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Posted: 1/11/2004 9:46:29 AM EDT
| Does having a Pro (ADCO) cut a chrome lined barrel degrade accuracy, is it a bad idea? |
| I cut my barrel with hacksaw then used a facing tool from Brownells to cut the crown. Accuracy isn't as good as if I'd had a smith do the crowning work but it works well and there has been zero flaking or peeling of the chrome. We're talking about barrels with a very thin layer of hard chrome, not a truck bumper with thick decorative chrome. |
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Quoted: If the barrel was not chrome plated you could cut and crown it with no issues but, I would not do it to your barrel because the chrome plating will start coming off were it was cut. better to just get another barrel if the lenth doesnt suit you. FREE Sorry this could not be more untrue. I am sure you have not had chrome "come off" your barrel because its not a physical possibility with a hard chromed bore and its been done thousands of times with no issues. You can cut and crown a chrome lined barrel. It will have no effect on the "integrity" of the hard chrome. You can bend a hard chromed bar and it wont flake either. You do not have decoratve chrome in your bore. Hard chrome is a toally different beast. |
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If there were a problem with cutting the barrels, I wouldn’t do it. I had the same concerns when I first considered it. I was told the same things, there was always someone who knew someone whose friend’s cousins Uncle in Niagara Falls cut his barrel and had the chrome lining flake off their barrel, but I was never able to find an ACTUAL case of chrome lining flaking off a cut barrel. I was shown an older 24” Bushmaster barrel that the chrome lining flaked off about 5” into the barrel. That barrel wasn’t cut, it just wasn’t lined properly. After asking people in the industry who actually know this stuff, I was assured its no problem if done right. I don’t cut the barrels myself; I pay a local tool and die maker (and high power rifle shooter) with over 30yrs. experience to do the work. There are no corners cut, or steps skipped in his work. A quality barrel, with a quality chrome lining will be fine. If the chrome is going to flake off, it is going to flake off if the barrel is cut or not. I have read posts by other vendors saying they wont cut chrome lined barrels because it ruins them. Ok, ask them how much to cut a non-chrome lined barrel – I don’t believe they offer the service at all!? In industry, material is hard chromed and then finish machined all the time. For example, a local shop hard chromes shock tubes for a major auto supplier. After the tubes are chrome lined, they are cut to length. I have a cut down, chrome-lined barrel on my toy, and have no problems. I know of several local shortened barrels that were cut and have thousands of rounds through with no problem. I know of 2 shortened uppers in use by LEO’s on full auto lowers, and both said they work just fine. I have never seen a barrel (from me or anywhere else) with the lining chipped off, and probably couldn’t tell if I did? Would you be able to tell with the naked eye? Is the lining thick enough to actually have an effect on accuracy, and if so at what distance? There is always the “could” and “it might”, but I haven’t seen it. Of at least 50+ chrome lined barrels that were sold after being cut, I haven’t had one complaint. I can’t guarantee I’ll never receive a bad barrel that wasn’t lined properly, but I can guarantee I’ll take care of things if there is a problem – within reason (don’t send me a barrel with a TE of 9 and say its losing accuracy because of flaking chrome ;-) ). For all the “ruined” barrels If someone has witnesses multiple barrels "gone bad", I'd love to see the pictures and learn the details behind the damage. Who cut the barrels? Was the work done in a competent machine shop, or did bubba use a hack saw, and re-crown with a drill bit? If that were the case, I'm sure there may be chrome flakes everywhere. (A couple months ago Shotgun News had an article on that very process - shortening a rifle barrel with a hack saw and drill bit!!) What manufacture of barrel? Also, was this 5 barrels 20 years ago? This is an industrial hard chroming process has come a long way since then. I believe a well-established Industry Partner here (KKF) cut down a chrome lined Colt barrel for a friend before I offered this service. Excellent work, and there have been no problems to date. I know of 2 local FAL owners who had a shop in AZ ($) shorten their chrome lined barrels with no ill effect. steve |
| I believe FREEFALL has been listening to someone up in New Hampshire? I've also been told (by a cetain Colt vendor) that turning down an existing barrel would also degrade its integrity, but I believe Kurt has been doing this for a long time with no ill effects. Some vendors will say whatever they have to say to justify why they don't offer a service instead of just saying they don't do it. Always get a second and third opinion on it before you decide what to do. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I believe FREEFALL has been listening to someone up in New Hampshire? Certainly not me [:)]. Since you're up there, maybe you'd like to take him some well used, cut chrome lined barrels to show him just how well they hold up? Not that it would convince him to do otherwise. I'm sure he's lost some customers around here just because he won't offer an in-house service like ADCO does. |
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