TiN bolt carrier wear

[taliv]

so as i was cleaning my gun today for the first time in a long time, i noticed (after hosing off the black crud) that the radiused portion of the carrier that re-cocks the hammer was a bright, shiny aluminum-looking silver/white color. the rest of the BCG is gold from the TiN (titanium nitride) plating, but this area has apparently worn off and the borders of the gold/white areas are jagged, as if the coating were flaking off instead of just wearing thinner and thinner.

i thought this odd as i figured it would be black underneath, but in retrospect i guess they call unfinished metal things "in the white" for a reason. *shrug*

I also thought it was odd because I'm surprised this area would wear first. i figured the first to wear would be the rails or the underside, where the hammer scrapes the bottom, or even the front where it impacts.

oh well, go figure.


no real point to this post. just an observation. ballpark 7k rounds fired on this carrier; 2k+ of which was fired in classes and tactical rifle matches.

[RallySoob]

so, no noticeable loss in performance?

would you recommend the TiN coated BCG's now?

[taliv]

i can't tell a difference in performance.

i don't recall ever recommending them. i'm glad i spent the time to play with it, but i wouldn't buy another one.

[mos2111]

Shrouded or unshrouded firing pin? The ones I have seen were unshrouded. I ditched my tin long ago for a BCM carrier.

[skyugo]

does the TIN clean any easier?

they're neat, but i always figured it was more "bling" than function. :confused:

[taliv]

mos, I don't know, actually. I suspect the same as yours.

skyugo, AMAZINGLY easier to clean. ....at first. somewhat less of late, but still easier than a regular BCGs. ...not that I clean my rifles that often. a combination of sloth and no real need to clean, means I usually go at least 1000 rnds between hosing it down.

iirc, when i bought it, i was still cleaning religiously and it was a major advantage at the time.

[mos2111]

"I" would akin the ease of cleaning to that of a crome as well - you can actually see what/where you have fouling and build up. Other than that, I had no noticeable difference in performance. The fact that it was an "unshrouded" semi carrier did not help my reliability either.
my .02

[markm]

TiN is useless. It offers no rust protection at all.

As far as ease of cleaning.... there's only one ass ache part of the carrier to clean... the inside where the bolt goes. And that's already chromed on any standard carrier.

[taliv]

TiN is useless. It offers no rust protection at all.

I'm pretty skeptical about that claim. I live in a fairly humid area in the Southeast and I haven't seen any rust on my TiN BCG. But then, I haven't seen any rust on any of my non-TiN BCGs.

When I'm done with it, I'll dunk it in saltwater and toss it outside. Will be interesting to see.

[markm]

My buddy's pitted bad because he had a swamp cooler at one point. It was stored with the rest of the gun crap he has. The TiN was the only finish to rust.

(Plus.. it's DPMS! What else needs to be said?)