Positive Barrel Life News

[StoneHendge]

I've been a tad nervous about barrel life since Whitley came on here and said that his customers would generally send uppers in for rebarreling around 3k.

Anyways, I'm trying to figure out some issues where my 95 grain TMKs magically disappear at around 600 yards if the wind is blowing with the theory that they may be destabilizing at that threshold and tumbling or helicoptering into oblivion. Kind of sucks when your spot on to the low 500s and then neither you or the spotter can see any sort of impact on or off the target at 625 on the 5th target of a hit to move on stage. Called Sierra this morning and that of course isn't possible with one of their bullets. The tech theorized that maybe my barrel was shot out and the throat was shredding the jacket and that 600 yards is where the issue is manifesting itself. I'm not anal about keeping round counts and my guess is that it's in the low 2ks. 

So I went to the local reloading supply shop and purveyor of $100 bricks of primers (they had Federal Small Pistol Match today!) to buy some JB Bore Paste. Never used it before because it scares the crap out of me and told the son my problem. He said Dad can borescope it for $5 if he's around. Dad was around so I ran home to get my upper. He said it looked pretty good - a little bit of firecracking in the throat but that it wasn't bad and that there was certainly nothing that could damage a jacket and it had plenty of life left. I asked "at least 1k rounds?" and he said most certainly - at a very bare minimum. This shop services a bench rest crowd who are ready to convert their Bartleins to tomato stakes faster than anyone, so that left me feeling pretty good. Maybe the 5k some theorize is correct - I'm certainly feeling like 4k is achievable. And it sees it's share of rapid fire with 15 -20 going down the tube at Hornady max charge in 90 seconds.

The bad news is that the 16" Six Sigma Lilja 6ARC barrel that will be the 243 LBC's replacement is going to have to wait patiently in the back corner of the closet a little longer than I thought. I'm glad I had it cerakoted Patriot Brown to go with GiGi's FDE scheme. Otherwise i'd be tempted to cobble together another AR that I don't need......

[grayfox]

Reading and following this. Glad to hear on barrel life! (sorry you'll have to carry that 16-er burden yourself!!)

[Dino11]

Send your Lija barrel out and have it Nitrded.

I was told yesterday when I dropped one off that the process will at a minimum double the life of the barrel. They told me that they have a customer that manufactures a pistol that was shooting out barrels at 10,000 rounds. They now have done test on the pistol after Nitriding and the round count is now at 33,000 rounds to date.

When I get my barrel and action back if I like the work and it still shoots well I am going to have my Odin match grade barrel done.

If you do send it out shoot 40 or 50 rounds through it first to smooth out the bore, it helps with the break in process. My nitrided Faxon barrel has about 300 rounds through it and it is just now starting to group better.

[SBRSarge]

Dino11,

I’ve never thought of aftermarket nitriding, but it makes sense.

What’s it cost, roughly?

[Dino11]

The place I take my stuff to . During the salt bath processs a proprietary process, it is called Blacknitride plus.

H&M Blacknitride+™ makes your gun’s metal 10 times stronger than it was originally. It increases the velocity of your barrel by a few hundred feet-per-second and slickens the surface to make your gun extremely lubricated.

By nature of the process, the steel is hardened through a thermochemical treatment to the steel which makes the steel harder and resistant to water penetrations. H&M Blacknitride+™ extends barrel life, makes cleaning easier and protects the part from corrosion. Major gun manufacturers use H&M Blacknitride+™ for various parts including barrels, firing pins, bolt carrier group assemblies, hammers, triggers and magazines.

They also infuse the metal with a lubricant during the salt bath process that makes it more slick than traditional Nitriding process. You can see and feel the difference with their product. It is very shiny and slick like glass if the surface metal is a not bead blasted but polished before treatment.

I used 1000 and 1500 grit wet sand paper on the outside of my barrel before I sent in in to give it a mirror like finish. Then I lapped it with JB bore paste on the inside after putting 50 rounds down it and super cleaning it to smooth out the rifling. You should do a break in process before sending it in to remove any burrs and tool marks from the throat area and the rifle grooves.


http://blacknitride.com/  Ask to speak with a gentleman they call Bear.

You can get all the steel and stainless steel parts done for $250.00 and they do charge shipping. They are local to me so I dropped it off and will pick it up, they have a 7 to 10 day turn around time. They toured me through the place and they have a nice shop and state of the art equipment.

There are other outfits that do this, do a search and shop around. I use these folks because their product is way far ahead of anyone else out their.

[BluntForceTrauma]

It's good to get a recommendation for a shop, cause not all nitriders are the same.