Chrome damage

[7x57]

Does chrome damage spread? I have a chromed Romy G barrel that appears to have some pitting at the crown. The crown flares a bit and it appears to be chromed out to the end of the flare--that's probably a bad description but it would be like any other Romy barrel. The pitting is out on the flare but I think a bit past the point where the bullet is free of the rifling, not into the actual bore itself.

My main worry is whether this is likely to spread. The muzzle brake will protect it fairly well, so I'm hoping not. But I'd like to know if this is likely to get worse, and if so whether there is anything I should do now before I AlumaHyde the rifle and put it into service. If it won't spread, then there is no hurry and I might as well shoot it and not worry for now.

My best guess is that it won't spread, based on this post by AR15Barrels, but I couldn't find anything more specific.

7x57

[motorhead]

probably not. some other variants are prone to flaking. bear in mind, it's an ak not a match grade rifle.

[NeoWeird]

Chrome is usually applied with an electrical current and the chrome is built up on the surface of the metal evenly, more like rust rather than painting. While damage like this to chrome will not necessarily spread based on soley that fact, it's an indication that proper surface prep was not done and if that is the case, it could potentially mean there is more areas that are going to be prone to damage. Chances are you are fine, just be aware that other areas could get easily damaged as well, and they would not have to be close to the original damage. Chances are it was just someone touched the cleaned barrel on the muzzle before the plating process and that area was suceptable to damage, but everything else inside the bore and chamber is probably perfectly fine.

[7x57]

probably not. some other variants are prone to flaking. bear in mind, it's an ak not a match grade rifle.

Yah, I'm less concerned about loss of accuracy and more just wanting to make sure it doesn't spread. If it goes down the bore I'll have much bigger problems.

7x57

[motorhead]

cleaning is no longer optional. remove the brake when you clean. a lot of crap builds up there. i had one slantbrake i had to use a small pipe wrench to remove. that was after soaking for 3 days.

[7x57]

cleaning is no longer optional. remove the brake when you clean. a lot of crap builds up there. i had one slantbrake i had to use a small pipe wrench to remove. that was after soaking for 3 days.

You mean you can't store an AK buried on the beach??? What happened to reliability?

If you'd tell that to whatever Romanian soldier who carried it and apparently didn't believe in cleaning it or even drying it out after a rain, I'd be grateful.

To be clear, this is an AK which I have never fired and does not currently have a muzzle brake. I built up the metal parts at CSACANNONEER's build party, and it's been waiting for me to get some AlumaHyde, coat the metal parts, and finish up the furniture. The muzzle brake was indeed extremely hard to remove, as was the gas tube and about anything else that fit together where corrosion could get a foothold. I spent a lot of time in the blast cabinet trying to make sure I didn't just parkerize over rust.

Anyway--I haven't replaced the slantbrake yet because I knew the crown need attention. Originally I thought it was just some bad corrosion but later inspection showed the chrome damage I mentioned. I just want to make sure I've taken care of everything before final assembly.

And yeah, I clean my guns better than Romanian soldiers apparently do.

7x57