Cryonic treatment of rifle barrels.

[Sirrated]

I"ve resonantly become aware of a treatment of Rifle barrels, where they are Cryonicly bought down to extremely low temperatures over a long period of time,,, and then bought back up to normal temps. I would love to know more about the procces, and the final out-come. Also if this is as successful as what I've heard, why are we not hearing more about it?

 

[elkaholic]

I"ve resonantly become aware of a treatment of Rifle barrels, where they are Cryonicly bought down to extremely low temperatures over a long period of time,,, and then bought back up to normal temps. I would love to know more about the procces, and the final out-come. Also if this is as successful as what I've heard, why are we not hearing more about it?

Its been done for quite a few years. The idea is to stabilize the molecules and make the barrel more consistent. There are mixed opinions about whether or not its worth it.
I think some barrel manufacturers do this as a part of the process

 

[sable tireur]

The cryogenic treatment of rifle barrels has been around for 30 years that I know of. The company, 300 Below, states 1966...

Read about the process and their company:

https://www.300below.com/firearms-cryo-barrel/

They are not the only company offering this service so search for a list of companies offering this and get pricing.

 

[dennisinaz]

???

 

[Sirrated]

The cryogenic treatment of rifle barrels has been around for 30 years that I know of. The company, 300 Below, states 1966...

Read about the process and their company:

https://www.300below.com/firearms-cryo-barrel/

They are not the only company offering this service so search for a list of companies offering this and get pricing.

Thanks for that guys, I'll be following it up.

 

[cohunt]

It's also done in the racing Industry for engine, transmission and rear end parts, etc.
It is often used in conjunction with normalizing and the heat treat process.

It can get that last little bit for you, but most of the time the costs outweigh the benefits.

 

[Edd]

Doesn't Krieger freeze their barrels?

 

[killitgrillit]

I had a kimber 270 wsm that I sent to Karl and had him flute it and then had it frozen, easily a sub moa gun afterwards. It was an experiment to see if you could flute a factory pencil thin barrel and it still shoot. It worked and clean up was extremely easy, little to no copper build up! This was many years ago when people thought you had to flute a barrel before boring and rifling.

 

[J E Custom]

Here is a link to a barrel maker that describes the process and benefits if any.

FAQ - Lilja

FAQ Q. What is your opinion of the deep cryogenic processing of barrels? Q. What is your opinion of the use of moly coated bullets? Q. What is your opinion of the “BlackStar process and Fire Lapping” ? Q. What are the differences between chrome-moly barrels and stainless steel barrels? Q. What...

riflebarrels.com

.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Sirrated]

Wow, this is cool stuff, thankyou for directing me to these blogs and sites,,, The education I'm getting during this **** lock-down is truly worth being a member of this site.

 

[elf]

I had a barrel cyro'd years ago when it first became popular. It did not shrink my groups, but was easier to clean.

 

[Buck Fever]

Cryogenic cooling is good for knife steel because it continues the tempering process. When used like that, it can increase the toughness of a blade while leaving it harder (compared to traditional heat treat that ends at room temperature).

In a barrel, the hardness is much less and toughness isn't really an issue because reasonable barrels wear out due to erosion, not stress fractures.

Some vendors call it a stress relief and I guess it might do that but many barrel makers can create a stress relieved barrel without cryogenic treatment.

I think it is largely snake oil.

I am much more interested in how salt bath nitriding can be used as a last step in a barrel's heat treat to temper the steel, increase corrosion (and erosion) resistance and hopefully do it without screwing up the accuracy. Some companies seem to be able to do it but it's hard to tell which companies have the right process for barrel steels.

 

[J E Custom]

Cryogenic cooling is good for knife steel because it continues the tempering process. When used like that, it can increase the toughness of a blade while leaving it harder (compared to traditional heat treat that ends at room temperature).

In a barrel, the hardness is much less and toughness isn't really an issue because reasonable barrels wear out due to erosion, not stress fractures.

Some vendors call it a stress relief and I guess it might do that but many barrel makers can create a stress relieved barrel without cryogenic treatment.

I think it is largely snake oil.

I am much more interested in how salt bath nitriding can be used as a last step in a barrel's heat treat to temper the steel, increase corrosion (and erosion) resistance and hopefully do it without screwing up the accuracy. Some companies seem to be able to do it but it's hard to tell which companies have the right process for barrel steels.

I have seen a slight improvement in knife blades that were Cryo treated, But none in rifles barrels.
Metallurgical improvements appear to improve, but performance, both accuracy and barrel life cannot really be measured in my opinion.

It is hard to say something is good or bad, If it cant be measured so I will reserve my opinion for later on this process. I do tend to believe the barrel makers that say I doesn't offer anything because if it were truly better they would be using it.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Edd]

I believe that, if Stainless Steel barrel material starts losing it's strength at 0°, cooling it to -300° could do something to it. I just don't know what that something is.