Which do you prefer and why?

I personally like the bare steel carrier as it looks great on a gun with a nice black finish combined with deep reddish furniture. I used the how to guide on the Romanian AK page on my WASR10, but it really looked good once I did the wood.

However, the blued carrier probably holds up to rust and corrosion better.

What type of original AK's produced by Russia had bare bolts and when did the process stop, I don't notice any AKM's with such carriers.

What countries used these carriers and are there any that still use them, even on their AKM's and possibly on their AK-74's as well as 100 series rifles?

Oh, and feel free to show off your rifles as well, blued or steel.

I blued the carries on both of my '90's

I polished the one in my SAR 1 to a nice mirror like finish.Looks cool

Polished

I gotta go with blued, white is just so "un-stealthy", LOL ...

whatever it comes with, I'm not terribly picky

Bluing provides no protection.

To me, a carrier in the white screams "CHINESE!!!!".

Yugo bolt carriers are in the white, too.

I think bare steel carriers look best when the the rest of the rifle is blued.

Quoted: whatever it comes with, I'm not terribly picky

WHAT ???? ...

Quoted: Bluing provides no protection.

What about Krylon?