I own a Ruger AR-556 AR-15. Ruger states that it uses a Cold Hammer-Forged 4140 chrome-moly steel barrel with a matte black oxide finish. They do not specify what the said barrel rifling is lined with. I have called them on several occasions and received different answers on this Q?. Such as, Nitride lined, Melonite lined, and, being it is CHF 4140 chrome-moly barrel, it's chrome lined from the material of the barrel. Is there ANYONE that can tell me the TRUTH about how the said barrel rifling IS lined, if any? And, whatever answer you give me, should I look for another barrel if it ISN'T any of the above given answers?
Strange that you would get those answers. I believe the barrel is not lined. And that is fine for 97% of shooting. My AR is not lined, has never malfunctioned other than magazine related problems, and shoots well under 1 MOA with the right ammo. I sure wouldn't trade my barrel for a chrome lined barrel.
Spike is correct. It's not lined at all. Spike is also correct in that a non chrome lined barrel will usually out shoot a chrome liked barrel.
Man , I cant believe Ruger techs, gave you 3 different answers, that don't make sense, I'm with Greg and Spike, If its "Cold Hammer Forged 4140 chrome moly steel", there is no lining , no need to . Jim
Yes, believe it! I called them (3) times to get each one of those answers. I also emailed them (6) times asking the same barrel Q?. (4) times using my email address, and my son & g/f also emailed Ruger for me, with the same Q?. They would NEVER respond! Why not? Below is the link from Rugers website about the AR-556 specs, which states the barrel is CHF 4140 Chrome moly steel. http://ruger.com/products/ar556/models.html
^^^ Still having a hard time with those answers from the techs. "Chrome lined" and "4140 chrome moly steel" have nothing to do with each other. Military rifles have the barrels chrome lined sometimes to make them corrosion resistant. Chambers can be chromed too. 4140 chrome moly steel has chrome added to harden it, but its nothing like chrome lining the barrel. Apparently the Ruger techs are getting detached from the manufacturing process...
I agree with everything you've stated. What got me to do so much leg work about the barrel was, at my local range one day, (2) of our gun range buddies started comparing the Sport II to the AR-556. These guys were almost wanting to throw fists, that's how heated up it got. So, I wanted to know the TRUTH! I called S&W and right away I received an answer stating that their barrels were ARMORNITE (S&W's new patented trademark for Melonite, Nitride, etc.) lined. Just to see if their story stuck, I called S&W a few times and received the same answer each time. And, it's stated in the Sport II's specs. That's when I knew Ruger was either full of SH**, or, they were lying their a** off! My personal opinion, BOTH! But, I do like my AR-556 and have done some upgrades to it. MAGPUL MOE furniture, PSA Premium BCG, Spikes Tactical H buffer, Aimpoint red dot sight, and a BCM PNT trigger.
