Melonite barrel treatment

Edd said:
Who is using the AFM process?


That's pretty much what they told me about 90 days ago. I don't know who I was talking to. Whoever it was also said he had been considering getting some barrels done for testing.
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I wasn't questioning the AFM process; I know nothing about it. My point of difference was in "the intent" of Mikes (Krieger) comment. It sounded as if you were inferring that Mike was not in agreement with the process and that is not the case. I could care less whether or not they endorse it as long as it works! Kendrick has been using it in his own barrels for years , and if I recall correctly, he has been shooter of the year at least twice in the 600 yard competition........Rich
 
Well since this thread is not about breaking in a barrel!

Back to the subject. I have done two barrels now with MMI-Trutek Trutec The company that Joe Kendrick was with.

The first one was a 7saum and the second one was a 243ai. Here is my long write up on my whole process. Scroll down to the bottom of the page of the after target. Re: "Melonite barrel treatment" (DONE)!!!! - Sniper's Hide Forums

I think that it is a must to have the barrel broking-in. I put 50 rounds down each rifle before I sent them in. They must be spotlessly clean. No carbon or copper at all. One of the biggest thing is to make sure your gun is shooting good before you send it off. No reason doing this to a bad shooting barrel. On the 7saum I saw a gain of 40 fps with the same load. Shoot the same as far as accuracy. I would only use guys that have LOTS of experience with this precess. MMI and would be the only ones I would send my barrel two. Turn around time with MMI was a week. So if we want to have one barrel done, they need to go too, Rodney at R+T customs. A in-house guy that is talking care of it all. 870-565-2589. Cost $60 per barrel with $20 return shipping cost. Turn around time is less then a week. If you cant get him, call there Arkansas location (870) 236-6920 and ask for Rodney. If you 120 Aluminum oxide blast your barrel before you send it off. Comes back a nice flat black. I just cerakoted over mine once I got it back. I don't have enough rounds down yet to know if it last longer. But it sure does clean up fast with very little to no copper. One guy that did his 243ai as well has only has .004 of throat movement with 800 rounds down the barrel.

Let me know if you guys have any more questions



 
Last edited by a moderator:
Skyking said:
Well since this thread is not about breaking in a barrel!

Back to the subject. I have done two barrels now with MMI-Trutek Trutec The company that Joe Kendrick was with.

The first one was a 7saum and the second one was a 243ai. Here is my long write up on my whole process. Scroll down to the bottom of the page of the after target. Re: "Melonite barrel treatment" (DONE)!!!! - Sniper's Hide Forums

I think that it is a must to have the barrel broking-in. I put 50 rounds down each rifle before I sent them in. They must be spotlessly clean. No carbon or copper at all. One of the biggest thing is to make sure your gun is shooting good before you send it off. No reason doing this to a bad shooting barrel. On the 7saum I saw a gain of 40 fps with the same load. Shoot the same as far as accuracy. I would only use guys that have LOTS of experience with this precess. MMI and would be the only ones I would send my barrel two. Turn around time with MMI was a week. So if we want to have one barrel done, they need to go too, Rodney at R+T customs. A in-house guy that is talking care of it all. 870-565-2589. Cost $60 per barrel with $20 return shipping cost. Turn around time is less then a week. If you cant get him, call there Arkansas location (870) 236-6920 and ask for Rodney. If you 120 Aluminum oxide blast your barrel before you send it off. Comes back a nice flat black. I just cerakoted over mine once I got it back. I don't have enough rounds down yet to know if it last longer. But it sure does clean up fast with very little to no copper. One guy that did his 243ai as well has only has .004 of throat movement with 800 rounds down the barrel.

Let me know if you guys have any more questions

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiegZyhd5l0&feature=player_embedded

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QjbOZAx2mw&feature=player_embedded
Click to expand...

Thanks for the VERY informative response. Your suggestions fall right in line with what I've been hearing.......Rich
 
I'm having the same experience with MMI-TruTeck & Mel/Nitr as Skyking is. Took a bit longer to get my 6xc done, close to 3 or 4 weeks. Not a big deal on my end. Its a Shilen Select Match, 1 in 8 twist, that I'd has in th shop for almost 2 years. After chambering, I did the break-in. No problems at the chamber, but, had three places in the tube that were 'skidding' some copper. Took my time. Single shots, complete cleaning for 10 rds. Polished with Isso Paste, more cleaning. Watched it all closely thru my bore scope. Had very good accuracy as the barrel broke-in. Had 56 rounds total thru the barrel. When I was satisfied, I removed the barrel and bore scoped again. The corners were rounded off, at the mouth of the chamber , quit a bit. So, I set the barrel back 1/2 turn and re-established headspace. Put the barrel back on, fired two rounds (just to remove any 'rough' from re-setting the headspace), removed the barrel and cleaned it beyond clean, and packed it off to Rodney. I've only had the chance to fire the rifle 15 rds. since getting the barrel back and installing it. Before installation, I spent about an hour cleaning residue from the process from the bore. Accuracy is as it was before treatment, less then 1/2" at 100yds. No copper deposits left behind, cleans-up very easily. I should have checked the hardness before I put it into the stock, I may do that yet. I am getting together several more barrels to send to Rodney, for treatment. Time will tell as I keep an accurate round count with the XC.
 
