Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Anyone making 7.62 x 39 upper with a chrome lined barrel?

Steel jacketed bullet don't seal as well as copper jacketed. That's why they are harder on barrels.

As for Chrome, vs. Nitride, vs. stainless, I'd worry more about who made the barrel than the coating.

Since the question was if someone made one thats good, I've been thinking, I believe I'd buy a good proven barrel first, and then have a proven coater just coat the barrel. I"d probably talk to Krieger or some such first, knowing that you desire hard chrome as they probably would adjust the dimensions a bit.

I fully believe thats the only real way to get a tack driver with a hard chrome barrel.

That said, so many have had such good luck with salt bath, continuing to ignore that , well it is what it is.

yep, but spending that much on a x39 is a chore, I personally think the melonite stuff is being pushed hard by the vendors as its cheaper than a decent chrome lining. I am willing to be convinced however, someone got a study of 10,000 rounds fired through a 5.56 melonite barrel semi auto vs. 10,000 rounds through a chrome lined barrel? If barrel erosion is the same, bullets are still making it to a 4 inch circle at 100 after 10,000 fired semi auto then I am convinced. Also I am not stuck on 10,000 rounds but has to be an independent test done by someone who bought the two products and not a barrel manufacturer. Also don't care which one can sit in a salt water bath the longest without rusting, irrelevant to my thinking of heat and pressure.

You should read this thread. It is very enlightening.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/-ARCHIVED-THREAD-Nitride-vs-chrome-lining/118-693734/?page=1

You really shouldn't discount the rust factor. Corrosion happens more than you may think.

10,000 rounds through a good Krieger cut rifled tube and my guns were still holding a bit over MOA with good ammo. No kind of coating etc... SS barrel.

I'd think the round count might need to be higher.

BTW if you find a place to apply hard chrome accurately in your search let us know or at least PM me. I'm always ears open to possible usuable info.

Just getting a cheapy barrel with a cheapy chrome lining, well, I still might say its a crap shoot but as cheap as tubes are you could buy one, if not good, sell it and buy another..

or you could get a good tube, make sure it does shoot, and send it in for salt bath

I have no idea which is better but I know what chrome lining can do, melonite not so much.

My first and only experience with melonite was on a Faxon barrel. I went to dimple the barrel for the gas block screws and the owner of said barrel said it would be too hard and he didn't think it would cut easily. Bit went right in without issue, he was shocked. The barrel does shoot well, just not as hard as they would have you believe. I think it's a cheaper process that is being hyped by those that stand to make money from it. I'm sure it works but as I said earlier, if chrome lining is better for full auto, then it's better on semi as well.

Now chrome lined barrels are usually found on blaster type guns that weren't made to be accurate so most think chrome can't be accurate. I've been reading a deal on another site that has been quite entertaining (calling BCM hobby parts) and in that thread SME (subject matter experts) have been called out as salesmen plain and simple. Someone said the difference in BCM and PSA is PSA didn't pay SME's to pimp their products, quite humorous if you've been around long enough to remember "hip fired gun". Anyway that got me to looking at the SOCOM chrome lined barrel in the M4A1 and I found it odd that so many were talking about how accurate they were. I found a thread by MOLON that was pretty informative as well. https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/-/118-486225/? maybe if you started out with an accurate tube and had it chromed right, it might be just as accurate. But that would cost more money and right now it's all about how cheap can we make it...

Just my thoughts, right or wrong.

If you read that link I posted, you'll see why that isn't necessarily so.

Criterion is supposed to make a decent CL barrel. You might try that.
I understand that chrome lined barrels are more susceptible to walking as they heat up because the chrome doesn't expand at the same rate as the barrel. Probably take more than a 5 round group to show that. And a CL barrel isn't the only barrel that can walk.

Isn't technology all about cheaper & better? You ever afraid that all these gun Co.s are pawning off cheap aluminum guns with plastic stocks that they can make more money on than an M14?

I think you are dead on. Nez and I have spoken about this and I alluded to it earlier, I think.. LOL.

Start with a Krieger type tube, ( IE fairly proven accurate track record) and then find a precision plating place that could control the thickness etc... whatever is required to be precise, and you'd have it, a chromed accurate barrel.

IIRC Nez has played around with salt bath nitride enough on his guns to say its all he needs, just doesn't feel the need for chrome. And Nez is a hunter, shooter AND competitor, not just a competitor and has been all around the US and the globe actually so takes into account a lot of "thinking" from his experiences.

