Is a blued barrel easier to cut than a stainless barrel

Question

Is a blued barrel easier to cut than a stainless barrel

Answer 1

Personally I wouldn't cut neither barrel!  Why don't you just buy shorter barrel for your gun?  

Since that doesn't answer your question, stainless steel is pretty tough to cut.

Answer 2

In a word, yes, although the stainless seleceted for rifle barrels is selected for its machinabiity, and is easier to machine than other types of stainless.  Bluing is a passivation process that generates black rust on the barrel to pre-empt the formation of "normal" red rust,

From Barrelmaking 101:

"The quality of steel used is the first and foremost factor a good barrelmaker considers. Most high-production manufacturers use a Chrome Molybdenum (Cro-Moly) steel, and most target or similar-type makers use stainless steel.

Cro-Moly steel is usually designated as 4140, 4145, or 4150 type steel. Cro-Moly is relatively cheap and readily available, is easily machined, can be hardened by heat treatment, and is easily blacked. Most factory hunting rifles, as well as military rifles, are equipped with Cro-Moly barrels.

Stainless steel barrels are not true autensitic stainless; the better term would be "rust-resistant" steel. Stainless barrels are a 416 type, which is a martensitic class, and can be hardened by heat treatment. 416 stainless has a high Chrome content, and sulfur is added to obtain good machining qualities. It is a more expensive steel, and does not black well due to the chrome content, but the Teflon process has filled that void.

I am often asked how hard barrel steel should be. Will harder steel last longer than softer steel? Well, yes and no. There are two determining factors when selecting steel for barrels: tensile strength and impact strength.

Tensile strength is defined as the measured force required to break a one-inch cross-sectional area of steel by pulling at both ends. Basically it measures how much force it takes to pull a rod of steel apart. Barrel steels should be rated a factor of two over chamber pressures (for a good safety margin), which is usually a tensile strength over 100,000 lb/in^2.

Impact strength is the steel's ability to take a sharp blow without breaking. The tensile strength increases as the steel is hardened, but the steel also becomes more brittle (easier to fracture upon impact - or maybe from the explosion you create in the chamber when you pull the trigger!). There must be some elasticity in the steel, and it has been determined that a 26-32 Rc (Rockwell C scale) hardness is the appropriate, safe trade-off."