Am looking at purchasing one of these with a 24” barrel. Any reason to expect performance differences between the stainless and black (non-stainless, I assume) varieties? Thanks.

I have no idea but I have the T3X CTR 20” in 6.5CM and it is a heck of a gun! I Seriously doubt you could go wrong with either.

Assuming you're not dunking the rifle in saltwater, one alloy versus the other shouldn't make any real difference. The black model likely has chromoly steel.

Frank Green of Bartlein barrels states that either alloy can be used to make a great barrel, with no practical difference in accuracy from one to the other. He also states that there isn't a whole lot of difference in barrel life between the alloys, although stainless should have a slight advantage.

Stainless steel barrels tend to shoot very accurately, right up to the point where throat erosion causes a noticeable decrease in accuracy. When a stainless barrel becomes toast, the falloff in accuracy could be quick enough to notice over a few boxes of ammo. I saw this with one of my stainless AR barrels.

Chromoly steel barrels evidently show accuracy degradation over a longer span -- not the sharp falloff of a stainless barrel.

With your 6.5 Creedmoor chamber, you should expect 3,000 to 4,000 rounds of match-grade accuracy before throat erosion becomes an issue. If hunting or casual plinking is more your style, barrel life should be in the 4,000 to 6,000 round ballpark. Maybe more.

I just got a non stainless but think I should have gotten the stainless instead. The rail screws are supposed to be a lot easier to remove on the stainless version and since I did put a different rail on top, I had to fight with those and it was a bitch. I also feel that the non coated bolt is just a bit slicker.

Accuracy/precision is outstanding on the non stainless version is excellent. All accounts I’ve seen state that the stainless is just as accurate/precise.

Hope that helps a little

Just placed an order at Eurooptic for a CTR stainless... it will be my new hunting rifle. I couldn't pass up the price with their spring sale.

Congrats! I bought mine from them as well. Let us know how you like it.

I went with stainless in 6.5 Creedmoor. Time to re-read Nikonuser’s riflescope thread and the threads on bipods. This is going to be fun.