I still don't konw that I'll need more than salt bath, but that being said, how could one turn down an even tougher option?

Of course you add up a top barrel, top coating etc.. you get into money quickly..

Lets see, Carolyns G20... factory shot ok. But then I got an RMR and she decided she wanted one. But my milling is not "sealed" yet as its a hunting gun for me and I can protect it here.. hers is carry gun and carry all over including salt as needed. OK Salt bath the milled slide. Then buy the RMR. Then a new set of sights. Then the loads we wanted to use were not quite well enough supported in the G20 barrel so off to KKM... You see where I'm going. But if its only done once and good for the life of the weapon... maybe its not a bad trade off. For Carolyn I want her to have what she feels best and most confident with in case she ever has an issue with a bear or moose. I want no doubts in her head, I want her thinking, damn the luck, but that moose or bear just committed suicide by charging me. Ya know what I mean?

Nothing wrong with technology as long as it's as good as or better and not just the hive mind being pointed in a certain direction.

Jeff let's not talk about pistols and RMR's. I put a trigger and action kit in my M&P9 then fitted an Apex barrel to it. Added Trijicon HD sights and doubled its cost. Shot the heck out of it then found a CORE on sale. Bought an RMR for it and it's all I want to shoot now. Love it but my other pistols are gonna rust up.

Oh hell, I forgot about the new triggers too... and my up coming Bar Sto for my hunting G20. LOL.

Only one more RMR to buy, then figure out what sight to put on the 50 beowulf for Alaska for bear/moose defense.

After that its the easy stuff, scope the vehicle ARs we talked about on another thread. LOL.

the internet experts are quick to point out that "everyone" is going to melonite. I do believe it offers protection that is greater than blued steel. Why I even have had a few rusted blue steel guns. I have melonite barrels, stainless, chrome lined, melonite and stainless are most accurate, Chrome guns with the right ammo can produce just over a MOA for 10 rounds cause I have done it more than once. Chrome lined barrels have been around for some time now and we pretty much know that you can abuse them, get the barrel wet, and they hold up. I guess no one has a side to side comparison of chrome and melonite barrels shot to destruction?? I was hoping someone would prove me wrong. I personally have not seen any melonite trailer hitch balls, but see those darn chromed ones every day, when they start treating trailer hitch balls with melonite, the US military starts specifying melonite then I am "in". What kind of barrel is on the Tavor? You would think the Israeli army surrounded as they are by people that want to kill them would get the best they could..well low and behold the very modern Tavor has that out of date old fashioned out of date chrome lined barrel.

One thing to think about is melonite is a simple process that can be done cheaper so I can't really see a down side to it. We know it does work and does not mess with accuracy when applied to an accurate barrel. Given a hunting gun or general purpose gun, I think it's been doing a fine job. Might even be the thing to do with a muzzle loader if one is gonna use traditional powders.

I just don't think chrome deserves the reputation of being inaccurate. It evidently is harder to do right and more expensive so fewer companies will do it right. So I guess Tyrone hit it on the head, technology has given us a product that is cheaper to use, easier to do right and works almost as well.

I've not seen chromed balls hold up either.... So I'd say thats a poor comparison to start with. And likely much different forces but then I could be wrong.

Get you a chromed one somewhere? Have you googled yet ? Tell us how it works out.

Tyrone, I have two Criterion tubes and have built with a third. All are good shooters.

I have two more of the FN built chrome lines barrels sold by PSA. Again, both are great shooters.

I have no issues with any of my Chrone lined barrels being inaccurate, but than again, they where all build by folks who know what they are doing.

At some point it becomes a matter of how good you can shoot. I figure if I can put 10 shots in a fist sized group at 300, it's good enough. That doesn't take a super-duper barrel.

Lets just say I have very high standards for accuracy, regardless of application. Only accurate guns are interesting.

Depends some on the person, the use of the gun, and the desires... not that I can always use accuracy, but I sure enjoy seeing it if at all possible. Fist size at 300 would be about 4 inches or so, by my hand, and thats not so bad really. But I sure push for our guns to cut that in half.

If a guy can shoot smaller than that out of his hands, he'll probably win every Highpower match he enters.

I think Antelope Sniper is talking about shooting from training wheels, like a bench or a bipod.