Originally Posted by
M90A1
Not definitive by any means, but a test nonetheless. I was having this very discussion with a Marine 2112 armorer in the Quantico RTE shop one day, many years ago. He agreed to test one of the rifle teams M14 barrels, if I could get the plating done. I contacted a company that did such work, and arranged to have one barrel plated. The armorer then removed the barrel from one of the team's rifles, a rifle that had been tested very thoroughly in the test shed, and for which they had much data.
To make this short, when the rifle was re-assembled with the plated barrel and then run through the same tests again, it was shown to be even more accurate than it was in the beginning. Now, this was a chrome-moly, match-grade barrel, which surely had a great deal to do with the results, but the armorer was still surprised. As far as I know, that is the only M14 the Corps ever had with a chrome-lined, match barrel, and I can tell you this. The team member who was issued that rifle wouldn't give it up.