Hi folks,

I'm looking to get a Springfield M1A and can't
make up my mind about the barrel type.  I understand that stainless is more corrosion
resistant, but what are the other upsides/downsides of stainless vs. chrome-moly?


Thanks in advance,
Jeff

I'm no barrel expert but this is what I have read.  At the end of the match, there is little practical difference in accuracy between stainless steel and chromium molybdenum barrels.  I understand stainless steel barrels do wear in the barrel throat a little faster but corrosion resistance is better.  

A black finished chrome-moly barrel looks like a "real" M-14, a stainless looks like a tuned match rifle. Stainless won't rust. Barrel makers find stainless easier to machine. Both are equal in performance. The thing that counts is who did the rifling (here, the old story of "you get what you pay for" really applies). When stainless M-14 match barrels first started to show up years ago, almost all the blown up barrels at matches were stainless. This no longer applies; however, it rattled me enough that I have stayed exclusively with chrome-moly.