Action longevity idea

[earplug]

I'm buying a electroless nickle plating kit and want to practice on some old parts first.

Anyone ever do a electroless nickle job on the extractor or cylinder on a 625? I'm guessing the process will help reduce wear on the extractor and maybe slick up extraction and reduce hassle of cleaning the lead on the cylinder.

[bountyhunter]

Wondering if the thickness of the plating might be enough to make the barrel/cylinder/crane assembly too tight if you plated the cylinder and extractor? It's basically a zero tolerance fit for end shake.

[Toolguy]

I had a 2" M15 with electroless nickel bore and chambers. It worked out great! It's unlikely that the plating will cause a binding issue on the cylinder. If it does, it's easy to file or stone .001 off the end of the crane. I think electroless nickel is one of the most overlooked good plating options out there.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Toolguy

[earplug]

Toolguy, thanks for being the test dummy.

[mikey357]

Don't know about Electroless Nickel, but the late Andy Cannon Hard Chromed the Lockparts on several revolvers he built--The theory was that it would result in reduced wear & extend the "Useful Life" of the parts--This was done primarily on heavily-used PPC guns, IIRC...HTH....mikey357

[PatJones]

I've been considering sending out a hammer and trigger set for NP-3 coating. Anyone here play with that yet? It's electroless nickel with Teflon impregnated into it.

[revoman]

I had it done a long time ago to a 610 that Charlie Priest had done the action work on. It stayed smooth but it did gain a little bit of weight on the pull. Not much and when shooting fast it is not noticeable. Had the whole revolver done and it sure makes it easy to clean.

[pskys2]

I've been considering sending out a hammer and trigger set for NP-3 coating. Anyone here play with that yet? It's electroless nickel with Teflon impregnated into it.

I had a 1911 frame done with NP3 at Robar, holds up good and does seem slick.