Results 61 to 75 of 78
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24 March 2015, 09:08 #61
Read on Rainier's website about the select medcon line. They have a proprietary surface hardening treatment they use on those barrels. I was going to either melonite or nitride mine so I called rainier and they said no because its already been done with Rainier's own system.
I talked to the guy for half an hour about it. Its Rainier's own type of melanite type or sort of treatment to surface harden the barrel and make it last a lot longer than either melanite or nitride when applied to stainless steel.
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24 March 2015, 09:29 #62
From the product description on the medcon....
"Manufacturing proprietary processes creates a stress free product that has a hardened surface on the bore. To improve the wear and longevity"
I am wondering if they did that same treatment to these other barrels.
When I called and talked to the one guy at Rainier he said that when they were testing the Select Medcon barrels they tried them with melonite, tried them with nitride, and that they developed a proprietary system that will give about a 20% longer barrel life than either of those two in side by side comparisons.Last edited by alamo5000; 24 March 2015 at 16:37.
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2 April 2015, 17:12 #63Staff
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2 April 2015, 17:39 #64
You don't have to sell me on it. I have one. I have been shooting it for quite some time and I really like it.
I don't think it's only the black ones though... on Rainier's website it has the matte stainless and the black ones both that have it.
From the product descriptions it's something on the select line regardless of color.
Here is a link to the matte stainless:
http://www.rainierarms.com/rainier-a...barrel-16-6541
And here is a link to the black one:
http://www.rainierarms.com/rainier-a...barrel-16-6540
Whatever the treatment is, it has it on both descriptions for both colors.... not that it matters.
All I know is I like that barrel. I'm one of those guys who is running one
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2 April 2015, 17:53 #65
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2 April 2015, 18:20 #66
I know. Didn't feel like debating that night. Lol I assumed the bore hardening was from it being work hardened during rifling. No way to harden just the bore other than. The stress relieving is actually done during the blank manufacturing even before boring I have been led to believe. Salt bath nitriding creates an amazingly hard surface. I have a place local that will do small batches if you have the patience to wait for room in a larger product run.
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2 April 2015, 18:26 #67
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2 April 2015, 18:31 #68
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2 April 2015, 18:37 #69
I am going to tell you what I heard from my Grandfather 100 times a day. Shut up and listen. LOL the black ones are black oxide, and it does almost nothing but a rust preventative and a colorant. NOTHING to change the durability of the barrel. The stainless ones have NO surface treatment. It is just a well made stainless barrel.
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7 April 2015, 00:00 #70New Member
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I believe this is the description that alamo is referring to, "Manufacturing proprietary processes creates a stress free product that has a hardened surface on the bore. To improve the wear and longevity". That came from the description on the product announcement page by RA on arfcom HERE. IIRC, in another thread it was explained as a machining process and not a coating or treatment. I could be wrong, but as I understand it, Black Hole Weaponry manufactures RA's select line of barrels. So I would not think that these Rock Creek barrels undergo the same process as the select line.
ETA: Found the thread HERELast edited by aamp84; 7 April 2015 at 00:11.
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7 April 2015, 00:16 #71New Member
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Double post.
Last edited by aamp84; 7 April 2015 at 00:47. Reason: double post
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7 April 2015, 05:50 #72
Thank you for the post! Yes, that is exactly what I was talking about.
This is extremely interesting. I learned something new through that.
When I first got my RA Select Medcon barrel everyone (not here) was telling me I would get 5 or 6 thousand rounds out of it because it's stainless steel... but I liked it so much I was going to nitride or melonite it...but I called Rainier Arms and talked to one of their techs and he told me 'no. don't do it. we've already done it'... I put up a small write up about the conversation on a thread somewhere here on WEVO. He would not tell me WHAT the process was but just that it it was there.
When I asked about Melonite and Nitride he told me when they (RA) were evaluating these barrels they nitrided and melonited some of them and it made the barrel life less by about 15 to 20% then he went on telling me in detail about why and so forth. I talked to the guy for about half an hour at least. The guy then told me I could realistically get 12-15,000 rounds out of that barrel before I see any drop off in performance. That was more than twice what I was told by other people and that made me happy. UW also said he has over 9000 rounds through his (maybe more) and it has no issues so far, and still shooting good as day 1.
How they get it done I will probably never know, but I do know I wouldn't hesitate to buy another RA Select.
My post above was saying that if they would do a match grade barrel with that same 'proprietary system' (whatever that means) I would buy one. Then again I don't know how plain SS barrels hold up vs these others.
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7 April 2015, 06:28 #73
There are a lot of different processes to temper steel. Some are as simple as the process used to create the harmon on a samurai's katana.
Most of the time when a barrel mentions that it's been stress relieved it's refering to a cryogenic treatment. Here is a place that tempers barrels cryogenically.
http://www.300below.com/firearms-cryo-barrel/
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7 April 2015, 06:32 #74
FWIW with the Rainier Select Medcon and a 1-4x Bushnell scope I was able to shoot 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards with off the shelf winchester match ammo. I have since upgraded my scope to a Vortex 1-4x and am in the middle of developing a reload but even in that process the other day I was getting 1/2 inch 3 shot groups. I did it about 3 times back to back. I am just experimenting now to see if I can do better... I am not quite there yet but considering I am not using a big long scope I think 1/2 inch is pretty satisfactory. Once I get my load tuned up to just right I will go test it's legs and see if I can do 400 out to 600 yard shots, which I think is definitely doable. I might even go for it and try something longer but we shall see.
I don't know if a true match barrel will do any better, but I am considering (heavily) building a precision upper and putting a 2.5-10x Vortex FFP on it for those days when I have the itch to shoot small groups or whatever.
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7 April 2015, 06:33 #75