Howdy,
I've searched all over this forum and elsewhere, and am stumped. I am looking to build an 18 mid-length or 20 rifle length AR around a Grendel barrel.

Here's the kicker: I would really like it to be nitrided/melonited/qpq treated.

I know that there are plenty of outfits that will treat barrels for you, but I would rather not void the warranty on a barrel, and I have read that if the alloys are dissimilar between barrel extension and barrel, that the heat treatment will effect them differently and cause fitment issues. I'd like to avoid these potential problems entirely by buying a nitrided barrel straight from the source.

The only lead I found was a mention of Templar Custom, but their site is not the most informative, and I have not yet begun to shotgun email blast barrel makers with this inquiry.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction? This is really the only issue holding my Grendel build back at this point.

edit: Also, sincere apologies if this is the wrong forum, and it should be moved. I figured I'd try my luck here because the AA poster seems knowledgeable and responsive.

We are examining the abilities of salt bath carbo nitriding and the effects of this process route on the substrate barrel steels. To date the information is sparse. The effect of chrome in the alloy can be detrimental based upon the diffusion of nitrogen into the crystal matrix and grain boundry precipitation is as yet an unknown for us. There are few studies that relate to through hardening steel grades with this coating type, so the work is slow.