I recently purchased a used Savage long action rifle with a blued receiver and fluted stainless barrel for my daughter. The SN is F436xxx so Savage no longer provides build information on the rifle. My best information is that it was built between 1989 and 1995.

My assumption is that it came out of the factory with a blued barrel. Since it's been too cold to do much of anything, I haven't shot it yet. I picked it up cheap enough that it's no big issue if I need to replace this barrel.

Does anyone know when Savage first started selling fluted stainless barrels? Or whether they ever shipped blued receivers with stainless barrels?

Thanks.