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5/31/2004 8:31:02 AM EDT
My manual says the chrome-plated M16 bolt is acceptable for training but not for deployment. Were they removed from service due to excessive wear to the receiver interior? (Doesn't make too much sense to me as the bolt is steel anyway).

Being too shiny?  (One sees a lot of shiny rifles in the military, you just spray them over).

Being too expensive and no longer standard?

Galling?

What was the real reason that the chrome-plated bolt carriers are no longer used?

I am building up a retro-rifle and tempted to use one.
5/31/2004 9:09:41 AM EDT
[#1]
No FA cuts.
5/31/2004 2:28:57 PM EDT
[#2]

Quoted:
No FA cuts.

5/31/2004 2:44:27 PM EDT
[#3]
no forward assist I think is the only thing that's off.
5/31/2004 2:45:19 PM EDT
[#4]

Quoted:
No FA cuts.



No Forward Assist cuts.  All but a very few of the chromed carriers were built for, and installed on, the first Air Force contract M16s.  If you mount them in an M16A1 or later version, the forward assist doesn't work.

5/31/2004 2:48:59 PM EDT
[#5]
Are you talking about the bolt or the bolt carrier ! I am pretty sure they stopped using the chrome carrier because of the shine.
5/31/2004 5:06:25 PM EDT
[#6]
A lot of chromed parts are out of spec.  When you plate something it increases in size and the plating is not always the same thickness throughout.   Chromed parts are also harder than the anodized coating of your upper.  Guess which will wear first.

Delkal
5/31/2004 5:58:26 PM EDT
[#7]
Chrome is not sliced bread!

5/31/2004 6:17:40 PM EDT
[#8]

Quoted:
A lot of chromed parts are out of spec.  When you plate something it increases in size and the plating is not always the same thickness throughout.   Chromed parts are also harder than the anodized coating of your upper.  Guess which will wear first.

Delkal



I've got two chromed carriers. The first is an original Colt M16 Air Force job, which lives inside the early M16 lookaloike piece.  I aasume that Colt knew what they were doing when they built it

The second is a DPMS piece that I did a swap for for no particular reason.  It too works just fine, though I don't use it very often.

This "chrome plating alters the specs" story is just another internet myth. The blessed plating is only one to two THOUSANTHS of an inch thick,  for pity sake

Yes, there are plated bolts and carriers that don't fit. There are also unplated carriers and bolts that don't fit.  That's because there are suppliers out there who selling trash parts---and that's why ALL my bolts and carriers, except for the DPMS piece mentioned above, are Colt made.
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