Melonite

[mac man]

Would Melonite be an alternative to a chrome lined bore and chamber?Chrome is about 68 to70RC and the Melonite is 60 to 64RC.I have read that Melonite treated 4140 produces a 70RC.Thoughts?Having a few FN FNC barrels chambered and profiled from 4140 1:7RH .220 bore .224 grove blanks.
Thanks!

[monkeytoys]

Spikes Tactical has it as an option for their barrels.

[USMC0351]

Everyone I talked to that does Meloniting, recommended against doing barrels in general, just because of the likelihood of affecting the temper and warping the barrel. I used Drake's Gunworks (http://www.drakesgunworks.com/about.html) for Meloniting my projects.

[Illuminated_one]

Melonite (Nitriding) has been catching on with the bench rest crowd recently. I can't imagine them doing anything that could hurt their accuracy in the slightest.

At SHOT there was a booth set up (I believe it was MMI trutec) where a gentleman would take a file to a bench rest rifle's barrel that had been treated with the nitriding process.
By the end of SHOT you could only see wear when the light hit it right.


The gentleman was very adamant about needing to know how the barrel (or action) was heat treated before they nitrided it. This makes me suspect that warping can be avoided.


Personally, I'm sold. I plan to have the barrel on my precision rifle build nitrided.

[USMC0351]

I had the floorplate and my sling swivels done in Melonite, but the rest of my rifle will be done in Birdsong Green-T.

[mac man]

Thanks for your input guys!

[silencertalk]

Everyone I talked to that does Meloniting, recommended against doing barrels in general, just because of the likelihood of affecting the temper and warping the barrel.

For sure don't just use 'Melonite' on a barrel without knowing exactly what to specify for the process time, temp, and other details. Nitriding barrels can be a great thing. Sig 550 series rifles have it. Stoner-63 has it. I think LWRC has it. But I would not treat a barrel like a random part.

[KevinB]

Generally a bad idea...

Stick with chrome -- long term results with Melonite are not pretty.

[Illuminated_one]

Generally a bad idea...

Stick with chrome -- long term results with Melonite are not pretty.

Can you give us more info?
I was going to have a barrel and receiver on a bolt gun nitrided/melonited.

This particular action is very hard to find, if nitriding it will have negative effects in the long run I'll probably not have it done.

Thanks

[TOOL1075]

I've seen someone do it to the frame and slide (and even small parts) of an HK P7. It seemed attractive to me, because that gun is a rust magnet when carried (and I carry mine a lot).

However, I think there is a risk of brittleness - but I'm not sure. Don't they have to subject the part to a pretty high temperature to change the surface?

Not sure if I want to take the plunge on one of my guns.

While we are talking about it - what's a good, durable, black finish for a carry pistol like a P7? Everyone always hard chromes them, but I don't want a flashy gun. I like my guns black....

[silverbulletexpress]

I've done several pistols in Cerakote, it looks very good and is much more durable than the other bake on finishes. Haven't found any downsides to it. To the op it wouldn't work for the inside of a barrel, I think chrome is the way to go there.

[CKOD]

I've seen someone do it to the frame and slide (and even small parts) of an HK P7. It seemed attractive to me, because that gun is a rust magnet when carried (and I carry mine a lot).

However, I think there is a risk of brittleness - but I'm not sure. Don't they have to subject the part to a pretty high temperature to change the surface?

Not sure if I want to take the plunge on one of my guns.

While we are talking about it - what's a good, durable, black finish for a carry pistol like a P7? Everyone always hard chromes them, but I don't want a flashy gun. I like my guns black....

Yes, they run them through various molten salts. But like Robert said, it shouldnt be just heating it in salt and thats it, time vs temp should be specified, because as hot as they are getting them, they arent just being coated, they are being re-heat treated.

[silencertalk]

A Glock is Tennifer, which is an alternate European trademark name for Melonite. In South America it is called Tufftride. Yes, there is a risk of brittleness if you don't use the right time/temp and have sharp edges. And yes, you can alter the temper of the steel so you need to know the hardness of the part, the material, and the time/temp you run it for.

So - I would never just send important gun parts to a random vendor and say "Melonite these." You need an engineer to pick the specific process.

[TOOL1075]

So - I would never just send important gun parts to a random vendor and say "Melonite these." You need an engineer to pick the specific process.

right, that's what I thought. However, I'm not sure where to find a company that would know how to properly Melonite a P7.

[silencertalk]

Not sure. I would not Melonite my P7. I took it apart and GunKoted one of them myself.

[TOOL1075]

that looks nice

[CKOD]

+1 definitely looks nice, hows the gunkote hold up to everyday holster use? Or is that on a different P7?

[silencertalk]

It is the one I carried today. I have not examined it, but then again, I never noticed much wear. Maybe on some corners. I do care about pistol cosmetics and scratches would bother me, but there is nothing on how this is holding up that bothers me.