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Posted: 3/20/2006 1:27:15 AM EDT
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Dumb question, I know.... I was looking at a RRA that is supposed to have a chrome lined barrel. It didn't really look shiny to me. How can you tell if it chrome lined or chrome molly? |
Usually if they chrome line the bore they'll do the chamber as well. Shine a light into the chamber. Is it a polished mirror-like surface like the bling bling chrome on car wheels/bumpers? I noticed an easy way to do this is get a white/bright object like a Q-Tip white paper stick and stick it into the bore or chamber while shining a light. The light reflects off the white Q-Tip showing the surface more clearly. All of my used chrome bores have mirror-liked polished surfaces when viewed in this manner. My new chrome bores (unfired) are a slightly rougher texture, like unpolished stainless steel, but still shiny and light gray / stainless steel-like. If you simply shine a light through the bore and attempt to look at it, it will appear shiny. If you do this on the Glock barrel (not chrome lined), the Q-tip method shows how its brownish-black (parkerizing is wearing away), but with just a light, it looks shiny as-if it were polished. |
Chrome-moly barrels can have shiny bores too. dull silver color at the crown and the chamber is a sure sign. No Chrome-moly barrel will have this dull silver at the muzzle/crown and bore. Like this:  Photo by BravoCompanyUSA.com |
Not always at the crown! My Bushmaster had excess parkerizing at the crown (makes it blackish/dark) but the bore was clearly chrome lined. Also, not always at the chamber entrance - again, excess parkerizing can cover it up, but the chamber is large enough to show whether or not it is chromelined. |
A quality job like a Colt LE or military rifle will always show this at the crown. My Colts all do. My FNMI M16 barrels all do. Even My Lithgow L1A1 barrel has it. Bushmaster is not a good example if they parkerize over the chrome lining. Certainly not milspec. Not trying to piss anybody off, and not saying it affects accuracy or anything else, but if it's done right you should have a ring of dull silver showing well up into the crown of the muzzle. Hell, even the Romanian semi-auto AKM clones show this. |
None of my bushmasters show the chrome ring around the muzzle. Neither does my Vepr barrel. The only barrel that I've seen personally with a chrome ring around the muzzle was the FN PS90. The parkerizing was very thin though compared to the Bushmaster. The Q-Tip method confirms that the bores are chrome lined (dull finish = new, polished to a mirror like luster and clarity = used). Does the TDP require the chrome ring to be visible at the muzzle and chamber? I'm not too concerned about the appearance of my Bushmaster barrels, but I never knew that all chrome lined barrels are supposed to show the chrome ring around the muzzle. |
No worries. If it works you for that's great. I have never seen that in any military barrels, and I prefer the parkerizing not to encroach upon my chrome lining. Just personal preference. |
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