Nitride Treated Barrels?

[Mjolnir]

I would like to see this data, because it directly contradicts the studies I've seen. It may be more wear resistant in certain applications, but rifle barrels are not drill bits.

I would also like to know more about the thickness of the hard chrome used in the test. I do electroless nickel plating in my garage. According to a company that does nitrocarburization, QPQ has about 4 times the corrosion resistance of nickel (which has slightly more corrosion resistance than hard chrome). But they didn't specify the thickness of the nickel plate. I know that I can get 1/4 mil to rust pretty quickly. However, I can't get 2 mils to rust. But I could get my QPQ'd Glock slide to rust.

I downloaded them to my work PC. I may have placed them on my thumb drive. I'll e-mail you what I've found.

[BAC]

Are some barrels going to be more sensitive to a nitride treatment than others? The treatment processes are pretty high temperature, and while intuitively I'm giddy at the possibilities of a very accurate, very long-lived stainless barrel, I'm not wondering if the barrel will actually hold up to the treatment with no ill effects.


-B

[Mjolnir]

Are some barrels going to be more sensitive to a nitride treatment than others? The treatment processes are pretty high temperature, and while intuitively I'm giddy at the possibilities of a very accurate, very long-lived stainless barrel, I'm not wondering if the barrel will actually hold up to the treatment with no ill effects.


-B

The particular alloy has to be considered but the part is heat treated upon completing the process. It's quenched (hardens) and annealed (softens) to match a predetermined internal and surface hardness. Though the latter is determined by the nitrocarburization process.

[Kevin_J]

I would *think* the barrel will be tapped for the gas port prior to treatment as the meloniting would assist a bit with wear. If the vendors are not doing this I'd surely like to know why not.

I believe you're correct about the extensions.

As far as corrosion is concerned it will depend on many things: the melonite process (temp, duration, schedule,...); the depth of case hardening vs. the same with hard chrome - particularly how thick the hard chrome layer would be. I've seen S&W M&Ps and Glocks with surface rust, too.

I just wanted to follow up on this. I've done a few of these barrels in the last few months. The barrels and extensions are treated installed as is the gas port. Actually the barrel needs to be broken in, I should say burnished, prior to treatment. This is great because I've been able to get some accuracy comparisons before and after, but I'm still finalizing those. The color is a very deep black and is pretty matte. I'll take some pics and post them up. But over all I am really happy with these so far in my SPRs.

I think there is a large misunderstanding of the temps involved in this process as it is applied to barrels. The temps do not cross 900 Deg. so "Warpage" and "Distortion" are not present. These temps actually serve to stress relive the barrel after all of the machining has been done, which is the exact opposite of about every other barrel.

I can't obviously attest to durability when compared against Chrome, but just based on the available data this is the perfect route for accuracy intended guns.

[Mjolnir]

I just wanted to follow up on this. I've done a few of these barrels in the last few months. The barrels and extensions are treated installed as is the gas port. Actually the barrel needs to be broken in, I should say burnished, prior to treatment. This is great because I've been able to get some accuracy comparisons before and after, but I'm still finalizing those. The color is a very deep black and is pretty matte. I'll take some pics and post them up. But over all I am really happy with these so far in my SPRs.

I think there is a large misunderstanding of the temps involved in this process as it is applied to barrels. The temps do not cross 900 Deg. so "Warpage" and "Distortion" are not present. These temps actually serve to stress relive the barrel after all of the machining has been done, which is the exact opposite of about every other barrel.

I can't obviously attest to durability when compared against Chrome, but just based on the available data this is the perfect route for accuracy intended guns.

Many thanks for the follow-up, Kevin. I'd like to contact you and discuss this a bit further.

Godspeed,

Kevin