Stainless barrel vs chrome lined

[yondering]

If I had to put longevity in order it would be Melonite, chrome lined, stanless and then untreated carbon.

I agree with this as well, from talking to my barrel maker. Melonite is definitely the way to go if you want the best, and it doesn't hurt accuracy like chrome lining. My barrel maker says it makes the bore slicker and easier to clean too, vs their stainless barrels.

[RAPR]

Of all the barrel treatments or coatings out there the salt bath nitriding is the absolutely best there is. Melonite is a trade name but it results in a barrel that is more corrosion resistant than most coatings and is magnitudes better than any form of plating. As a bonus it is generally pretty cheap.

If I had to put longevity in order it would be Melonite, chrome lined, stanless and then untreated carbon. There are also various metal alloys that help longevity. 41V50 has vandium in it vs standard 4150, this additional ingredient results in a better barrel.

Dolomite

Just curious. Is AAC's Nitride coating the same as QPQ? We use the QPQ process from time to time in my industry. It is a heated salt bath process (around 1100F) of Quench Polish Quench, which makes the surface of 4140 steel much harder (only at the surface) and also has the benefit of being a little more corrosion resistant. The corrosion resistances still does not compare to SS though. This process is VERY cheap to do.

[aacdragon]

Thanks Maryland_Shooter. I've actually been reading the AR15 forum all this morning before heading off to work. I work evenings, monrings, nights, whenever duty calls, hence I may have early morning, or late night responses. Very informative forum to check out.

-k- I don't plan on abusing my prospective rifle. I care too much for them. I hate to even have a scratch on them, much less be abusive. The slide fire possibility is just that, a possibility, I like the option of coming close to a full auto experience, being that I've never opted to try for a full auto purchase. But then I also think of the abuse the rilfe will take with the slide fire, (bump fire), experience.

I actually called Noveske two days ago, and sent a message regarding the correct part number for the rifle the gun shop has been looking for. I'm giving them some time to see what they can find. If nothing transpires, I'll either opt for the stainless, or give you a call on where to locate the model I was looking for. I've dealt with this shooting range for years, (Alpine Shooting Range), they offer excellent service, great customer relations, and I tend to deal with them to keep our local gun range, and gun shop in business. After all, when we have a problem we tend to go to them for solutions, why not buy from them as well. I may pay just a tad higher price than the internet pricing, but I know who I'm dealing with at the time of purchase.

Dolomite-Supafly and Whole Bunches, thanks for the extensive information. I do see that the stainless showed an initial wear of .025 more than the chrome lined barrels, but is that due to the manufacturer's materials. I had not seen a Core 15 until 2 weeks ago when I went on my initial venture to look for a 300BLK, which by the way, no one had one in store. Not knocking the Core 15, It's just that there are so many AR platforms out there now, it's hard to keep track.

Very informative replies. Thank you all. I hope this has helped others as well into the S.S. vs Chrome lined question. I know I've been looking since I started looking at the 300BLK, mainly since I didn't know anything about it.

aacdragon

[-k-]

A few mags of FA or bump fire is not abusive, SS will be fine.

[aacdragon]

Thanks -k-

Since I've never fired any FA rifles, and haven't tried bump firing, I wasn't sure how much was allowable before "abuse" became an issue.

However, based on a you tube video showing a slide fire option on a 300BLK vs a 55 gallon drum of water, I decided to give the slide fire a try, just for occasional fun, but will more than likely run it on another rifle.

I could not embed the video, but copied the information. The site is on HICKOK45 you tube videos. The caption is as stated. "300 AAC Blackout vs 55 gallon of water". It left me impressed with how it knocked the barrel over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peTBG0Fm ... eTBG0FmOwI

And by the way, a call to Noveske and an e-mail with a response was a pleasant experience. I have not had that with one particular manufacturer that I've dealt with in the past. So.....GREAT work!!

aacdragon