Gunsmithing Can you end throat erosion with this.

[Prebanpaul]

So I have a question. I am a jeweler by trade. I am not a gunsmith. But I did have an idea. I am pretty sure from what I have found out about shooting barrels out it is usually caused by throat erosion. This is usually caused by heat I believe. I have heard of people setting back the barrel many times. So I do not believe most people would be able to shoot out the rifling.


So why has no one ever done this.

Chamber the rifle with the neck .005 wider than normal. Rhodium plate the inside of the barrel for the first inch after chambering. This is the same material that people steal catalytic converters off of cars for. It is not that expensive and you could do a lot of barrels. It can be applied through electro plating. This would allow you to control where the Rhodium stops.


Again this is just an Idea, for all of you gunsmiths. What could be approved upon on this idea. Why would it not work.

 

[long range newbie]

Yes but the problem is it may seem cheep to do it but to buy a barrel with its throat coated in it is going to make it one expensive barrel. I'd like to see it done, but isn't osmium stronger? If this does truly extend the throat life we'd have people running faster rounds than ever. At first I thought you were going to say to have a throat made of it, it'd rather expensive due to machining cost since they're very hard metals and not very easily attainable in large amounts.

 

[smokebomb]

The biggest issue is that the erosion does not fully stop at 1". Immediately ahead of the case neck is the highest affected area, but the erosion is gradual for 8-10 or more inches, catridge dependent.

Your idea is definetly not misplaced, as chrome and nitride are actively used for this exact purpose, throughout the barrel in many AR15 type barrels and some bolt rifles. I believe some FN SPRs have chrome bores. One of the biggest issues, though, is getting the plating consistency precision shooters desire. When 0.0005" off of perfect makes a difference, achieving that with plating is more difficult than I can imagine. Maybe the capability is there, that I do not know.

 

[LRI]

So I have a question. I am a jeweler by trade. I am not a gunsmith. But I did have an idea. I am pretty sure from what I have found out about shooting barrels out it is usually caused by throat erosion. This is usually caused by heat I believe. I have heard of people setting back the barrel many times. So I do not believe most people would be able to shoot out the rifling.


So why has no one ever done this.

Chamber the rifle with the neck .005 wider than normal. Rhodium plate the inside of the barrel for the first inch after chambering. This is the same material that people steal catalytic converters off of cars for. It is not that expensive and you could do a lot of barrels. It can be applied through electro plating. This would allow you to control where the Rhodium stops.


Again this is just an Idea, for all of you gunsmiths. What could be approved upon on this idea. Why would it not work.

Whats commonly done on machine gun barrels is whats called a stellite liner. Stellite is a cousin to carbide. Its a touch softer and is tougher in lew of absolute hardness. Its been used on valve stem tips for years.

The issue becomes the added complexity in chambering and in inserting the liner. Its generally not the optimum choice for an accuracy minded piece.

Crack that nut, make it affordable, and deliver in a timely manner and youd really have something.

Good luck!

C.

 

[long range newbie]

how would titanium nitride hold up? I know it'll be rather expensive

 

[damoncali]

The military has done extensive testing of this sort of thing. They shot inconel barrels, chome plated, TiC coated, nitrided, tufftrided, udimet, pretty much everything you can think of. The most cost effective way to make it work was various forms of chome-like plating processes. The study I read said nitriding had little effect (or even a negative one, depending on the exact process), although some of the exotic alloys like the nickel based stuff seemed to help. Chrome plating is a big help.

If you can make an affordable match grade barrel out of Inconel or Udimet 700, it will last longer - maybe 70-100% longer, and you don't need plating. I doubt very much this is economically sensible today. You'd probably be better of buying two normal barrels. I've always wanted to see it done, though.

 

[Diablo]

Consider that the harder barrel materials would be considerably more difficult to drill/cut with the dimensional accuracy we all want.

What good is a barrel that will last forever, if it is not accurate?

Softer material is easier to drill/cut accurately, but erodes faster.

Barrels are a commodity, use 'em up, get another, and repeat.