Should a barrel be chrome lined?

While chrome lining offers superior corrosion resistance to various external weather conditions, it also serves to significantly reduce throat erosion, allowing shooters to enjoy sub-MOA accuracy potential for as much as 20,000 rounds of normal use with factory match ammunition.

How many rounds will a chrome lined barrel last?

308 AR (chambered in M118LR): Shooters using these rifles typically experience serviceable barrel lives in the neighborhood of 5,000 – 8,000 rounds with an untreated bore. Chrome lined or nitrided barrels will last considerably longer before requiring replacement.

Is nitride barrel good?

The two primary benefits of the nitriding process is corrosion resistance and maintaining a barrels dimensional consistency, which improves accuracy. The surface is also very hard and protective, provided you don’t abuse the barrel with excessive heat.

How long will a nitride barrel last?

The nitrided barrels lasted an average of 28,000 shots before rejection.

Is phosphate or nitride better?

A nitride exterior will protect the barrel longer than a phosphate exterior finish. However, a chrome-lined, or phosphate, barrel will hold up better to sustained fire than a nitride interior. Nitride has a slight edge in accuracy and price. However, phosphate coated/chrome lined barrels are more common.

Is stainless steel barrel more accurate?

Physically, stainless steel does not heat up as quickly as a blued barrel does, making it more accurate over time while sighting in a rifle, a process that sometimes takes a couple of boxes of shells over a few hours, and several dozen shots.

Is a phosphate barrel good?

Most barrels with phosphate coated exteriors have chrome-lined interiors. This is more durable during extreme full auto firing. If your use case is regular semi-auto fire, a nitride coated barrel vs a phosphate coated/chrome lined barrel is pretty much a wash in terms of durability.

Is a 4140 barrel good?

4140 is generally used for automotive parts that are normal sizes and require a decent amount of strength and hardness. Either would be a good choice for a barrel steel and would last you for a long time.

Is stainless or nitride barrel better?

Normally, stainless has a shorter useful life than carbon steel but most shooters won’t ever see it. Carbon steel is harder than stainless, and can be treated (or not) with nitride or chrome. For most civilian shooters, nitride is a better choice for general purpose use.

Do chrome lined barrels affect accuracy?

When a barrel is chrome lined, even with the best technology available today, it is not perfectly even. Because it is not perfectly even on the inside of the barrel, there are very slight high points that obviously will negatively affect the accuracy of the bullet.

Can you shoot out a chrome lined AR-15 barrel?

Most people, however, will not be able to “shoot out” a chrome-lined AR-15 barrel in their lifetime, and if you do, you should consider yourself very fortunate to be able to shoot this much!

Why does the military use chrome lined barrels?

This is the biggest reason the military uses chrome-lined barrels. Every round down range creates heat in the barrel from the hot gasses that the powder creates and the friction of the round, both of which result in barrel erosion over time. The higher the velocity of the round, the hotter the barrel gets resulting in even more barrel erosion.

What is a match grade AR barrel?

This makes stainless steel, match grade barrels and absolute must for long-range target shooters. The second major category for AR barrels are stainless steel barrels, which are typically not chrome lined in the bore or chamber, and these are known as “Match Grade” barrels.