CZ leaves barrel stock to rust?

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dakota.potts

New member
I work at a retail store and we have a voluntary online training program where we can learn about the brands we sell in exchange for discounts on those brands. Since I'm a big CZ fan, I decided to load up their online lessons.

In there, I found an interesting little tidbit. They say that they make their machining stock with in house metallurgists at their forge. The barrel stock they then leave outside (for 30 days IIRC) to expose it to the elements and develop surface rust. Apparently this releases tension in the metal and creates a stronger barrel in the end? Does anybody know about this process? I've never heard of anything like that.
 
I can't access the training program from my phone. You have to have a verified login to see it, but it's from CZ and I'll copy what I can from it at home
 
Yep

Cast iron, does "cure", for lack of a better word.

Steel is a different critter.

That said, forgeing dose induce stress that can be relieved when the metal is warmed up as in the tooling process. I wouldn't want to bet that letting steel age, and develope a skin wouldn't be a stress reliever. Rust is electrolysis and freeing those electrons might have some effect.
 
I don't know about the stress relief on a barrel with this method. I do know that the best way to get paint to stick to "new steel" is to let it develop a thin coat of rust before applying paint.

My Dad worked at a Shell Oil Refinery in the 50's and 60's. When they built a new storage tank, they would forego painting the exterior until a light coat of rust developed. After this, the paint would last for years.

Dad and I both worked in a Chrysler plant in the 70's. The new steel car bodies were dipped in a cleaning solution to remove all the machining oils, then dipped in water to remove the cleaning solution and oven dried which developed a very very light amount of corrosion before the primer paint was applied. That part of the line was called the "bondurite". It was really nothing more than controlled rusting.
 
http://www.gunsandammo.com/reviews/cz-557-sporter-review/

"While touring the CZ plant in the Czech Republic, I observed pallets of steel barrel blanks intentionally exposed to the weather and rusting. I learned that this natural stress-relieving process is one of the secrets behind the long-standing reputation CZ has for making barrels that can hold accuracy for the life of the rifle. The rusting process re-forms the metal structure at a molecular level and hardens the core. CZ then turns down each barrel blank on a machine and removes the rusty surface area, leaving a stronger barrel that is then hammer forged on a rifled mandrel. CZ calls this exposure to the weather “seasoning.”"​

I haven't investigated the process to see if the claims stand up to science, but based on the performance of the CZ firearms I've been able to shoot and own, I feel pretty safe in saying that it's certainly not hurting anything.
 
Info comes straight out of a CZ factory training program, and self appointed internet "experts" claim its false! WOW
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It doesn't much matter where it came from if it's just SALES HYPE some OTHER 'self appointed expert" came up with to impress the customer.

Reality may be they are just too cheap to build enough indoor storage
 
A friend of mine is a bladesmith. And after he forges a new blade, or even reworks an old blade, he "lets the steel rest" (his words) for at least a week before doing any finishing work.

Now of course, knife steel and barrel steel is probably quite different, but this isn't the first I've heard of such a thing.
 
All I know is that CZ is one of my favorite gun makers ....... they arguably do a very fine job.

Success is very hard to argue with.

Best regards

Three 44s
 
As a metallurgist let me clarify things !! Some types of CAST IRON require aging ,typically just leaving it out on the yard for about a year ! My friend had machinery that wouldn't hold dimentions on what he was cutting .I laughed when he told me. "they took an unaged casting from the yard !" The company didn't argue , just sent him a new machine !! :rolleyes:
But that's cast iron .Steel doesn't have that problem.
Steel is steel, cast iron is cast iron - two different things !! :p
 
I'm not an expert on metal, but I doubt aging steel does anything to it.

This is likely a myth, much like the "shoot and clean" barrel break in nonsense.

Oooo...here it comes.
 
"Reality may be"??? You lost me right there. Do you have any reason other than a dislike of CZ to assume this?
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It has nothing to do with any "dislike"

I just see no LOGICAL reason how surface rust can affect the interior of a piece of steel, especially when it's done before the forging and machining.

It sounds like pure sales BS to me, until I see some scientific proof
 
I don't recall seeing any advertising where CZ boasts about leaving their barrels out to rust. I know that it is part of their process, but I don't see them playing it up. They do (rightly) push the hammer forging process. Whatever they're doing, they're doing it right.
 
As I recall Rock River has their barrels cryo treated claiming the same thing.

Someone assessed that and basically said its so marginal as to make no different.

Leaving them to relax may help and the rust is not an issue as they are gone through for finish
Spin it for what its worth maybe.

CZ makes good guns so whatever they do either does not hurt may help a bit.
 
If it does help to let the barrel blank develop a coat of rust, then wouldn't that make blued barrels more accurate than stainless barrels?

I recently finished a build with a barrel that had not been left outside for a month :eek: Now I must find a rat with hindquarters in which to give...

In all seriousness, whatever CZ is doing, they are doing it right. They make good, accurate rifles. I wouldn't think any less of a barrel that hadn't been left out a month though. As long as some proven method of stress relief has been applied it's good to go IMO
 
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