I tried to go back and edit my old posts about this in order to update them but I can't find them, so I thought I'd start a new thread that would pop up when people are searching about melonite, salt bath nitride, ferritic nitrocarburizing, black nitride or nitriding rifle barrels.
The long and short is that I sent 4 barrels to H&M: A cut rifled stainless 5R Bartlein 284, a CBI button rifled stainless 7mm-08 prefit for a savage, a CBI button rifled stainless 308 for a savage and a 4130 308 Savage takeoff.
The 284 had 48 rounds fired prior to melonite. The 708 had ~100, the CBI 308 ~200 and the savage takeoff was unknown, though I was told it was about 200.
The 284 never printed a good group prior to, or after melonite. It was later sent back to bartlein and replaced (thank you Bartlein).
The 7-08 shot pretty nice prior to melonite.
The CBI 308 shot fabulously prior to melonite.
I never shot the Savage takeoff prior to melonite (still haven't shot it yet).
After melonite, the 708 and CBI 308 shot like ass. I worked up new loads, and tried a lot of different things and was *certain* the barrels were fucked.
I WAS MISTAKEN
Some VERY aggressive polishing/lapping of the 708 barrel got it shooting beautifully - better than it had ever shot to begin with, although it shows pressure earlier than it did before and lost a little velocity. It had been at ~2800fps with the 162amax with 46.5gr H4350, and now it is ~2750 with 45.5gr H4350. These are/were max loads.
Once the 708 "came back to life", I REALLY got after the CBI 308 barrel, lapping/polishing/cleaning the hell out of it. I just couldn't get it to shoot well. The barrel had shot the 175smk and 178hpbt (hornady) extremely well, but for whatever reason, won't shoot them well after the melonite. However, it shoots the 155 Scenar into bugholes now. Because it *had* shot the 178 so well prior, I had bought 1000 of them and tried everything to get them to work. I did full load workups with Varget, H4895, Reloder 15, PP2000 and maybe another powder or two, but I just couldn't get a sub-moa group out of them. Something about the melonite made the barrel not like this bullet anymore. It shoots the 175smk ok, but not as well as it did before.
Bottom line is that I had given 'hide members the distinct impression that Melonite/H&M had ruined at least one barrel, and that was wrong. The barrel's characteristics changed, but it has at least as much accuracy potential as it ever did.
ETA: The importance of RIGOROUS (and I mean **rigorous**) cleaning/polishing of your barrel once you get it back from Melonite (at least from H&M) can't be understated. You're not going to hurt it...so get AFTER IT with heavy doses of JB. If you're not cringing from what you're doing to the barrel, you're not doing it hard enough.
The long and short is that I sent 4 barrels to H&M: A cut rifled stainless 5R Bartlein 284, a CBI button rifled stainless 7mm-08 prefit for a savage, a CBI button rifled stainless 308 for a savage and a 4130 308 Savage takeoff.
The 284 had 48 rounds fired prior to melonite. The 708 had ~100, the CBI 308 ~200 and the savage takeoff was unknown, though I was told it was about 200.
The 284 never printed a good group prior to, or after melonite. It was later sent back to bartlein and replaced (thank you Bartlein).
The 7-08 shot pretty nice prior to melonite.
The CBI 308 shot fabulously prior to melonite.
I never shot the Savage takeoff prior to melonite (still haven't shot it yet).
After melonite, the 708 and CBI 308 shot like ass. I worked up new loads, and tried a lot of different things and was *certain* the barrels were fucked.
I WAS MISTAKEN
Some VERY aggressive polishing/lapping of the 708 barrel got it shooting beautifully - better than it had ever shot to begin with, although it shows pressure earlier than it did before and lost a little velocity. It had been at ~2800fps with the 162amax with 46.5gr H4350, and now it is ~2750 with 45.5gr H4350. These are/were max loads.
Once the 708 "came back to life", I REALLY got after the CBI 308 barrel, lapping/polishing/cleaning the hell out of it. I just couldn't get it to shoot well. The barrel had shot the 175smk and 178hpbt (hornady) extremely well, but for whatever reason, won't shoot them well after the melonite. However, it shoots the 155 Scenar into bugholes now. Because it *had* shot the 178 so well prior, I had bought 1000 of them and tried everything to get them to work. I did full load workups with Varget, H4895, Reloder 15, PP2000 and maybe another powder or two, but I just couldn't get a sub-moa group out of them. Something about the melonite made the barrel not like this bullet anymore. It shoots the 175smk ok, but not as well as it did before.
Bottom line is that I had given 'hide members the distinct impression that Melonite/H&M had ruined at least one barrel, and that was wrong. The barrel's characteristics changed, but it has at least as much accuracy potential as it ever did.
ETA: The importance of RIGOROUS (and I mean **rigorous**) cleaning/polishing of your barrel once you get it back from Melonite (at least from H&M) can't be understated. You're not going to hurt it...so get AFTER IT with heavy doses of JB. If you're not cringing from what you're doing to the barrel, you're not doing it hard enough.
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