Chrome lined vs Salt Bath Nitride vs non lined chromoly barrel

[Flowmini98]

I searched but cant find my answer.. What the difference in durability and longevity between an AR barrel (1/7, 1/8, 1/9 twists) thats chrome lined, one that has a salt bath nitride finish, and one thats non lined but made of chromoly?
This would be a rifle that probably takes between 500-1000 rounds per year

[CobraRed]

Does anyone know if by Nitride they mean TiN (titanium nitride)? Because a coating of that is harder than wholly hell, it's similar hardness to sapphire which is second only to diamond.

[SocomM4]

Been heavily discussed. Thusly.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Chrome+lined+vs+non+chrome+lined#seen

[Rorge Retson]

Melonite vs. Tenifer etc. are all the same process - nitriding....

[SoCalXD]

Inside the barrel: If you are buying a full upper or complete rifle, go chrome lined vs. unlined. It likely will last a few 1000 rounds past an unlined barrel and resist corrosion better if you fail to clean and lube properly. If you are buying just a barrel, then go stainless steel if you can.

Outside the barrel: honestly, wtf does it matter? range shooting won't mar a cheap parkerizing nor a high-end pricey finish. If you are going to beat it up at classes or in competition, all those dings and scrapes are highly valued badges of acomplishment!
Aside from a talking point with your buddies at the range, outside finish on a barrel is just cosmetics. I personally prefer my $5 rattle can camo finish on my AKs over my $200 Cobra-Chrome finish on my tactical pistol any day!

[ElvenSoul]

A lot of it has to do with TLC you give your rifle. If your the type who must clean before leaving range. You do not need any coatings or linings.

[elsolo]

Depends on what you intend to do with the rifle.
Run rapid fire with lots of mags in a row, neglect cleaning, but still want acceptable barrel life: chrome lined.

Slowfire benchrest-type accuracy more important, no lining or treatment and chromoly steel. Some stainless alloys will resist throat erosion longer, so custom barrel makers sell those mostly.

Improve corrosion resistance somewhat, and give the marketing team another buzzword for the advertisements: ferritic salt bath nitrocarburizing (Melonite / Tenifer / Tuftride / etc) Not that the process is doesn;t impart some favorable characteristics, but it's merits for centerfire rifle barrels is debatable.

[APOCALYPSE70]

Nitriding is the way to go. The south korean defense did a network of tests and proves that nitriding gives the barrel 5x the barrel life and more corrosive resistant. Plus all of Europe is switching up to Nitriding instead of chrome lined

[Hoop]

I searched but cant find my answer.. What the difference in durability and longevity between an AR barrel (1/7, 1/8, 1/9 twists) thats chrome lined, one that has a salt bath nitride finish, and one thats non lined but made of chromoly?
This would be a rifle that probably takes between 500-1000 rounds per year

Chromed/nitrided last about twice as long. I would go nitrided just because I find more barrels with favorable twists and contours in nitrided than chrome lined dollar-for-dollar.

[Flowmini98]

Both my current ARs are chrome lined, was just curious about the durability of the salty bath nitride for my next build

[chicoredneck]

We only offer nitrided barrels on our uppers simply because there is no reason not too. Better corrosion resistance than chrome lining and no accuracy loss associated with the process unlike chrome lining. We even use nitriding on our stainless match barrels. A few extra steps need to be taken to ensure that the match barrel will perform at it's best with a nitride finish, but the extra steps are well worth the extra barrel life that is gained.

In short, chrome lining is outdated, expensive, and underperformes modern nitriding.

[beanfidler]

The twist rate would depend on what loads you plan on shooting. If you plan on shooting (300 blackout) any of the 220gr subsonic loads the 1:7 twist would be the best choice. If you plan on shooting the lighter supersonic bullets 1:8 would probably be fine. I prefer salt bath nitride coating which penetrates the steel better than chrome and provides a tougher, smoother. more corrosion resistant finish than chrome-lining.

[-hanko]

Nitriding is the way to go. The south korean defense did a network of tests and proves that nitriding gives the barrel 5x the barrel life and more corrosive resistant. Plus all of Europe is switching up to Nitriding instead of chrome lined

Care to cite the South Korean study?

As well as the info on "all of Europe switching"...?

[APOCALYPSE70]

Google it.. I don't remember I found the study 2 years ago.. Its by the Korean military

[Shakey]

Quite a bit of random speculation in this thread. I don't know what is best, but here are some data points.

The "Korean study" is here. It compared two different kinds of nitriding to bare steel, not nitriding vs. chrome.

There is an older US Army study that compared bare steel v. chrome lined v. nitrided v. liners v. other stuff. The conclusions were that nitriding is better than bare steel, chrome is better than nitride, and Stellite liners are better than everything. Note, though, that this test was not done with a rifle caliber and the nitride process used might not be the same as current nitriding.

Personally, I don't think it's a big deal. The cost of replacing a barrel is a small fraction of the cost of the ammunition required to wear it out. If you can afford the thousands of dollars in ammunition needed to shoot out the barrel you can afford a few hundred for a new barrel.