Over the years I have have heard tales of stainless barrels not holding up as well as steel barrels. Regarding external factors, both will rust. I am interested in barrel life. Any advantage of steel over stainless steel (recognizing there is considerable variation among steel barrels). Any thoughts?

Actually it's the other way around. Most premium barrels in stainless will outlast a standard chrome moly barrel. And that's one reason there usually more expensive. That's one reason Winchester went to stainless barrels on the early 220 Swifts and the 264 Win mag.

Over the years I have have heard tales of stainless barrels not holding up as well as steel barrels. Regarding external factors, both will rust. I am interested in barrel life. Any advantage of steel over stainless steel (recognizing there is considerable variation among steel barrels). Any thoughts?

I don't know how those rumors got started but I've heard the same thing said without being proved to my satisfaction. Could be when the stainless was first tried in barrels a poor choice in alloy could have lead to reduced life or disappointing results. Certainly not the case with today barrels.

Some stainless alloys will rust, although not as fast or as bad as carbon steels will. With minimal care stainless rusting won't be an issue.

Thanks guys. Your responses confirm my hunch regarding the gun-counter legend. Someone should collect the gun-counter legends into a book or web site which would provide the "truth" to correct the legends.

Keep in mind that there are a wide variety of steel alloys out there. The more free-machining types are easier to manufacture, but don't necessarily hold up as well (depending on exact alloy, impurities, grain size, and a bunch of other stuff). It's a complicated subject and way more than you can resolve in one forum post.

You can find isolated examples that would support any conclusion, if you look long enough.

The benchrest crowd has used stainless for years. That ought to tell you something.

First, stainless is steel too. Second, that story is pure BS.