I have the T3 Lite synthetic with blued barrel. The reason for the blued barrel is that the gun is almost £70 cheaper that a stainless version. Also, I have a T8 mod on it and that covers most of the barrel anyway. The only downside to the T8 is it does make the gun heavy, and when carrying it on a sling/shoulder, it tends to slip backwards off the shoulder. I might sell the T8 and get a smaller version. The stock is great though and the gun is excellent throughout. Mine is .243 calibre