Mine is blued, not stainless, but I can comment on caliber, barrel length, sights, as well as what I did to mitagate recoil.
Mine is a 16 inch 45 Colt. It is my everyday carry rifle. Loaded with the 300 grain Speer Deep Curls made for the 454, over a Ruger only load a grain under max of W296 (92 actions are quite strong) it gets over 1400 fps. The 16 in barrel really wakes up the 45 Colt. A standard load of Power Pistol sends a 250 grain Nosler hp over 1200 fps.
We have bear and mountain lions here on the property, with past encounters between the house and barn. The rifle goes where I go, in hand or when mounted in a scabbard.
Accuracy is very good. Sights are a skinner peep rear where the saftey used to be in the bolt from Steve's Gunz, and a taller front white ivory small bead. I have it sighted dead on at 75 yds. I did do a bit of polishing of the action and recrowned the barrel, both helped. I also took off some wood on the forearm where it was left proud of the metal.
I use a leather strap on recoil pad over the curved steel buttplate. It looks decent on a lever gun and does help with recoil.
The rifle is light, handy, and shoots a round powerful enough to stop anything I will point it at around here. Good luck with your choice and have fun!
Regards,
Manny
