Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Howa Alpine stainless or blued?

I have owned several. I know they are cerakoted, but can't tell whether the barrel and action are stainless underneath. Anyone know?

Unfortunately blued. If they had made it in stainless it would have been a home run IMO.

cerakoated blue

No need for SS when you can coat it! Yes that's sarcasm.

I have an idea to possibly flute the heavier contour 6.5 stainless barrel on the Howa action that I bought from a certain member here...before putting it in my alpine stock. That should essentially give me a stainless alpine.

Or, maybe I will just live with the bit of Xtra wt...

I recently bought a Howa stainless, 22 inch sporter barrel, took it out of the Hogue stock and put it in a B&C sporter style stock. The rifle with a Nikon Monarch scope weighs 8 pounds and 1 ounce. If I'd used some Talleys or aluminum rings instead of the steel ones, it would have weighed a little less. Had I wanted to spend the money on a lighter weight stock, I'm sure I could have knocked close to a pound off.

A stainless with the 22”, sporter contour barrel in an Alpine stock ain’t bad. It’s 7lbs on the nose, with the Talleys. It’s is just a smidge muzzle heavy for my liking. I was considering send it it off to have the barrel and bolt fluted….then my brother decided he wanted to buy it, so I sold it to him. I do think the minimal weight reduction of barrel fluting would make it just about right.

Going from SS to coated CM was a huge “mistake”, no doubt to get SS money with a cheaper product. Still, they’re very nice rifles and my .243 shoots very well with minimal load development required.

They sell SS models, including Minis, in Oz, so the fault must lie with Legacy. A SS Carbon Stalker would get my serious attention.

I handled a carbon stalker at Sportsman's last weekend. It was chambered in 6.5 creed 994 was the price. I was not impressed with it at all, felt unbalanced in my hands.

I think the Carbon Stalker stock is a little lighter than the Alpine stock, so I’m not surprised. It might be best suited for the mini with a 20” barrel to get the balance right.



A mini SS carbon stalker in the Grendel with a 20” sporter might be “the one”

I'm tempted already....that would nail it.

On the stainless vs blued/coated....does anyone have a rough estimate on the cost difference of materials and possible tougher machining/finishing of stainless over non-stainless for actions and barrels? Basically, a rough cost increase for Howa to go with stainless vs chrome moly on the barrel and action?

Just an observation on a factory rifle being blued first and then cerakote applied. It would be an unnecessary expense for the manufacturer. Chromoly bellum would be best left in the white with its somewhat ruff/gritty finish for better adhesion by the cerakote. Can’t see why they would slick the barreled action up by blueing and then have to rough it up by rubbing the blueing down and then cerakote to finish. Makes no sense. I’m guessing it’s cerakoted from the white.

True. I'm sure it's in the white under the cerakote.

It is 4140 Chromoly bellum that is more difficult to work than 416 Stainless steel. 4140 has about 4 times the hardness over 416 SS. One being at Rockwell 92 hardness the other at about Rockwell 25. 4140 is also much stiffer and less temperature sensitive. 4140 having a cold resistance to about -60 degrees F below 0 before it starts to have minor affects on chemical compound makeup; the 416 would start to have minor affects at around sustained -15 degrees below 0. 4140 Chromoly bellum is used in truck axles and such, it’s a very tough steel compared 416 Stainless. Also it would be tougher to erode a 4140 chamber by heat temperature than a 416 chamber. Most cerakote can be applied after market on any rifle finish for around $250-$350.