Stainless Pro-Hunter Barrel ???????

[snuffysmith]

How can you be sure if your barrel is really stainless and not that weathershield or whatever it's called ?
I tried a magnet on the barrel and receiver and it stuck to both of them.it's a 28 " pro hunter.   thanks, Craig.

[quickdtoo]

Most stainless barrel steel has magnetic qualities, so that doesn't mean it's not stainless.

Tim

[Grumulkin]

How can you be sure if your barrel is really stainless and not that weathershield or whatever it's called ?
I tried a magnet on the barrel and receiver and it stuck to both of them.it's a 28 " pro hunter.   thanks, Craig.

You can't tell with a magnet and they look the same.  I really don't know how you would tell.  You might try calling T/C and ask them.

[biggjimm]

I think my .44mag  pro hunter barrel has some kind of finish on it. It is supposed to be stainless steel as per the T/C customer service person I talked to but regardless I think it has a finish of  some kind on it because the barrel is silver in color but the mounting lug is black. Most of the weld is silver as well. I see no way of welding a stainless barrel to a black mounting lug & have such a defined break in the two colors unless the silver was sprayed or somehow applied afterward. It looks as if they masked off the mounting lug when applying the finish. I looked at a pro hunter yesterday at the lgs with a heavy fluted .223 barrel & the lug & all is stainless on it. I hope to add that particular rifle to my collection tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I missed a pro hunter with a .460 S&W a couple months ago that sold for $550 & had only been shot 4 times.  The guy didn't even get the scope sighted in & decided it was too much gun for him & traded it back in on a .44 mag H&R. I tried to find out from T/C what they used to finish my .44 mag with as I was going to refinish my blue frame to match it but they wouldn't tell me that information. If I get this .223 tomorrow I guess I won't have to worry about that anymore.

[dave29]

The 28" fluted ProHunter barrels are SS, the 26" fluted ProHunter barrels are Weathershield. Weathershield has a "different" texture to it, once you have seen it and held it in person, you will know that it is not SS.

[lepcur]

The 28" fluted ProHunter barrels are SS, the 26" fluted ProHunter barrels are Weathershield. Weathershield has a "different" texture to it, once you have seen it and held it in person, you will know that it is not SS.

What Dave said.X2
On the blued lugs T/C did some like that for some reason, I think they were some of the earlier barrels but I've seen them mostly in the 7mag. for some reason.   Mike

[biggjimm]

I don't know how they got the barrel & lug welded like that but mine is not the weathershield. Like Dave said I seen one at the gun store that was weathershield & it's very obvious once you've seen it. It is quite different from the SS. Are the weathershield barrels just regular steel & coated or are they stainless & coated. I guess if it was stainless it wouldn't need coated maybe. I don't know. I'm pretty new to the encore scene. I've always shot TC muzzle loaders & got my encore as a muzzle loader a couple years ago & have slowly been acquiring different barrels for it but I really like these guns. I had a couple handi rifles & really liked the single shot style guns so when I learned about encores I was instantly hooked. The ablity of having one frame with many different cal. of barrels & also different stock configurations sure makes this a versatile platform.

[dave29]

They are not Stainless Steel underneath, just regular steel.

[bphunter]

The last time I hunted with my SS Encore, it rained off and on for a week. My gun stayed wet or damp the whole time and yes, it rusted inside and out. Moral of the story: Oil it up, dry it out, treat it like any blued firearm and you should be fine. The SS TC uses can and does rust. I found this to be a little disappointing, but the reality is most SS that can be easily machined for barrels and action and such isn't quite as inert as you would think.  Take a look at used Ruger Old Army pistols in SS sometime...you will see most have pitting from neglectful owners thinking hey, these can't rust so why clean them! "