CHF, CVM, Melonite, etc ?

[stenz]

School me on the differences and if their is a difference worth spending the money on?

I'm looking for a 16in set up.

[ray1970]

I've posted this before, but unless you plan on putting about $12,000 worth of ammo through the barrel you'll be hard pressed to even wear out a cheap barrel. And if you've spent the $12,000 and wore the barrel out then spending another $150 for a new barrel probably isn't a big deal.

I'm sure others will chime in with better info shortly. Personally, I don't spend as much on barrels as I used to and have been pleased with the performance I have been getting out of the cheaper barrels.

[Circuits]

CMV - the steel used in the barrel - when used to describe a barrel it usually means the least common denominator, unlined, uncoated, untreated rifle barrel - just a bore with button rifling
CHF - cold hammer forging - one process used to make a barrel where a short, fat cylinder is slipped over a mandrel that is an inverse copy of the finished barrel - with rifling and chamber, then hydraulic power hammers literally crush and squeeze the fat cylinder out like a piece of pizza dough until the inside exactly conforms to the mandrel, and with computer controlled hammers, the exterior may have been hammered out to its final shape already, as well.
Meloniting - a metal treatment process that leaves a very hard, dense layer on the interior and exterior surfaces of the barrel. Meloniting is another name for "nitriding", which is the process used to make Glock slides last longer, for instance (Glock calls their particular process "Tenifer").

Meloniting or chrome lining are two methods commonly used to make basic CMV barrels harder-wearing and longer-lasting, versus no lining or treatments on basic barrels.

CHF is one method used to bore and rifle a barrel, as opposed to boring a deep hole in a long skinny piece of steel, using a rifling machine, broach cutter or button broach to rifle it, and then cutting it down to final dimensions on a lathe and using a reamer to create the chamber

My personal preference is for a CHF barrel with chrome lining, which is pretty much what is used for M16s and M4s these days, though some people prefer meloniting.

[Great-Kazoo]

Preferences aside. For the common, non- competitive shooter. Not wanting the weight of a CHF, which would you steer you customer to ?

[MarkCO]

Hand lapped or CHF give about equal performance. Add Melonite and you get not only much longer barrel life, but you don't have to clean them at all. Chrome lining is harder to control the quality and the linig does fracture, usually at the gas port...but after a long time.

Unless you are planning on shooting sub MOA and over 10K, a standard $100 barrel is good for most ARs.

[stenz]

Thanks for the responses.

[jerrymrc]

When they are in stock about the best bang for the buck. http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-16-mid-length-chf-5-56-1-7-upper-with-bcg-and-charging-handle.html I like the CHF barrels because the next step up is 3 times the price IMO.

[Bruw]

https://www.ar-15.co/threads/153542-Selecting-an-AR-barrel

[Rucker61]

Hand lapped or CHF give about equal performance. Add Melonite and you get not only much longer barrel life, but you don't have to clean them at all. Chrome lining is harder to control the quality and the linig does fracture, usually at the gas port...but after a long time.

Unless you are planning on shooting sub MOA and over 10K, a standard $100 barrel is good for most ARs.

I'm no expert, but I'd say save money of the barrel and spend it on the trigger.

[Great-Kazoo]

I'm no expert, but I'd say save money of the barrel and spend it on the trigger.


AND ammo

[Erni]

MarkCO, do you know what is the relative hardness and wear difference between chrome and nitriding?

[MarkCO]

MarkCO, do you know what is the relative hardness and wear difference between chrome and nitriding?

Nitride is slightly harder and is a surface treatment, not coating. But for practical purposes, you can equate the hardness. About 60-65 for HC and about 65-70 for Nitride.

As for wear, both are better than raw steel and can be excellent based on surface prep. The issue with hard chrome (inside a barrel only) is at the gas port where the interface between the HC and the base steel is exposed. This ends up with a teardrop shaped erosion pattern that can start to cause degradation in as little as 6 or 7K, but usually not until about 15K and usually tolerable until about 30K as compared to a steel barrel that will go 10K. Some of that is gas cutting, some thermal delamination of the plating. Melonite does not have that issue and since the actual gas port is also melonited, the durability of the gas port is greatly enhanced. While I do not have a "normal life" number, testing so far is clear that a Melonited barrel will outlast a hard chromed barrel under abusive conditions by about 60%. In normal use conditions, that number might go up or down a little.

Microscopic examination of well used barrels shows significant cracking in the hard chrome for almost the entire length of 16" barrels and no such cracking of Melonited barrels.

[stenz]

So I bought this today. Should be a pretty decent set up I think. I went with a melonite barrel. Through the articles I read it seemed like a great choice and people have high praises for them.

http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-16-5-56-nato-1-7-mid-melonite-13-keymod-freedom-upper-w-bcg-ch.html

[Circuits]

Cool, looking forward to first AAR

[Great-Kazoo]

So I bought this today. Should be a pretty decent set up I think. I went with a melonite barrel. Through the articles I read it seemed like a great choice and people have high praises for them.

http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-16-5-56-nato-1-7-mid-melonite-13-keymod-freedom-upper-w-bcg-ch.html

I grabbed a few of the complete kits, less lower receiver, when they had one of their "sales". Those are sitting till the post election PANIC.

The faxon nitride bbl i have a a dream to shoot, very accurate and easy to clean.

[spqrzilla]

stenz, I've been shooting the twin of that upper for a couple of months now and have been happy with it. Mine seems to toss 55 grain FMJ bullets around a bit but that wasn't unexpected. I'm still working on a load for 68 grain bullets but they already show tighter groups.

[stenz]

Good to hear. I'm not looking for stainless accuracy obviously. I just wanted something that was well built, looks evil, and was priced right.

Did you get the BCG with yours? If so, how is it holding up?