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Anyone have opinions on cryo treating barrels?

3K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  Loonster 
#1 ·
I did not want to interrupt the accuracy thread. That was the first of several things that brought up my cryo treating question. I have brake rotors treated to extend their life, and the shop has been hitting me up for more jobs. And another firearm forum mentioned cryo treating I think referring to it not repairing damage to the bore.
The cryo company website has a long explanation that treating a barrel will improve shot grouping.
The accuracy thread states that the XCR does not produce wonderful groupings.
I searched the forum and found a couple references to cryo treating, but not much in the way of detailed discussion.
The cryo company makes a big deal about AKs and ARs, I think because the barrels are not easily separated from the receiver, and the cost being a bunch more. The rotors are charged by the pound. The XCR's changeable barrel seems to make it easier and more affordable to cryo treat.
Not sure what the specific charge is for a barrel. It mentions 72 hours in the freezer. That sounds longer than the rotors, which are in the hundreds dollars for a bunch of them.

Anyone try it?
Any widely held rumors?
 
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#3 ·
Cryo is basically aging the molecular structure of the metal by ~ 20 years. Basically, the concept is the extreme cold 'settles' the still moving molecules. It is great on gears, axleshafts, rotors, etc.....I can't imagine it would be bad for a bbl...but I can't see it improving accuracy....just durability. JMO based on my limited understanding of the technology.
 
#8 ·
Absolutely fascinating, I can't believe I haven't heard about this before. I might be interested in doing a lot of things like this as soon as I get them, like all my gun barrels and my CNC projects. Did anyone experience any warping of the material or the development of additional material that had to be filed or machined off after cryo treating? Are there materials that shouldn't be cryo treated, like cold hammer forged barrels or a chrome-lined barrel?
 
#4 ·
I have owned two different rifles that had the barrel cryogenically frozen. One was an Olympic Arms AR-15 the other was a Remington 700 l t r in 223. The first one I got was the used Olympic Arms, the previous owner had it cryoed because it did not have a chrome-lined Barrel and he did it to extend his Barrel life. It was a 16 in basic AR, it shot real tight groups compared to the other AR I had owned all were 16 inch barrels. About a year later I bought the Remington 700 l t r and where I work the next building over from me does cryogenic freezing. After removing the barrel I gave it to them, it was a 72-hour process, they have to slowly freeze it hold it at temperature and then slowly bring it back up. The Remington 700 ltr is a 16 inch barrel when I did my part it would group tight enough I could cover a 3 shot group with a dime most times all 3 touching.
I'm not a marksman by any means but I believe that it did help in the accuracy Department.
 
#5 ·
Don't know if he's still doing it but Dean over at Performance Cryogenics out of CA is well regarded for auto parts. He did some output shafts and other stuff for me way back when.

Looks like he is: Performance Cryogenics
 
#6 ·
Don't know if he's still doing it but Dean over at Performance Cryogenics out of CA is well regarded for auto parts. He did some output shafts and other stuff for me way back when.

Looks like he is: Performance Cryogenics
Sean did you notice any difference in color of the parts after treatment?
Both of the guns that I had seemed like it lightened the barrels, best way I can describe them was a dark almost sparkly grey, LTR not as noticeable but the Oly was noticeable compared to the rest of the rifle.
Just wondering
 
#12 ·
It's all about retained austenite.


For barrels, I would place cryo treatment in the "Probably won't help much, but can't hurt" category.


FYI, steel does change size depending on which lattice structure it is in (independent of temperature). Cryo treatment works by converting some of the retained austenite into martensite. It will change the dimensions of the steel, but probably in a way that is beyond your capability to measure it. Heat treatment can make 4140 grow by .0005 per inch. Cryo would shrink it by some fraction of the amount it grew.
 
#13 ·
It's all about retained austenite.


For barrels, I would place cryo treatment in the "Probably won't help much, but can't hurt" category.


FYI, steel does change size depending on which lattice structure it is in (independent of temperature). Cryo treatment works by converting some of the retained austenite into martensite. It will change the dimensions of the steel, but probably in a way that is beyond your capability to measure it. Heat treatment can make 4140 grow by .0005 per inch. Cryo would shrink it by some fraction of the amount it grew.
Guess I should have said at the tenths, it's not going to matter. Thank you for the correction though.
 
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