No, but reading about it for the FN SCAR, and also for RRA AR's I think it would be a good thing. If I ever get either of my accuracy platform AR's rebarreled, I will definitely go that route. MRaley, Has Armalite ever investigated it?
Then again I've heard some barrel makers like Shilen dismiss it.
From the Shilen website FAQs section:
If you have heard that the cryogenic treatment stress relieves steel, this is false. We have measured the residual stress in 4140 and 416 steel with a process called x-ray diffraction. After much R&D, we have not been able to measure any changes in molecular stress after cryo treatment. For this reason we do not endorse the cryogenic process, but we can safely say that it is not detrimental to the barrel either.
I have no doubt that it helped, just throwing up a different school of thought. Those Mini barrels are so thin that it doesn't take too much to heat them up, I agree. Anything you can do to lessen the muzzle whip would be an improvement. How much did that run you, if I may ask?
Shilen & lija don't do it. Kreiger does it twice, or used too. There are also knife makers that have either sworn by it or sworn it off as "no difference we can measure".
Comparing the initial stress of a mini14 barrel and a point cut custom match barrel can be the reason for the difference in improvement, given that the quality difference was that the match barrel already has less stress than the process can relieve.
just a thought.
LebbenB wrote: I have no doubt that it helped, just throwing up a different school of thought. Those Mini barrels are so thin that it doesn't take too much to heat them up, I agree. Anything you can do to lessen the muzzle whip would be an improvement. How much did that run you, if I may ask?
Mine was a Ranch model, so the barrel was a bit thicker. I had a frien that worked at CryroPro about eight years ago. Cost me postage and $20
I have go heard they charge about $150 these days. Have not messed with a Mini in about six years.
"Cold Treating and Cryogenic Treatment of Steel" from ASM Handbook Volume 4 Heat Treating, p203-206.
One of the problems on the gun industry and this hold true for other forms of things people do either professionally or for recreation there are a lot of "experts" and many of them make a living selling their expertise. They often do not know or fully understand what they are doing.
I have been off roading since the 60's, owned an offroad shop and built Jeeps that do that. By luck I guess I am an engineer by trade and I call upon my background to sort out fact from fuzz, truth from fable.
We have no shortage of that in the gun world and in spades in the AR world. You might ask the question: What does it take to go into the AR selling business? At its most basic you have to place an order from someone who sells lowers and will put your logo on the side of it. Now gather the parts, assemble them and run some ads, you are in business. There is not one single requirement for you to actually manufacture a single part.
After spending more than a day on the NRA convention floor, I did not know there were that many companies selling AR's, names I have never heard of of, yet there they were selling the worlds best and most accurate AR so says them...
Cold treating AND cryogenic treatment of metals is a science, been around a LONG time...
I am no expert on guns, don't try to be and look to folks that indeed are, we have a few of them on here in fact. I am but an end user of guns, but have owned one since I got my first at age 5. What I can tell is when someone knows what they are talking about, on here I pay attention to several folks whose knowledge is trustable and most of all verifiable...'Trust by verify' Ronald Reagan.
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