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

I've had several hunting rifles hard chromed over the years, most before stainless hunting rifles became readily available.

The chrome finish will rely a lot on the surface it is being applied to, so if the surface is highly polished before plating, it will be mush smoother and much easier to polish it to a mirror finish.

Yes, aluminum and other alloys can be HC'ed to match. They first plate the aluminum with copper (possibly other pre-chrome metals, but I know copper is one of them....it's been a long time. )

Being aluminum, they are softer, so they can be damaged and the HC broken through, exposing the underlying metal. That is how I first learned about the copper under the chrome.

The first rifle I had HC'ed, by a company who is now out of business, HC'ed the bore as well as the exterior. It was an option back then, but I didn't want it as I was concerned that it would decrease the bore diameter enough to cause pressure problems. Evidently, this particular rifle had a slightly over-size bore, because, after hard chroming, it shot really well and showed no signs of excessive pressure. Once I had shot it a few times, the bore was like a mirror and very easy to clean.

Ed

Accurate Plating does great work, may be about the best plating facility anywhere.

I assume the bore was OK or you wouldn't have spent $200 to plate it.

DF

Nice!
I've got an Anschutz 1717 in 17HMR that I'm thinking about sending off to get HCed or NP3ed. Then it won't need to be babied as much on prairie dogging trips.

Yes, it shot well for me before sending in and after getting back. Im not a paper puncher nor the most accurate shooter but with federal premiums its under 3/4" @ 100 off a bench rest so its more accurate than I am.




I guess they know what they are doing on them. It chambers and extracts fired cartridges fine and I had no issues with scope or sight mounting holes when reinstalling them.

I love the thought of/properties of hard chrome, but I'm no fan of the color/look for hunting rifles. I can at least cerakote stainless. Not sure anything sticks to hard chrome. Birdsong.

Then again, I could cover a lot of rust pits with .005"

Polish'em out then plate.

DF

I spoke with them today about another one Im sending in. He said the thickness of the HC is 2 mils.

2 mils wouldn't cover much. Rust pits on a project gun are a sore spot right now. Polishing/stoning is getting old.

very interesting post with many positive attributes.Subsurface/base/foundation prep seems the key to a good/durable finish, I wonder if this process could be accomplished to result in a black chrome finish?

They offered a black chrome up until last year and dropped it.
Actually wish I had known that last yr and I would have sent this other one in then as I wanted to try the black chrome.

Is there anyone who does a matte black hard chrome?

I dislike the silver color schemes myself. I know that Browning Gold shotguns and some others have matte black hard chrome.

This is a really cool thread; I had a Mauser plated with Metalife which I really loved the look of. I didn't own the rifle long enough to judge it.

What are the heat dissipating properties of the chrome? I have no way to prove it at all, but I could swear the Metalife "held" heat. Like I say nothing scientific or measured just a gut feeling.

Looks great. Thanks for sharing..

Hmmm...

My thoughts exactly...

I'm sold except for the color thing....just can't warm up to the silver. Wish it came in black.
Reminds me of Ole Henry Ford's Model-T..."you can get it in any color you want, as long as it's black..."

The black chrome is pretty cool.

Looks great

Upon further review, it appears this finish is much softer than HC. And offers much less corrosion protection.

.0005 I'm betting

We hard chrome a lot and .005 worth of chrome it is not

You can stack up a lot of nickel but not chrome

BTW......we use .0002 in all our applications here in our tool shop/mold shop

These guys also do great work.

http://www.mahovskysmetalife.com/

That is correct but it is much more protective than standard blueing. They told me it wasnt near as popular a option as the regular HC. More people were ordering black cerakote so they dropped it from the line since cerakote was easier and cheaper for them to do than chroming.

I would have liked to given it a try and see how it did.
Id rather have had a darker finish than the matte HC but I really dont think it, or SS has ever been a disadvantage for me when hunting. (I know blued vs SS for hunting is a whole other topic in itself.) Even if I thought that was a issue id still go HC and just use camo gauze to cover the barrel during season just to get the corrosion protection of the HC.
My main stalk hunting rifle is a SS model 7 with a silver scope and Ive shot more game with it at under 100 ft than longer distances.

