importance of chrome lining?

C

checkmyswag

New member
I don't plan on shooting 10,000 rounds.
Im not a match/benchrest shooter.
I don't plan on using corrosive ammo.

Was pretty set on getting a Ruger mini until I noticed they don't have chromed barrels.
 
Sounds like you just want a fun casual plinker.

The mini's were good when they were a lot less money for your intended use.

Honestly I would just get an AR over the mini no matter what. More accurate, more parts, more mag options ect ect.

The Mini's were viable when they were cheap, now you can get an AR for the same money as a new Mini.

I prefer chrome lined but I shoot a lot. Sounds like you just want to have fun and plink.. which wont require a chromed bore. Really though most ARs are coming with them anyways.

Check out Stag arms, best bang for the buck IMHO. I had one I tried to kill.. and it kept ticking. It is chrome lined and mostly Mil-Spec. Their parent company CMT makes a alot of AR parts for a lot of other builders.. including high dollar Noveske.

They are affordable, comes with all standard bells and whistles, and a full life time warranty.
 
I don't plan on shooting 10,000 rounds.
Im not a match/benchrest shooter.
I don't plan on using corrosive ammo.
Click to expand...

I would guess your not going full auto either. Your Ruger Mini 14 will be just fine.
 
I asked pretty much the same question a few days ago, here's the link to my thread.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=469810

paraphrasing it, basically if the most you'll be shooting is a couple hundred rounds every outting with only a few outtings a year, chrome really isnt important. if you are a serious shooter like HKFAN then crome or melonite would be a good thing to opt for, it doesn't kill accuracy as much as some would claim so it is still a decent plinker. I would personally go with an AR over a mini just because of what you get for the price but I'll never begrudge any man his ruger.
 
You would be fine without it. Also, alot of other finishes are available nowadays that work well too.
 
This has been the latest thing to stop me from deciding which rifle to get. Swear im not looking for reasons to be difficult.

Also looking at a DPMS 308 but unsure whether it has a chrome barrel or not.

Pistol selections are much easier for me to make.
 
Also looking at a DPMS 308 but unsure whether it has a chrome barrel or not.
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all DPMS "should" be chromed. I know my sportical(5.56) is chromed and that is their absolute bottom shelf model. it should say right on their website if its cromed or not.
 
Chrome lining: a double edged sward. With it, easier cleaning but less accuracy. Without it, more cleaning but more accuracy. As a person with experience with this subject, I would recommend chrome lining for what you are looking for.
 
While I do believe that chrome lining was important in years past, I do believe its day has come and gone. I think in the very near future we will see various coatings that provide the same or similar positive outcomes, with less cost. I will not go in to what I feel may be best as there are others here more knowledgeable then myself. Keep in mind chrome lining came in to vogue in the 50's and 60's. We have new coatings that should be able to equal that with less cost today.
 
DPMS Sportical barrels are NOT chrome lined

If you read and trust the description from the DPMS website it clearly states that...

"Barrel:
16" Length
4140 Chrome Moly Steel"

Chrome Moly is NOT a chrome lining.

Chrome Moly means it is made from Carbon Steel with Chromium and Molybdenum added in VERY SMALL amounts to the steel.

The "4140" indicated the amount of Chromium and Molybdenum.
Alloy composition (by weight) of 4140 steel
Chromium = 0.80–1.10%
Molybdenum = 0.15–0.25%

"41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often referred to as chromoly steel or CRMO. They have an excellent strength to weight ratio, are easily welded and are considerably stronger and harder than standard 1020 steel.
While these grades of steel do contain chromium, it is not in great enough quantities to provide corrosion resistance..."

T.
 
I have a Yugo M70 ab2 underfolder. It's built like a tank, but I have no earthly idea why they didn't put a chrome lined barrel on it. I keep hearing the horror stories of, "it will rust", "don't shoot steel case ammo through it", and "the barrel will wear out too fast". Hell, I don't know what to do with it. I have an SKS that shoots really well with a chrome lined barrel, but I love how this Yugo is built. I just wished they would have chrome lined the barrel.:mad:
 
Mini 14 are Hammered Forged Barrels and last a real long time.


