Someone recommended chrome plating the bolt components to improve reliability in the AR - any of you guys tried hard chrome, and if so, did it work ?

I've heard of hard chroming th bolt and carrier but I've heard better reports about Robars NP3 electroless nickel plating of intrnal/external parts. It's impregnated with TEflon for a smoother more durable finish

Thanks Jet, I'd not considered that option

Chroming the bolt/carrier does NOT improve reliability. Just makes it prettier when it's clean.  Of course you have to clean it more often to keep it pretty, since it shows up fouling so much sooner than a parked unit.

The pieces of the carrier that can benefit from hard chroming are already chromed; the front sleeve where the bolt rings ride, and the inside of the gas key. Anything else is just apple sauce.

Now some people like apple sauce, but it ain't a balanced diet---and niether is chroming the entire bolt/carrier.

I replaced my ejectors and extractors with les baer hard cromed assemblies simply because I use a lot of wolf so the extractor benefits and no matter how much fowling gets on the bolt face the ejector wont gum up.I didnt want any chromed parts in contact with the barrel extension because I was afraid of wear with the hard chrome but the extractor only contacts the rear of the cartridge as well as the ejector so those are the only parts aside from whats already chromed that I think will benefit.

Good thinking 927, I may go the same way myself