Several manufacturers use the Melonite® (salt bath nitriding) process on gun parts - for example, S&W's M&P semiautomatic. At least one company offers Meloniting for existing parts, not limited to firearms parts, though. Has anyone experience to share with applying Melonite® nitriding to older gun parts - that is after-market processing?

I have had several barrels done and was really pleased. Remember you need to use the QPQ as it is below the temper temperature of a barrel.Call Joel Kendrick, he is a friend and has been doing it for years. Joel has also been the 600yd. shooter of the year 2 different times recently.
Joel Kendrick
Application Engineer
MMI-Trutec
cell- 704-616-6442
Butch

Many thanks for the contact information.

What I think I can infer from your reply is that heat treat and dimensionally stability are unaffected by this process? I am especially interested in the safety of Meloniting action parts - on older Savage 99 actions - excluding springs. Would Mr. Kendrick be able to identify how much flex a QPQ nitrided surface can accept without cracking or otherwise degrading from the flex?

If Mr. Kendrick is treating IDs of barrels, I suspect substantial flexing is okay because bullets' passage along the bore causes a peristaltic-like action within the barrel.

I have seen bolts treated, slides on automatic pistols. My uneducated opinion would be that it would work fine. It gives a case hardening effect. Joel is familiar with this process in other applications his company does it for a lot of other products.
Butch

Does anyone have any experience with QPQ hardened parts and corrosion resistance?

I'm planning on parkerizing a rifle and have been thinking about how to finish all the small parts. This is for a working rifle so I am wanting something subdued and durable.

Butch, I'll give Joel a ring tomorrow and get his suggestions too.

Mark,
I think you will enjoy visiting with Joel. He will be very honest and give you good info. I'm getting ready to send him another barrel and some dies.
Butch

My son and I met Joel at the SHOT show two weeks ago. Very friendly, knowledgeable and shared lots of information with us on the process. We were really impressed with the hardness of the finish, how smooth the actions he had there were, and at the low cost to have the work done.

He had a steel rod, approximately 3/8 inches in diameter that had been nitrided and then was bent about 30 degrees. There was no cracking, breaking or chipping of the finish on the rod. He took a file to a barrel and it just slide over the finish with even scratching it.

We are working on on 4 Parker Hale M85 receivers (purchased as castings) and when completed want to have them and their barrels nitride treated. It will provide an extremely durable and slick finish while being less expensive overall then bluing them. Hard to beat that.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
Does anyone have any experience with QPQ hardened parts and corrosion resistance?

I'm planning on parkerizing a rifle and have been thinking about how to finish all the small parts. This is for a working rifle so I am wanting something subdued and durable.

Butch, I'll give Joel a ring tomorrow and get his suggestions too.

According to the company to which I referred initially, corrosion resistance is very high.

But something that may be a huge trouble source is: How precisely must the after-market applier need to know the chemistry of the metal and its heat treat to get the results [we] want? I have no idea what each of the Model 99's action parts, from receiver to pins, chemistry and heat treat are.