Does a nitrided barrel equal a chrome lined barrel, as far as durability and longevity?  I have found its near impossible to find a chrome lined 1X7 7.5" barrel, but nitrided are pretty common.  Are they as good, and resist corrosion?

I hear a lot of good things about nitrided barrels from the manufactures. And scientifically is said to be superior to chrome and a lot cheaper to produce. So I am wondering the same thing are they really better than chrome lined barrels?  Are they really as accurate as a non chrome lined barrel ? Just because nitrided may be harder than chrome it may not apply to being better depending on how its used?

What is the better ones out there on the market and why are they better?

From everything I've read or heard comparing the two, the only real advantage CL may have is in extended rapid/full auto fire as it is more resistant to heat.

Properly done qpq is better against corrosion overall as the entire barrel is treated. Some claim it is generally more accurate too.

tifwiw

I have and like both

Has anyone here actually worn out a nitride barrel?  Has anyone honestly done any damage to a chrome lined barrel?  I'd like to see it, or at least see photos.  

I seriously think that the chrome lined requirement is going away.  

In terms of actual use, there are very few owners that actually put enough rounds down the pipe see any difference.  I'm included.  If I only had one, and I had to shoot it and abuse it consistently, maybe I'd see a difference, but I really don't.  

Buy with confidence.  Your own experience needs to steer you.  If you can honestly wear out any barrel, take note.  Additionally, I want to see you "worn put barrel" notes.  Particularly in 5.56.  And I'd like to know your cleaning practices.  I've met enough people that claim they can wear out a barrel in 1 year or 5 years or whatever, but when I see him run a cleaning rod, it gets curled around into a half-moon.  The muzzle is the most critical element of this equation, and he'll  grind it off entirely.  There's no glory in wrecking your shit.  

So, after all this rambling, what I'm hinting at is, show my your juice... Show me something.  If you have any barrels, show me wear.  
Get nitride.  Get unlined.  Show me something that will make you concerned.  I shoot more than most will.  I probably shoot more in year than most actual users do in a lifetime.  Show me a concern.  

I know, many arfcommers will hate this post.  Show me that what I've said isn't true.  Try it.  I want to see someone post how they've worn out a barrel in 10,000 rounds with verified appropriate cleaning practices and verified ammo selection.  Show me.  

In the meantime, buy the barrel you like.  If you see something that you like, and you believe in it, do it.

This ^^^^

Basically the requirement for chrome lined dates back before the 1940's to keep combat barrels in harsh wet environments from literally rusting overnight. The extra benefit was added heat resistance to the amount of flame from continuous full auto fire. Blow enough ammo thru any barrel and it will erode the throat which is what causes inaccuracy - the bullet jumps the neck of the cartridge and needs to be guided carefully to stay coaxial. An eroded throat lets the bullet tip - sometimes quite randomly - and it starts down the barrel with the nose circling the bore like water down the drain. There's no way to predict how far off the point of aim it may emerge from the muzzle  - and then follow that course down range.

Nitride is a surface hardening of the actual barrel alloy and it resists flame pretty well, chrome is a layer on top of the barrel alloy which requires the bore be rifled slightly oversize and the plating to bring back the final dimension. That's about it. Slow fire 50,000 rounds and that barrel may look pretty good either way. Rapid fire 1,000 rounds full auto and you will likely blow the barrel off the front of the upper. It's about the heat, not the number of bullets. This is why full auto guns are designed with barrels that either are cooled or have short duty cycles - the classic "fire a burst of eight" count an MG gunner recites early on in his/her training.

Now we get to real world application - there's a rental range in Las Vegas which allows you to fire two or more full mags full auto. These guns see over 200,000 rounds a year. They don't change out barrels often. And, they are using them close range so the MOA isn't very important. It's a lot of noise and some smoke for the privilege of triggering a deadly evil full auto weapon. Or, it's another day of training for the average soldier, and getting paid to do it.

