Brand new Mark III Hunter rusting?

[Blue Ridge Reef]

Right out of the box I noticed the fluting didn't seem to have the greatest finish. I didn't worry much about it until I photoed the gun yesterday. I'm thinking this is a bit excessive for two weeks.
Brand new (day I took it home):

Yesterday:

Close up (pardon my poor photography):

I've only taken it out once, it's never gotten wet, and it's cleaned and stored in my safe with all my other guns (which aren't rusting). Is this worthy of contacting Ruger about, or do I just need to be very careful with this gun? It looks as if flecks of the stainless finish are just falling off, only on the barrel, and mostly inside the actual fluting. I'm especially concerned because I am seeing pictures of other people's identical guns that look better than mine did out of the box!

 

[rsi705]

I would call Ruger. I have not seen that happen even on my old Mark IIs although they do not have fluting.

 

[TxGun]

Nothing particularly unusual there. Contrary to what many believe, most grades of stainless steel can/will rust. But certainly not nearly as easily as carbon steel and certainly much easier to remedy. Get some scotch-brite pads and clean up the flutes (which actually might not be rusted at all, but rather a little rough from machining with some residue remaining). Wipe the gun off with a silicon cloth and you'll be good to go.

 

[Anonymous]

With the flutes being inset, they probably finish them with a cotton wheel and compound after the machining. That reddish color may be leftover compound. I would clean out the flutes with solvent and a stiff toothbrush before I made a final judgement.

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

I scrubbed the flutes with Scotch Brite pads and got them about 90% better. But there are hundreds of tiny spots I can just barely see. Ruger customer service said this was normal. Not good photographs, but I've seen other peoples SS Hunters, and theirs don't look like this. I'll do my homework about how to safely buff this out and hopefully it won't be a reoccurring problem.

 

[blume357]

To be honest, I can't see the problem in the photos...

I have to agree with bearcatter.... if you have reddish brown on that stainless it is left over material from finishing work at the factory and not the stainless 'rusting'. Yes, stainless will pit and deteriorate if exposed to the right chemicals... usually salt and water... but it won't look like rust and is usually darker..

I think I would figure out a way to 'polish' out the stuff. If anything it looks like the flutes weren't polished that well.