary parts which are never offered off the shelf or quickly evaporate once the rifle turns out to be a poor seller due to high costs.

It's far better to adopt a system with known faults that can be rectified vs. a brand new one which is supposedly 'better'...

A Sauer, Mauser M03 or Blaser R93 might sound like a great idea but can you buy a new stock, trigger and magazine for one at your local gunshop?!

Better to buy Howa/Remington/Tikka as parts are available and gunsmiths are familliar with them.

Originally Posted by caberslash

There are a lot of European rifle designs which involve overly complex methods of switching barrels or mounting scopes etc.

These often require proprietary parts which are never offered off the shelf or quickly evaporate once the rifle turns out to be a poor seller due to high costs.

It's far better to adopt a system with known faults that can be rectified vs. a brand new one which is supposedly 'better'...

A Sauer, Mauser M03 or Blaser R93 might sound like a great idea but can you buy a new stock, trigger and magazine for one at your local gunshop?!

Better to buy Howa/Remington/Tikka as parts are available and gunsmiths are familliar with them.

So I have had Sauer 202’s since 1992 when they first came out. I own three now. Never had an issue with them, never lost a mag or broken a stock. Also own S&L and Heym change barrel versions. No you can’t buy a trigger, stock or magazine at my local store however the joy or using precision engineering and accuracy drives my motivations. You can’t buy a gearbox or wiper blades for a Bugatti Veyron at your local garage either!

Originally Posted by Southcity

So I have had Sauer 202’s since 1992 when they first came out. I own three now. Never had an issue with them, never lost a mag or broken a stock. Also own S&L and Heym change barrel versions. No you can’t buy a trigger, stock or magazine at my local store however the joy or using precision engineering and accuracy drives my motivations. You can’t buy a gearbox or wiper blades for a Bugatti Veyron at your local garage either!

There is a massive difference in performance between a Veyron and your average Kiwi vehicle, not that bigger difference in performance between a 202 and a dirty old T3. Not that I am knocking owning such rifles. If you can afford to then why not.
Stainless was a game changer in rifles. Sure they can still rust but nowhere near to the same extent as blued steel.

i'll stick with my 75 yr old brno and 46 yr old marlin thanks

Whatever you don't look after

Aren't some Kimber stocks prone to "aging" quickly?

Originally Posted by Shearer

Aren't some Kimber stocks prone to "aging" quickly?

Little stone chips but nothing major the Forbes stock is a thing of beauty but also wears quick and worse than the kimbers

Remington's electronic ignition/trigger thing.

Originally Posted by dogmatix

Remington's electronic ignition/trigger thing.

Remington's "J-lock" .... Not so much an issue of not aging well - more a case of a stupid idea that rightly never took off.... (Could probably add the Sako 75 bolt lock to this...)

Originally Posted by Nickoli

Remington's "J-lock" .... Not so much an issue of not aging well - more a case of a stupid idea that rightly never took off.... (Could probably add the Sako 75 bolt lock to this...)

You could argue that someone in Japan recently had a crack at reviving it.