Krieger at one time used 410, now 416. Noveske uses a high grade 416R. Some of BCMs barrels are made by Criterion and are 410 as a result. Steve told me buttons pull better through 410. 410 has a better wear resistance than any 416R. Lothar Walther uses LW50 which is very close to 410.
Stainless barrels as supplied run from 28-32 Rockwell that is all, CMV runs in the 30-32 range also. Melonite or Nitride barrels run 60-70 on the surface but retain the ductile core. The chrome lining is usually over 55 Rockwell but the core remains ductile.
See below the real Noveske RECCE barrels are chrome lined.
ETA- I can cut the chrome lining out of a chamber with a reamer, I can not take the same reamer and cut a melonite treated chamber. Melonite is harder than chrome.
Interview with Noveske-
Crane: Right, o.k., now you’re double-chrome-lining your
barrels, or some of your barrels, not the stainless steel barrels, but the…
Noveske: The
N4 Light Carbine and
N4 Light Recce barrels.
Crane: What type of stainless are they using?
Noveske: Well, they use 416 project 70. I use a different type of material.
Noveske: Let me back up. You can’t call the barrel that we make a
Pac-Nor barrel, because if you call Pac-Nor and order a stainless barrel, it’s gonna’ be much different. It’s gonna’ be different in every way from the barrel I sell. So when you say "what kind of materal do they use?", last time I checked, Pac-Nor uses 416 project 70 made by Carpenter, and I use a different material which is technically considered 416R, and it’s a lot harder than any stainless we’ve ever tested from other manufacturers. Our stainless comes in around 32 on the Rockwell C scale, and that’s harder even than the call-out for the M16 barrel.
By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com The following is Part One of the transcript from a phone interview that David Crane, owner/editor-in-chief of DefenseReview, conducted with John Noveske of Noveske Rifleworks, LLC a number of months ago about his gun builds (tactical AR rifle builds a.k.a...
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