Results 16 to 22 of 22
Thread: Barrel Opinions/Questions
-
22 November 2015, 16:13 #16
-
22 November 2015, 16:23 #17
-
22 November 2015, 18:53 #18
In terms of longevity, chrome lined and nitrided barrels will both hold their own. I've seen some reports that chrome lined will last x% longer than nitrided or vise versa, however it always depends on a lot of variables (rate of fire, caliber, ammunition specs, temperatures reached, thickness of chrome lining, etc).
Broad strokes: For us mere mortals who aren't routinely performing mag dumps while shooting their 5.56 AR's, the nitrided barrels will generally last as long as, or longer than a chrome lined barrel. Start increasing the rate of fire and caliber used, and you'll start seeing that chrome lined barrels will have a higher longevity.
For clarity purposes, I'm considering Melonite, QPQ, Black Nitride, etc as "nitrided". They are all roughly the same thing.
-
22 November 2015, 19:59 #19
A chrome-lined barrel cannot be manufactured to the same tolerances that a non-lined barrel can.
In other words, the bore must be drilled oversize, and the grooves cut deeper than normal etc., to allow for the thickness of the plating, in order to achieve a desired final dimension. Which may actually be a bit over or under spec, depending on how the plating process goes that day. Not to mention flaking, pitting and burrs in the bore associated with chrome lining. Also compare the corrosion resistance of chrome to FNC, FNC barrels are the clear winner. Think of your moms 1976 Buick's chrome bumper that has rusted out. Chrome lined barrels are almost extinct. The real enemy of any barrel is heat, a few mag dumps here and there aren't anything compared to shooting full auto.
-
22 November 2015, 20:42 #20
I have been researching hard use barrels and have been looking into Nitrocarberizing a SS barrel. One, because of a stainless barrels legendary accuracy and two, because of the abuse a NC'd barrel can take. I recently had a conversation with Joel from V7. Since they are now a sponsor here I don't think he will mind me posting some of that conversation here.
> Body: Can you tell me if any of your customers who have bought a barrel from you have had it Nitrided? I think your barrels are amazing and would be looking to extend the service life if I purchased one. Would this void the warranty? I run my rifles pretty hard with an extended shooting schedule and am concerned with the longevity of a SS barrel. Thank you! XXXX
> I have not had anybody tell me about doing it so far. Here are a couple issues that can arise. The barrel extension should not be subjected to the 900-1050 degree bath because it will mess with the heat treat of the extensions 8620 alloy. The core of the extension is kept soft/tough and the surface is hardened to about a 20 thou depth for long wear life. Nitriding does mess with that, how bad? not bad but we never tested the long term effect, main issue would be the core hardness, to hard and it can crack. People have done it and I have never heard of any issues but not some thing we could warranty. The rest of the barrel would do great Nitrided as long as they knew it was 416R and did not let the nitride penetrate to deep. After testing maximum penetration with Nitride on a few different stainless steels to see how it preformed, we found chunks of rifling coming out of the barrel in less than 10K of hard fire. Thin Nitride good, thick bad at least for barrels that is. If you buy
> one of our medium barrels and it shoots out on ya I will replace it, if you buy a thin light barrel I can't make that deal, maybe that helps. We will add a Nitrided version of our barrels at some point when we get ahead, but it will be next year and we will make sure we get them Nitrided before the barrel extension goes on LOL. Take care and have a good one.
> Kindly, Joel~
>Thanks for the thorough response Joel! If I did buy one of your medium contour barrels what kind of round count can I expect out of one of them if it would be run pretty hard. Thank you XXXX
With hard full auto use I have seen really good accuracy for 5K and then the groups slowly open to over 1moa after 8-10K. With hard semi auto use good accuracy is had until about 7-10K depending how hot you get it over time. Then after 10K or so the groups slowly open up. Most good stainless barrels will still out shoot your average new chrome lined after even 10K.
Bullets will still stabilize and shoot under 2moa even at 15-20K then some where after that bullets start to tumble. This is general info and can change a bit depending on ammo used, if a suppressor is used, and many other factors.
Joel~
I think good quality SS barrels are tougher than we give them credit for. Stone
-
23 November 2015, 02:32 #21
Good info, thanks
OP for whatever it's worth my 10.5" RA stainless shoos very well.
-
23 November 2015, 03:19 #22
FWIW, my 10.5" is chrome-lined as well and I welcome the day I get to pick a new one, but only because I'm hoping honeycomb dimpling is sorted-out out by then. Also, the connotation of me shooting out that barrel would mean I've won the lottery at some point, since it's .300 BLK, and not cheap to shoot!
You shoot 3k-4k rounds in a session with your buddies? Hell, that sounds more like basic training than a Saturday afternoon!There's no "Team" in F**K YOU!