Sidetracked by FNC? Yes. Yes I was.
An opportunity came up to have some of my airgun projects professionally finished. Extra space was available in a batch of parts last week. The parts were to be Ferritic Nitrocarburized--a hardening and blacking process that chemically alters the metal surface with additional nitrogen and carbon. The finish is similar to a case hardening. It's done in a molten salt bath at approximately 1000 degrees F that hardens the surface and makes it both highly wear and corrosion resistant.
H&M Metal Processing in Akron ran the job. Their website has a good description of the process.
I sent a couple barrel sleeves for break barrels and my multi-shot breech. The previous cold blue jobs I had applied look good, but will wear off after enough handling and require rework. The nitriding pushes the hardness up beyond what I'll be able to wear through with normal usage. It should last a lifetime.
Looks exactly like the cold blue I just stripped off--except the surface is now in the mid 60's on the Rockwell C scale.
Aside from a fresh abrasive blast to remove the cold blue, I did zero prep work. This was a very last minute opportunity.
If this comes up again, the barrel sleeve on the Weihrauch 35E will be a likely candidate.
Back to the Tech Force re-seal soon.
