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Has anyone got any info about the Salt Bath Nitride process and its wear resistance vs other topical coatings? It sounds good on paper, but It is still so new there is not a great deal of info available about it either that I can locate.
Here is an article from Accurate Shooter: http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com...-is-impressed/
I have been following the discussion on this. Joel is supposedly the "top dog" on this
5000 rds thru his rifle, & still shooting competitive. must be some thing to it
http://benchrest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66947
Interesting discussion. I may spring for it and see how it does on my current build. My quarter bore is a barrel burner so this might be worth a try. If it cleans easier that will be a definite bonus :-)
I don't know if you can get a copy from some one of Precision Shooting magazine.
the Jan. 2010 issue has an article "Conversations with Joel Kendricks", by John W. Lewis
it's an interesting article, & Joel has some interesting info. on the " Liquid Salt Bath Ferritic Nitrocarburizing Process" as they call it.
If your not a PS subscriber, I'm not sure how you can get it.
if you do a "bing, or goggle"search on "Joel Kendrick, nitrocarburizing" it will give you a lot more info.
I had a 350 rigby (rebuild on an old brno, not an original) done in this finish recently. It looked great, and slicked up the bolt and trigger assembly quite a lot. Unfortunately I did not keep it long enough to judge it corrosion resistance.
Cost was high, ~$300, but that included having it shipped out of state.
Nate
Just got off the telephone w/Joel Kincaid and he told me that the total cost for their opening orders will be $100.00 for a barreled action. The firing pin assembly needs to be removed along with extractor, but these parts could be processed as well. They simply prefer to have everything disassembled for treatment. Oh and he told me that they do not treat the spring assemblies so do not send those in the order. I am going to give it go :)
Please give us your opinion when you get it back.
Nitriding is widely used in the firearms industry under a variety of names. Glock, Sig, and S&W all use it on a number of their pistols. It leaves a very hard very thin low friction outer layer. I have a Performance Center SW1911 that is Nitrided. It is a very good product. Very durable and not a coating so it does not change part dimensions like duracoat or ceracoat. It makes a lot of sense that it would produce a hard surface inside the barrel which should result in greater longevity. The so far unanswered question is just how much longer does it hold up. It needs to be done after the barrel has been chambered and ideally after the initial break in as it would other wise harden the small machining imperfections too. That means the Savage platform is at an advantage because for can fire a 100 rounds through the barrel for break in then remove it and have it nitrided. Removal and reattachment is significantly easier than with other platforms unless you have a switch barrel rifle. The article in Precision Shooting is well worth reading. I don't know if I'll use it for rifle barrels, but I can tell you it is a good thing for pistols as it increases durability and decreases wear. There have been a number of discussions about it on the 1911 forum.
I want to give it a try on my 25-06 barrel to see if I can extend typical barrel life. Joel told me to not shoot over about a dozen rounds down it and clean it unmercifully prior to sending it in for the treatment. I will not be sending the barrel to Joel for a month or so as the weather and time are just not available right now to do it. If it increases barrel life two fold, it will be well worth the cost. As far as the action goes, it is a blued action so the extra corrosion resistance is another plus for that aspect too. We shall see if it is all that or not soon.
Several of my F class shooting buddies did theirs. Joel shoots w/ us here at Camp Butner, NC so he has done demo's of using a file on his barrel and filing it, no scratches, etc.
None of their barrels has been done long enough to see how much addl. life they got, however, here is what I can tell you:
- Finish- Turned the stainless Broughton 5C Stainless barrels a nice Matte black
- Accuracy- No change in accuracy or velocities.
- Round count- My one buddy got 2200 accurate rounds from his 32" Broughton 5C .284 barrel b4 heat checking, bad accuracy, on his previous barrel. etc. He purchased the exact same barrel for this one, broke it in w/ about 150 rounds, took it off, got it to Joel w/ a batch of others- cost $60 and it was gone about 2 weeks tops- put it back on. Same loads shot good, etc. when he got it back. We will see how much more he gets out of it over the 2200 rounds shooting same load- H4831SC, Lapua brass, Fed primers and 180gr. Berger VLDS.
Overall, seems like a great idea/ deal, esp. w/ non barrel nut barrels due to the costs of chambering, etc. I am thinking about doing it on my 260AI. I just need to decide if I want to go thru the whole taking the scope, mount, etc. barrel off, sending it off, re-headspacing it , etc.