The rifle Im having them do next will be done in brushed HC instead of the matte so I can compare the different finishes.
The brushed is supposed to be a darker shade of grey.

I know HC isnt for everyone. In all the years of being on forums I dont think I ever saw another thread go into much depth on HC. I just wanted to show everyone what it actually looked like on a hunting rifle since Id never seen anyone else post one up.



Below is the write up that was on their website prior to them dropping the black hard chrome.



Black Chrome Facts

Black Chrome is the second hardest black finish available for firearms and the hardest finish available at a reasonable price. It is the premier finish when concealment is the first priority.
Black Chrome has many of the same properties as regular chrome. However, in changing the plated deposit from a Light Grey color to Jet Black, we diminish two major properties of regular chrome, hardness and abrasion resistance.
Black Chrome is slightly harder than Nickel. It was never intended to be a highly wear resistant finish, like Hard Chrome. It has much greater wear resistance than any form of Bluing (Black Oxide) and due to the presence of Nickel, or Chrome, as a base coat, a greater corrosion resistance than a single coating of Chrome, or Nickel the to the base metal.

Some of our clients are adamant about Black Finishes. This is the best bang for your dollar if you are stuck on Black. For technical reasons we only offer this finish in a Matte surface texture.

TAG

Yep they did mine & it looked great.

Holy Moses whoever wrote that needs to look up the word brevity in the dictionary!

My first Jarrett rifle, about 30 years ago, was industrial hard chrome plated as an option. Jarrett sent it off to a firm in Texas IIRC. Added $200 to the cost, and was well worth it. It never scratched, dinged, etc...was as tough as a pigs nose.

Wow, I'm liking it.......

Looking for a place that does the Black Hard Chrome. From what I gather off the internet is that many of the treatments are actually black nickle and not as hard. Some of them even call it "Krome".

Or would Melonite be better?

Here ya go-

http://www.arlingtonplating.com/capabilities/black-chrome-plating/

I'd be inclined to just go with a nitride finish instead of black chrome. Melonite or whatever other trade name it's under.
It can be done on polished or blasted surface finishes.

Waiting on more pics. I really would like to see how the plating was done one the bolt it interest me.thanks for the topic but please take more pics this weekend. I think this might be a great finish on my next build. Also would they plate the bowl on a dillon powder dispenser and bushing bar. Might just spruce up the dillon as well.

Marlin 22, HC, Rem model 7 .. The Marlin is by far the shiniest one in person.

Very cool pic thanks for the bolt shots. I am goint to try it on my mext build.

Alf very nice rifles 👍🏻👍🏻

Mahovsky I may have to look into. Looks to be slightly cheaper.
My 2nd one is already on way to Accurate plating.

http://www.mahovskysmetalife.com/PriceSheet%20Page%205.htm

My 2nd 700 came back about July of last year. I decided to instead of matte to get it done in the polished option to see how it looked While it does look like a nice deep chrome for a hunting rifle it is too reflective for my taste but would be nice on a range gun or handgun. I used gunskinz to camo the barrel so wasnt a big deal. Its a easy on, easy off decal in multiple camo or other pattern types.
My 3rd 700 is on the way to them for matte hard chroming now. Im very satisfied with the way the finish is holding up on the other 2.

https://www.gunskins.com/

Has anyone had a rifle DLC coated? I've got a Precision Armament muzzle brake that came DLC coated. It's rugged and super easy to clean.

Thanks guys. Stumbled across this thread. Gonna be perfect for my Mauser project.

For what it's worth and just slightly off topic - hard chrome plated bores are pretty much the standard for military weapons - rifles thru tank cannons. Not for accuracy, done for corrosion and wear resistance.

If I was to have the bolt plated, I would want to ensure the plater treated the part to prevent hydrogen embrittlement. I have seen the effects of this on some hard chromed pieces and it is certainly to be avoided. GD

My limited understanding is that plating does not cover blemishes such as pits. It plates overall, so you would end up with HC pits...

I've been wrong before, but have reblued a fair amount of firearms. Never any plating tho.

Generally speaking, the finish you get idepends on the base preparation, or lac there-of.