Chrome line barrel had been use for AK47/AKM for decades now.  They are battle proved.  But recently Century announced a few new AKM rifles that will use nitride barrel instead of chrome line barrel.  

My limited research imply that nitride barrel are “better” then chrome line.

According to Atlantic Firearms:

“Nitride Treated Barrels provide a very hard surface with excellent corrosion resistance. Nitriding has advantages in that it is a treatment of the steel itself instead of a secondary material which is added to the surface like chrome, this method offers superior corrosion resistance and accuracy then Chrome Lined Barrels

Nitride Heat Treating . During the process both nitrogen and carbon are liberated at the surface of the ferrous component. These nitrogen and carbon atoms form a compound layer at the surface and a deep diffusion zone beneath the surface. The compound layer provides lubricating properties to the surface and are extremely useful in areas where use of conventional lubricants are ineffective. Nitride Heat Treating Eliminates the need for chrome lining on Rifle Barrels. The barrier formed by this process is far better than any chrome lining process. The resulting barrier on the lining of the barrel at end result is .001 in thickness. Improves accuracy and eases the cleaning process.”

http://www.atlanticfirearms.com/component/virtuemart/shipping-accessories/nitride-ak47-7-62x39mm-barrel-detail.html?Itemid=0


I found this that said a nitride barrel last 11,000rd.  But that was AR15 .223/5.56.

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3795644.0

Do anyone here have any real experiences with AK equipped with nitride barrel? If so what is your opinions of it?  Thank

To me it's like someone who thinks that using screws on an AK build is just fine. What's for you is for you but not for me. I just look at proven facts.

I have a question if anyone can answer it. How does Nitride deal with corrosive ammo?

I have a 5.45 AR I built that I shoot 7N6 exclusively through, the barrel and other components are nitrided and I'm not always the best about cleaning it right away either. No issues.

In James Yeager's video with the guy from Century where they talks about the RAS47 and C39v2 the rep says nitriding allows for an even coating throughout the barrel and is a lot easier to do than the chrome lining.

This is true but a few things to consider....    FN CLs thier precision rifles and they still have a MOA gurantee (most are .5 MOA) so, if done right, it's unlikely to be a difference any of us will practically see.

What's the cheaper process, chrome lining or nitride? I wonder just how durable the nitride is and how long a barrel will last.

No one's been nitriding AK barrels in bulk, so the data just isn't there. But nitriding has been used on countless other firearms for decades and has proven to go the distance. I've never come across anyone, in person or via the interwebs, who has shot-out a nitrided barrel; that is not the case with chrome-lined. Nitriding a barrel makes it more corrosion resistant than stainless and more accurate that chrome-lined. I believe (but don't know) that nitriding gives you better lubricity than chrome. Nitriding is used in other contexts on critical wear parts that must stand up to significantly more heat and friction than your rifle will likely ever experience.

When given the option, I will choose nitriding over chrome lining every time (all things otherwise being equal).

Chrome is harder than nitride, so I would think chrome is better for barrel life.  Especially shooting the steel jacketed ammo.

I'd still rather have a nitride barrel than a blued one (assuming it's done correctly).

Everything I've read on the topic says nitride is harder.  It also has the benefit of being a treatment to the actual steel, rather than a thin lining that can flake off.

This.  Think Tenifer / Glock exterior finish.

No

I'm getting ferritic nitrocarburizing at Rc 58-65 and hard chrome at 65-68 just on general Google searching.  

Y'all may have different numbers, but that's what I see.

My melonited/nitrocarbinized guns tend to be less tolerant of steel case 5.56.  While my chrome lined guns never get cases stuck, my theory is the chrome lining fills any tooling marks and blemishes in the chamber while the nitrocarbinizing does not  and that extra margin of smoothness prevents case sticking.

I never understood either, for something in that range why not just use a cheap basic tool steel like d2, you would get superior wear and not have to line it at all.

Chrome lining (CL) is early XX century technology, first introduced by Russians to offset problems with using poor steel for barrels and lack of maintenance by Russian soldiers (corrosive ammo only those times). Modern nitriding is late XX / early XXI century technology, that allows improvement even over modern alloys used today. So why CL is still around? Because military wants it, because they are used to to it. When in middle '90s Polish state armoury presented Polish Army with benefits of nitriding over CL, brass answered that "sure, nitride barrels and then chrome line them". When German Army wanted new DMR rifle, they were not satisfied with accuracy of HK417 with CL barrel. They took civilian HK MR308 rifle with non-lined barrel and were were pleased. So they ordered G28 to be based on MR308 rather than HK417, but with added requirement to... chrome line the barrel (HK put there steel upper to get back some accuracy lost on chrome lining).

It is kind like people can't come to realize that you do not need 100 years old technology of high chromium alloy called "stainless steel" to have corrosion resistant barrels.

Chrome is harder, but the treated layer of nitrided steel is thicker. Generally I like nitride, although I vaguely remember reading about chrome holding up better during high volume auto fire.

I'm now pretty much exclusively nitride for my AR barrels. AK is a different story, waiting for someone besides century to do it. If I were motivated, I'd get a non-chromed AK barrel, pull if off the gun, and have it treated.

Nitride is harder and longer lasting than chrome

That's always been my understanding. I know a lot of precision shooters swear by nitriding. I can't imagine it being any different on an AK.

I know it is recommended, on precision rifles, to break the barrel in before sending it off to be melonited. From what I understand, melonited steel is very slick by itself, but any imperfections in the barrel/chamber are now imperfections for good.

Hopefully barrel manufacturers have learned by now to give the barrels a good polishing job before sending them off for treatment.



On a separate note, something I like about melonite is that the whole barrel is done, so you get the corrosion and wear protection on the outside as well. Not a huge deal, but it's nice to have. It sucks that companies like Adco won't work on melonited barrels, like cutting or fluting though.



 

For normal use, I agree that it lasts longer. Haven't seen enough data with really hard use to confirm nitride is better for mag dumps and such.

As for being harder, it really depends on what process is used, and the properties of the steel. Things like surface hardness and diffusion depth can vary, whereas chrome is basically just chrome.