Ok, so we all know about the standard barrel lining, hard chrome. But what do we know about the rest? Oly claims something called "Maxhard" is the cat's ass.

www.olyarms.com/maxhard.html All Maxhard® barrels will produce an extremely hard metal that will be smoother, causing no fouling. You will be able to wipe your bore clean with one patch through. All barrels will also dissipate heat so rapidly, you will never have to worry about heat damaging the bore, even full auto!

I'm not sure how it related to their Black-Tac product which seems to have similar properties.

Troy Industries previously claimed to use a "Nickel Boron" lining in their CQB rifle, but has since changed to a mil-spec chrome-lining. I hadn't realized this until I went to go write this, but it's worth noting anyway.

The heart of the system is our Proprietary 10" and 15" long medium weight match grade barrels with Nickel Boron lining. It features a smooth taper from beginning to end with no steps for uniform heat dispersion and unparalleled accuracy.

J&T Distributing is coming out with a new lining they're calling "Carbonite" and is supposedly better than chrome-lining.

So what do you guys think? Is chrome on the way out? Or will these new products come up short? Anybody have any first hand experience with any of this or any more info to add?

The Nickel Boron is not in good enough supply for now but Troy hopes to have this option for uppers lowers barrels bolts bolt carriers and buffer tubes by next fall/winter.

Part of the problem is the plater and part the parts to plate (the metal has to be a known RC hardness to plate and so Troy hopes to either find a manufacturer that can rigidly adhere to the specs or make their own parts to rigid specs for plating)  I guess it must be a real pain in the ass to have to RC test every part and hope to find batches that can be plated simultaneously.

The Nickel Boron is supposed to eliminate the need to lubricate the weapon at all- only maintenance neccassary is to wipe down the parts with a rag every 500-1000 rds as nothing will stick to the nickel boron (not carbon anyway).

The coating is something like 93RC hardness with incredible lubricity and superior resistance to heat.

This translates to: More abuse capable, less to almost no gas port erosion, and far greater life of upper and buffer tube. [b]They have now developed a coating that is BROWN - the closest they have come to black [/b]

In tests they filled a chrome lined barrel with sand and fired a round (blowing up the barrel)

The Nickel Boron's greater lubricity alllowed the sand to be pushed out the barrel by the gas in front of the bullet and the barrel was fine.

Also they have run one nickle boron plated M-16 to 35,000 rds all in 300rd 10- 30rd mag auto dumps with cooling in between strings of 300rds and no lubrication whatsoever and the weapon is still operating in spec and reliably.

[b]If you haven't gathered I really wish it was availible NOW but I am trying to be patient and wait.[/b]

If anyone has anything I would like info on carbonite and Maxhard since it is currently availible and Nickle boron is not.

How are these better or worse than chrome lining?

I did a little research on Maxhard- basically a 53RC surface hardness treatment that is supposed to make the barrel finish smoother and allow cleaing with one patch and cool faster and heat slower. Advertised as full-auto OK.  I like the sound of that but it appears that it is only offered in :

1 20 SS and Chrome moly

2 16in SS and chrome moly

[b] Both appear to be POST BAN CONFIG (that is the sucky part) where is Budam of Triple Break Products when you need him?? If the 16in was a Hbar In pre-ban config I might be interested.[/b]

I just saw these guys [url=http://www.uctdefense.com/app.html]UTC Defense[/url] at a Special Ops show in Tampa.

They had a hard chrome plated M16 they claim has 32k rounds with NO wet lubrication, and NO measurable wear.