You and me? The barrel I bought for my AR pistol isn't even chromed IIRC. I just swab it periodically, especially when wet. It might pit but the reality is I won't be using it past 100m and it's a 2MOA gun aimed at 18 MOA targets. It hasn't seen 200 rounds thru it in two years. No big deal. If it goes wonky I buy another. My 6.8? Nitride and it cost quite a bit more - but it's a 2MOA gun aimed at 18MOA targets, but maybe out to 200m. And it hasn't seen 200 rounds thru it ever.

Get what you want for your money.

It's 2017 and Nitride is the future

I'm pleased with Faxon, Ballistic Advantage, and Voodoo Barrels.

Yep, FA consistently or exclusively is where chrome lined may have a benefit over  Nitride/Melonite but that's it. No actual real tests demonstrating FA between the two. Meloniting has been around and has been proven to offer many advantages even over a CL/phosphate bbl, I have plenty of both. A well done and cut barrel that is QPQ treated is the best between the two IMO, especially if 4150(4140 is fine). But I do love CL bbls as well. Got two YHM-47-TF QPQ that shoot moa or better and will last a lifetime and cleaning is nothing special. Not shooting FA? Then no reason to not go with QPQ/Nitride over CL. /Thread.

There were a lot of posts on this general topic on the old Sniper's Hide.

Some of the best match grade barrel makers in the US chimed in and generally, this was the view-

Yes and no.

Nitride doesnt' change the melting point of steel.  The flame from the burning powder plus the pressure causes the fire checking/crackled appearance of the throat.  This isn't going to be changed via Nitride.  It is a funciton of temp/pressure/friction.  

Nitride can help with preventing cleaning rod damage and similar. It also adds corrosion resistance.  Down side, it can prevent barrel break in and if you have any roughness or tool marks in the barrel, they will not smooth out.  

All in all, the guys that tried it had mixed results from a precision rifle standpoint.  It usually wasn't worse...but it also wasn't much better.  

Compared to chrome...it was a toss up.

As a hobby, I measure throat wear in my various .223 and 30 caliber bbls.  I have much more 300 Blackout data than .223 data, so the data reported below is for the Blackout.  Hopefully I'll soon have enough .223 data to report some numbers, but .223 bbls seem to be wearing slower than the Blackout bbls...I would have thought that burning more powder in a smaller bore would have caused more rapid wear, but I'm not seeing it so far.  My firing regimen is 5 shots and let the bbl cool to ambient temp (my M16 5.56 bbls fired full auto are the exception).  My cleaning regimen is pass a solvent soaked patch through the bore and let it sit, using around 3 patches the first day and 1 a day thereafter until no more copper color on the patch.  I do not use cleaning brushes.  I clean every few hundred rounds.

From wearing the fastest to slowest:

Plain 4140 steel 11,820
Plain CHF 4140 steel
416R stainless steel 12,540
Nitrided 4140 steel 13,697
Nitrided CMV steel 14,420
Chrome lined 4140 steel 16,740
Chrome lined ("double" chrome lined per PSA) CHF CMV steel 22,667

"Plain" means not nitrided, nitrited, WASP, QRP or whatever you want to call the treatment.  CMV is what some companies call 41V50 or very close to it.  Doing the calculation of throat wear so far, divided into 1" and multiplied by jacketed rounds fired = bbl life until throat has advanced 1".  1" in throat wear = the bbl is at the end of it's life per US Military standards for small arms bbls.  Having worn out 3 30-06 bbls, indeed when the throat was at that point, firing a further 250-500 rounds would have the 100yd groups go from inches to feet.  The calculation ASSUMES the throat will advance at the same rate as it's advanced so far.  I suspect the bbl life could be longer, as the wear rate seems to slow down after the bbl has fired several hundred rounds.

My one PSA FN CHF CMV "double" chrome lined bbl is showing such a long life, that I just got a 2nd one from PSA about 2 weeks ago to see if it follows the same trend.

Next to some of the above are calculated bbl life in jacketed rounds.  I have not worn out a bbl yet nor experienced any decline in accuracy.  I'm measuring bbl life in throat erosion, not reduction in muzzle velocity.