From
Faxon, timestamped 7:59am:
It is usually a product of the nitriding process leaving the interior surface a bit rough, but otherwise perfectly within specification. QC unfortunately does not have enough time to test fire each barrel and it doesn't always stand out when looking through with a bore scope, so they can slip through every once in a while. On the plus side, it means that both of your barrels now have hand polished chambers!
Thanks,
Martin
Faxon Firearms
==============
Thank you for the excellent & succinct explanation, Martin!
I use fiber optic extensions mounted on mini-maglites to do light-reflection inspections of areas of bores and chambers. After pulling the 16" barrel, I looked down into the chamber (again) with a bright light. I could see the traces of brass removed from cartridge cases but no obvious flaws. I inserted a fiber optic thru the muzzle to the chamber and was surprised that, in the bright white light reflection, I could discern no irregularities in the chamber surface ... it looked smooth as glass. (BTW, I opted to
not clean the bores/chambers so any/all brass traces could be of assistance to the
Faxon people inspecting/correcting the issues)
Years ago I discovered that the
feel of (as well as
sound produced by) a properly-sized phosphor-bronze brush passing thru/over a chamber/bore area could tell me a great deal about the surface conditions.
After I experienced the initial difficulties with these barrels, I cleaned the bores/chambers, with particular attention to the latter. I employed a brass brush this time and was expecting to feel flaws ... something ... in the chambers. But I felt no indications of anything odd in either chamber.
My take from all of this ...
Per
haps, if I had deployed the fiber-optic for a
very careful chamber inspection when I first removed the barrels from the bags and inspected them, I
may have seen ... something. Perhaps not. I will never know.
Quite frankly, I
do feel better knowing that I did not install two barrels that sported easily seen/felt nitride boogers in their chambers. If I had, Bugs Bunny's comment on the situation might have been "What a maroon!".
I have learned that nitrided longgun barrels represent new territory that
requires a different approach. Even with barrels from quality manufacturers like
Faxon, no longer can one do what was considered to be a good inspection and removal of preservative grease/oil and oiling prior to putting it aside to await installation.
In future, I will hesitate to buy another nitride longgun barrel unless the mfr can guarantee me no such issues with the product. I have no interest in having to assemble the rifle and fire it to see if there are such "invisible" nitride issues ... and then have to dis-assemble the rifle to polish the chamber ... then re-assemble the rifle to fire it again to determine if my polishing efforts completely corrected the issue.
Perhaps my best approach would be to plan on polishing
ALL new nitride chambers, whether or not there are any visible flaws? <sigh & smile>
Anyway ...
Thanks for your kind help with this, Martin.
I look forward to enjoying thousands of rounds thru my two new
Faxon Gunner barrels with their hand-polished chambers.
"GBExpat"
