Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hard chromed my hunting rifle.

Posting this up just to show it off and for people who have never seen what hard chrome job looks like on a hunting rifle.
Most people assume shiny bumper chrome is what it looks like when they hear the word chrome but its far from it.
Its like a matte SS with much better corrosion resistance and hardness. This gun was a pawn shop find and in very rough looking condition when I bought it. I should have taken a "before" picture but did not think of it at the time. It came back looking like a brand new gun. Everyone who has looked at it just thinks its SS. Work was done by Accurate plating and weaponry in Danville al. for around $200.

Excellenty!

Wow, first for me. Looks good

Tag

I love hard chrome on any weapon. Had a Brown Precision with Metaloy hard chrome and it was a nice rifle. It had obviously been hunted hard and had some superficial scratches in the hard chrome, but it was still holding up well. Should last forever.

More pics please.

Looks good. Sounds low cost, too.

Very nice!

I knew a few savvy folks who had this done to their hunting rifle and back up pistol. Very durable.

Will try to get some more this coming weekend. I will take some side by side pics with a couple of SS 700's to compare too.
The HC is just a little lighter than most SS. I wanted something very corrosion (rust) resistant. I researched a lot of finishes and settled on the HC. For those that dont know its the same chrome that is used on hydraulic cylinders. Its just not polished shiny like they are.
Those things can stay outside for years and never rust.

Will HC work on SS? Will it prevent galling?

http://www.apwcogan.com/plating-and-refinishing/finishes-metal-finishes.html

Thanks for the info. It looks like they didn't HC the bolt body, if not, why? Would the plating be too thick for that tolerance? Also, what about aluminum parts such as trigger guards, rings, etc?

Good topic.

I had a 243 AI built by Clarence Hammonds that had a 700 CM action that had been HC'd. The barrel was left bead blasted SS. The two finishes matched up extremely well. I would just pay the premium for an actual SS action on the front side but it is a viable option.

Bolt was HC too. They just polished it... The HC is like .005 in thickness and does not inter fear with any tolerances.
I dont know about the aluminum metal.
I sent them the barreled receiver, sights w/screws, complete bolt assembly and the bolt stop lever.



I prefer the older Remingtons over the newer ones. The action on this one was super slick and it shot 3/4" groups @ 100 yards. So, it was a keeper worth putting some $ into.

I love the look of nice blueing and wood, but for me I prefer SS and Syn for my hunting rifles.
I actually have over the last 20 years sold most of my blued firearms and replaced them with identical model/caliber in SS.
If I had known about HC back then I would have just gotten that done on the ones that were very accurate shooters.

Thanks again for taking time to share. It has been most helpful. A couple last questions.
Is HC prone to chipping?
Do any solvents or chemicals react with it?

Taken off their website.

Hard Chrome offers the best all-around properties of any finish available for firearms that exists today. Hard Chrome, when applied to a steel, or stainless steel surface that has been properly prepared, will not chip or peel. Again, and I might be repeating myself, no mis-understanding here, Hard Chrome is not Bumper Chrome. We are not talking about thick layers of soft Chrome made to flow and will many times eventually peel if a substrate layer metallics is not applied.

This is INDUSTRIAL Chrome used to make tooling stronger and more wear resistant. How hard? The hardness rating averages 65 R.C., or about 1000 on the Vickersscale. Most better Chefs Kitchen knives end at 61RC.

Its friction co-efficient is .1 (point one) when working with all surfaces chromed. Polishing the surface decreases the friction co-efficient even further. The salt spray ratings average around 100 plus hours. The surfaces available are Matte hard Chrome Finishes are a light grey and completely non-reflective, Brushed Hard Chrome Finishes are the easiest to clean and have a very low reflectivity.


WE PLATE A LOT OF COMPETITIVE STAINLESS FIREARMS
The stainless alloys they manufacture firearms from have a high level of Chrome-Moly Steel in them. These are used so that they can be adequately hardened after machining. You were told stainless steel is not magnetic. There are hundreds of varieties of stainless. If you don’t believe me, put a magnet near your firearm, it will jump on it.

While gun stainless is far more corrosion resistant than any Blue Steel Chrome-Moly firearm construction, it is not as corrosion resistant as the stainless used in hardware cutlery or, surgical instruments. Also, when stainless firearms rust, they usually pit deeply where the Chrome Moly part of the alloy is concentrated. Those pits are very difficult to remove.

Stainless alloys have an inherent tendency to gall or bind when the two working surfaces are in the same alloy family. Gun manufacturers try to limit this problem by varying the hardness of the parts that work against each other and increasing the tolerances between the parts. For the most part, they are successful using these methods. However, you pay a price in accuracy potential and having a tight, smoothly functioning firearm with these methods.

Many firearm owners think stainless guns are harder then Blue Steel firearms. This may be true of certain moving parts due to the mentioned galling problems, but, is not true of the overall construction of the firearm. Consequently, stainless firearms will scuff, or scratch at about the same level as Blued firearms. Any flaws on a stainless firearm are much more noticeable than on Black Finished firearms.

So what does chrome do to help these inherent stainless faults.
It imparts to the surface an additional coating that has to be attacked and penetrated before it can attack the base metal. Due to the type of bonding chrome plating has with a base metal the overall corrosion resistance increases more than the rating for each metal. This may be the best combination of the two elements involved when corrosion resistance is a major concern.

Hard chrome with its inherently low friction co-efficiency allows for smoother operation of the matted stainless parts with tighter tolerances and decreases the possibility of galling. You now can have a tighter, smoother, more dependable operating firearm. Third, due to the hardness of chrome, wear and tear is less noticeable and takes longer to happen. You have a better looking firearm with less maintenance.

fascinating

In more than a few areas of setting up a firearm, Five Thou (.005) is a LOT in terms of tolerances.

Good looking finish, regardless !

GTC