Just honest questions:

Since I think it is resolved that breakin is a requirement for preparation, so what about the relative advantages/disadvantages of using fire-lappping for the primary method of breakin? Therenis some support among competative shooters for fire-lapping (David Tubb)

What about following-up fire-lapping with some form of electropolishing (blackstar?)

Just trying to figure out what is the very B E S T way to get that bore as smooth as POSSIBLE so it will be ready for the permanence that the nitro-carburizing brings?

Thanks for the lively discussion! I've learned a whole lot!lightbulb
 
Gunsmoke said:
Just honest questions:

Since I think it is resolved that breakin is a requirement for preparation, so what about the relative advantages/disadvantages of using fire-lappping for the primary method of breakin? Therenis some support among competative shooters for fire-lapping (David Tubb)

What about following-up fire-lapping with some form of electropolishing (blackstar?)

Just trying to figure out what is the very B E S T way to get that bore as smooth as POSSIBLE so it will be ready for the permanence that the nitro-carburizing brings?

Thanks for the lively discussion! I've learned a whole lot!lightbulb
Click to expand...

I don't have any experience with fire lapping but have heard both good and bad. My gut feeling is, if you have a good quality lapped barrel, I don't personally like the sound of firing "grit" down it. That said, here is what I did with mine. You can check more on this forum under (new 30/375 wildcat). I have a Krieger barrel on my new build which was shooting some sub .1 moa groups at 100 yards before I sent it in for melonite. I shot it far more than I intended before shipping it off (long story) but I cleaned it SQUEAKY clean with bore tech eliminator and then a good scrubbing with Iosso bore paste. Lastly, I ran a couple of patches with rubbing alcohol. I chrono'd it with three selected brass numbered 1-3 and recorded everything pertinent as far as temp, sun angle etc. When I got the barrel back, I was surprised how much brownish residue that there was to clean out before firing. I fired the three rounds again duplicating as much as possible the first test. The only difference was about 30 degrees warmer temp, which I would rather not have had, but came up with about a 25-30' increase in velocity. I was using H1000 so I don't believe there should be that much difference due to temp sensity based on past experience. I had a temporary scare as my groups had opened to about 1 moa but I soon discovered that my base mount was loose. I tightened everything down and only had two rounds left which went into one hole. I haven't had time to shoot since but am going to wait for some 50 degree weather to repeat the chrono test. I had fired about thirty rounds thru it after the treatment and had also fire formed another 50 brass, so I cleaned it using my usual technique. I will say that cleanup is now VERY easy. Copper does not seem to accumulate much at all and comes right out with a couple of patches......Rich
 
Thanks for sharing your experience Rich! I'm new hhere and I can already tel I'm dealing with shootists here not juveniles that have to turn everything into a political discussion!

I'm glad you mentioned the IOSSO BORE PASTE, someone had mentioned IOSSO and was not familiar with their products and I wanted to ask about the bore paste but forgot to.

I was wondering about the grit issue as you mentioned because it occured to me that one could easily over do the coaser grit on a fine barrel t hat's why I asked the question the way I did. I've been hand sharpenig knives for years and have seen much blade geometry altered with too coarse a stone and have made some realy fine edges with fine stones but its WORK!
 
Welcome to the forum and good luck. I'm not saying that the fire lapping is no good, I just don't know so I error on the side of being more conservative. IOSSO is a very good product and is "so" fine that you would wear your arm out long before you did any harm to your barrel. My Krieger barrel was very smooth after a few rounds as they did a good job of lapping............Rich
 
Yup, I read through the whole thread and saw that Skyking had a couple barrels done recently (at time of thread) but was wonder if others also had some done and if they had put many rounds through the tubes. I researched this quite a bit a while back and it seemed to good to be true. Have heard a lot of good reports and some mediocre reports.

Overall, sounds like it's worth a try as long as there are no horror stories.

FWIW, On break-in, I also spoke with the Benchmark guys and they emphasized minimal rounds down the tube for break-in, especially for overbores.
they had some sort of lapping process to prep the barrel for the treatment.

Guess I'll contact Joel again and get his opinion on break-in.

Still would like to hear from others with real experience.
 
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