Chrome-lined bore, chamber and barrel?

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silver2525

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Im new to guns, and would like to learn.

is Chrome-lined bore, chamber and barrel a good thing. im starting to see it more and more. Whats the benefit. Accuracy? cleaning? barrel life? info please if u have any?
 
Chrome lining makes the barrel and other chrome lined components more resistant to rust and corrosion and easier to clean.
 
More important in a battle rifle in the elements than a range gun, hunting gun, etc. Chrome lined barrels are not considered as accurate, but a super quality chrome lined barrel could out shoot a poor unlined barrel. No match barrels are chrome lined. I do not know of any rifles other than military style rifles that are offered with chrome lined barrels.

Back in the day of corrosive ammo it was a good thing in a battle rifle which may get neglected as well.

The only chrome lined bore I have is my AK. If I were to buy an AR that I thought I may have to defend my life with, I would want a chrome bore in it, simply for the little bit of extra reliability/protection it provides as far as fouling is concerned.

Not a huge deal either way in most applications.
 
All my AKs have chromelined bores. As to the SKS, its only the Yugo m59 66 and M 59 that arent plus the 1950 Russian SKS. The CHicom , Albanian and 1953 Russian SKS all have chrome as well.
 
A chrome bore will keep it's accuracy much longer than a non lined bore.

Lets say you have two .308 rifles one lined and one not.

They both shoot about 2 MOA. The unlined bore will start to lose it's 2 MOA ability from about 7 or 10 thousand rounds.

The chrome lined rifle could still be shooting 2 MOA at up to 15 to 20 thousand rounds.
 
Hardchrome (as distinct from decorative or 'bumper chrome') is hard, resistant to chemical and mechanical attack, resists erosion from hot gas, and is more slippery than bare steel. All of these things can be beneficial in the bore and chamber of a firearm.

To plate a bore with hardchrome the bore and chamber are cut (or hammer forged) normaly but are done a few 0.0002" or so oversize. They are then plated with chrome to bring them back to the desired dimension. It's hard to get the plating thickness perfect through the entire bore so accuracy can suffer somewhat. OTOH, it's possible to have a excellent hardchromed barrel outshoot a badly made steel barrel.

Personally, living in the PNW I want hardchrome on any weapon that has it available.

BSW
 
Personally I prefer stainless barrels to chrome lined. Many of the advantages of chrome lining, but the accuracy potential of an unlined barrel.
 
I won't own an AR that does not have a chrome lined barrel and chamber. The saying is, "Go chrome or go home". It increases reliability and ease of cleaning.

When M16s started to jam in Vietnam, the first modification made was chrome lining the barrel and chamber.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
chrome moly = cheap
chrome lined = durable and cleans easier
stainless = rust resistant and more accurate

Best bet is a good brand match grade with head spaced bolt (if you're building).
 
LeonCarr said:
When M16s started to jam in Vietnam, the first modification made was chrome lining the barrel and chamber.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
Click to expand...

Actually, I think one of the first changes made was to teach troops to clean the rifles and issue them cleaning kits....
 
In the book of the AR-15 they talk about SF in the early stages of Vietnam having the M-16. They had no problems because they performed weapons maintenance. When they issued it to everyone they told them the rifle need not be cleaned and problems followed there after.
 
It's one more thing. On a properly maintained rifle, it *can* increase the usable life of the barrel, but most people will never shoot out a non-lined barrel. For a button rifled barrel, the lining can reduce some of the tooling marks and make the barrel less prone to fouling. For a cold hammer forged barrel that is a non-issue.

BTW, a chromoly barrel isn't necessarily cheap. Many of the match barrel makers offer them and pretty much every sporting rifle manufacturer from Marlin or Mossberg on the low end to Blaser on the higher end use chromoly barrels on most if not all of their rifles. The barrel and process used to rifle it are more determinant of what makes a barrel expensive or cheap than the material.
 
5.56 barrels are prone to being shot out after 10-20k rounds. For some people that's a lot, for others that's 2-3 years. Hardchrome will protect the throat and increase the life of the barrel.

As to the early M16 and it's problems, the first rifles were issued w/o training or cleaning materials. The proper rods and brushes (especially the chamber brush) were not in the system and were not available to deployed troops.

Not having the correct materials, bad/no training, and no hardchrome conspired together to cause rusty, pitted bores and chambers. Pits in the chamber lead to FTEx, which gets guys killed.

BSW
 
An article that still remains in my memory was by Denny Hansen in which he talked about his Olympic Arms carbine which had 80,000 rounds through it before it gave up the ghost. Then you have military tests where the chrome lining caused premature barrel failure.
 
CM vs Stainless & button vs Hammer forged

I've shot them all and seen no difference in barrel life. Shooting PD you can put a lot of rounds through them in a short time. The secret is to not let them get too hot, and if you don't want them to wear. keep them in the safe. Al
 
Chrome lined barrels

By the way I have 3 30/06 cal machine gun barrels, the chamber and bore is chromed. Don't know what to do with them. Al
 
Basically chrome lined is good for helping corrosion, and making it easier to clean...it will last roughly double to that of a non lined barrel ...if ur looking for Max accuracy then say no to chrome lining and yes to chromoly and stainless steel match grade
 
I personally will never own chrome lined..its prove to loose accuracy...if by chance u shoot more than 15,000 rounds ..not likely...then just go buy another barrel and pop it on ..I'm all about the accuracy..and don't do much if any rapid fire so a good stainless barrel should last my lifetime...if I get. .75 moa with an unlined barrel that last 10,000 rounds or 1" moa with a barrel that last 20,000 I'm goin with the ..75..just my preference...to each his own
 
I would estimate that about one percent of the shooters reading this could tell the difference in accuracy between a chrome bore and an unlined one without a bench and sandbags so in the real world the majority of this accuracy BS is just that. BS.
 
Yes, chrome lined barrels have a lot of advantages over plain chrome moly barrels. However, accuracy generally isn't one of them... though Criterion Barrels, who is probably the top name in chrome lined barrels, claim that their chroming process is done in such a manner that they are no less accurate than a good chrome moly barrel.

As others have said, the benefits of chrome lining are longer barrel life, ease of cleaning, corrosion resistance, and more reliable feeding and extraction, especially in a hot and/or dirty barrel.

However, the debate between chrome lined versus chrome moly is not nearly so interesting to me as the debate between chrome lined versus nitrided barrels. I have heard a lot of claims about nitrided barrels, saying that they are as good or better than chrome lined barrels in all respects. I have never seen any testing or documentation to prove this, but it definitely has caused nitrided barrels to catch my attention. I guess the best way to prove it to myself would be to buy a barrel with each, give them each a heavy round count, and compare reliability, accuracy, and barrel wear. Though I have a feeling that the benefits of each probably depend more on the quality of manufacture than on the actual material used.
 
" though Criterion Barrels, who is probably the top name in chrome lined barrels, claim that their chroming process is done in such a manner that they are no less accurate than a good chrome moly barrel."

I can't recall exactly who does it but I do know that at least one gun maker makes a very high dollar sniper rifle that is extremely accurate that has a chrome bore.
 
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