Matte finish barrel - how does it look?

[fishtracker]

Ok, so I have decided to get my first TC.  Primarily it will be used for bear, coyote, and cougar hunting.  I think that I have narrowed down my caliber to 7mm'ish, but I now need to decide what components to put together.  The frame will be an encore pro hunter with synthetic grips, and I plan on getting a barrel from MGM.  But my new indecision is what material do I get.  I hunt mostly in Oregon, so it can be wet. Blue is ok, but I'll have to take extra care.  All stainless is just too shiny - remember, this will be a hunting gun.  Does anyone have experience with the black matte finish that MGM uses, and how it looks against either a blue or stainless frame?  I was thinking that the matte would deliver a bit of protection while eliminating the glare.  At the same time, I dont want my new gun to look like Frankenstein put it together.  Any insights are appreciated. 

[Dezynco]

I mix and match blued/stainless all the time.  I don't mind the way a stainless frame looks with a blued barrel, though I'n not crazy about a blue frame with a stainless barrel.....

I don't really see where you would have any problem with a stainless rig as a "hunting weapon".  The finish will be matte stainless, so there won't be a whole lot of glare, even compared to a matte blue finish.  I wouldn't worry about it, plenty of folks use both with no problems.

Whether you get blued or stainless, if you are really concerned about concealment, it would be best to use a wrap or a cover of some sort anyway.

[David D.]

I personally do not care for the mixed look.  MGM's matte finish on a SS barrel is a better match on an Encore SS frame than their black matte finish with an Encore blued frame. The blued frame does have a slight shine to it.

[Ladobe]

I also never cared for the "mixed" look either, but that is only personal choice.   Lots of mixed TC's look fine, they were just not my style.

Finish somewhat depends on the "norm" where you call and the species... how close you can bring them in for the shot.   You can get away with quite a bit with some preds until they start getting close IOW, but not with felines as much as other species usually.   So priority, IMO, for predator hunting arms finish should be what reduces or better yet eliminates flash, and what best hides movement, not its eye appeal to its owner.    Its a tool first, not a show piece.  What causes flash is a given, but what shows movement depends alot on background.   I hunted preds and varmints for over 5 decades and did ADC off and on for most of that time, and almost all of it not wearing any camo and never using camo'd firearms or scopes.   So flash and movement especially were easily as important to me as having the wind, knowing their useage of the land and having a good set.   From long experience I consider lions the most challenging to fool normally.    In part because they got the closest to me detected or undetected, except for a few coyotes and fox that actually ran into or over me.     Any movement or flash was a deal breaker and far more important than color with lions, and to near that same point with the other species as well.   

So it follows matte is better than gloss, and color might depend on what you usually wear and/or the backrounds where you call.   IOW, a camo'd firearm will blend better against camo clothing than a black of stainless one will, and most backgrounds.    But I had stands in some areas I regularly called with lots of large black lava rock areas where black everything would have been your camo, and others in areas where solid tans would have been as well as whites in the snow besides various camo's in many others.  Way more variations than I ever wanted to buy and manage becuase I did just fine without them.   Long way around saying I had both blued and stainless TC's and other firearms that I used successfully for lots of predator hunting, but those that had matte finishes were the first choice.

FWIW

[stubshaft]

I mix and match barrels and frames depending on what and where I am hunting.  Like david D sait the SS matte finish matches well with the SS Encore frame better than their matte black does with the blued frame.  As far as glare is concerned I don't get any more from the matte SS then I would from a standard blued barrel.

[shot1]

I mix them. Pretty is how it shoots not how it looks to me. Don't worry about the MGM SS barrel being shiny. It is a sand blasted mat finish. I have hunted for YEARS with stainless barrels that were mat finished and have NEVER spooked game. I have had blued guns that would cast more of a shine. When you put bear into the mix and want something in 7mm I would go with the 7-08 myself.