Hammer Forging

Again, it was the demands of war that was responsible for the development of this process - only it was done by the other side. Hammer forging was developed in Germany in 1939. Here a drilled barrel, rather than being reamed, is honed to give it a very fine interior finish. Then it is placed on a tungsten carbide mandrel that has the entire rifling pattern ground in relief into its surface. The barrel/mandrel combo is then placed between two opposing power hammers and rotated. The hammers literally beat the barrel into the mandrel’s pattern. I’m told a barrel will actually grow around a third of its length during this process. It usually takes around three minutes for the rifling process to be completed. As you would think, this method produces tremendous stresses in the barrel that have to be relieved through heat treating.

The advantages of hammer forging is the fact that the interior finish is very good, and the bore surface becomes work hardened in the beating process. The result is a very durable, long lasting barrel. Modern hammer forging has progressed to the point that even the chamber can be included in the mandrel pattern. These machines are very large, complex, and expensive however. So the small custom barrel shops are pretty much eliminated from using them.

Additionally, some say that the induced stresses are so severe in this process that they never can be entirely eliminated. As a result, the bench rest crowd won’t touch a hammer forged barrel. However, I can’t help but wonder how valid this belief actually is, and whether anyone has actually tried it. Remington barrels, which always had a reputation for accuracy, used to be hammer forged, including those used in the XP-100. I know I always had excellent results with original XP barrels. Indeed, in Europe, hammer forging is the standard. Sako, Tika, H&K, Steyer, and Sauer all use hammer forged barrels. I’d hardly call their products junk.


http://www.lasc.us/RangingShotBarrelMakingFeature.htm
 
"all DPMS "should" be chromed. I know my sportical(5.56) is chromed and that is their absolute bottom shelf model. it should say right on their website if its cromed or not."

The vast majority of DPMS rifles are NOT chrome lined unless they have changed this very recently.
 
Chrome v. non-chrome barrel on a Ruger Mini (semi-auto) is a non-issue. The Ruger barrels are very tough. Tough enough that they used them in their full-auto AC556 - and it still takes a heck of a lot to shoot out that barrel. However, I do wish I could find a chrome lined barrel for the AC556 - I can tell you, no such barrel exists, and I've been looking for years. FWIW, I fire Wolf steel cased ammo full-auto through my AC556 and the Barrel is just fine. The blued barrel is also not prone to rusting.
 
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Love it in my shotguns, makes cleaning a dream. Don't notice a heck of a lot of difference in a rifle, if it has it great, if not great. I don't competitively target shoot.
 
checkmyswag
importance of chrome lining?
I don't plan on shooting 10,000 rounds.
Im not a match/benchrest shooter.
I don't plan on using corrosive ammo.

Was pretty set on getting a Ruger mini until I noticed they don't have chromed barrels.
Click to expand...

Go the AR route. Lots more options and available parts. Seriously, one can put together a plinker Franken-AR for less than $600 new.
 
It ALL depends on your intentions. My shooting habbits... Chrome lining helps a lot.. but I reload.. I have 3 people who reload for me that I pay, I get bulk ammo and components at cost from work.... I am at the range about 3 times a week.... a lot of times I'm there with my co-workers.. two of which are former Green Berets... so we shoot high high volumes of AR ammo.

I rarely clean my AR... I take the bolt carrier out about every 1500 rounds and spray some gun scrubber on it.. wait a few minutes.. then spray some EEZOX on it. About every 4000-5000 rounds I break the whole thing down, and leave it over night in the parts washer in our gunsmiths shop, then take it out, let it dry, and re-coat with EEZOX.

I abuse my AR's, so I buy chrome lined and mil-spec.

MOST shooters don't abuse them like I do... and will not need chrome lining. However.. it generally comes in a lot of guns anymore.. and the cost difference in chrome lined vs non chromed is moot. So I say go for it.

Also accuracy loss is greatly over-stated as well in regards to chrome lined. I have shot sub-moa groups with my 14.5 inch BCM upper using cheap American Eagle bulk ammo, and an EO-tech. Unless your shooting long range or shooting strictly hand loads and playing with group size... you won't notice the difference in accuracy.
 
If all you are worried about is rust and ease of maintenance, then really a good stainless steel barrel beats a chrome lined barrel. The chrome lining really comes into play with regard to throat erosion in full auto fire.
 
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