See The Night

The technology of protecting metal surfaces has come a long way since the AR-15 was adopted by the US military. For reasons best not discussed, the US military persist with the comparatively ancient technology of phosphating to protect the steel of their M-16s. Phosphating gives a matte non-reflective surface and prevents corrosion, but it is not particularly abrasion resistant or self lubricating and it acts as a magnet to carbon and fouling. In the civilian arena other materials and coatings have taken off with the aim of reducing friction and the heat it causes, preventing corrosion, prolonging parts life, increasing reliability and making the direct impingement AR much easier to clean.

Fail Zero use an EXO surface treatment which is 40% more wear resistant than chrome plating. It absolutely will not peel, flake, gall or rub off. They claim the Fail Zero AR bolt carrier group has been tested to 50,000 rounds unlubricated and can be run devoid of the oil or grease to which sand and dirt adhere, causing accelerated wear. The extremely low friction surface results in a lot less friction, preventing the weapon heating up. To reduce friction further, the surface is shot peened to a high polish. The lack of lube, surface treatment and high polish mean carbon, unburned propelland and crud won’t stick to the bolt and carrier and can simply be brushed off.

JP Enterprises are a very innovative outfit and love to go back to the drawingboard with established products. With their  JP AR-15 bolt carrier they opted to go the stainless route. Surprisingly, they chose to increase the area of bearing surface by over 100% to reduce friction. The resulting JP AR bolt carrier is given a five step QRP process to give it very high lubricity and low friction. QRP results in a shiney black finish. The JP stainless bolt carrier is intended for use in tactical situations where failure cannot be tolerated.

DPMS are a major producer of AR components and a lot of experience with metal surface treatments. They market the DPMS AR-15 bolt carrier group in four different finishes - the usual phosphated/parkerized, retro chrome, ion diamond and titanium nitride. Many think the military’s move to phosphate from chrome carriers was a retrograde step. Chrome is dated, but its corrosion protection and wear characteristics are good and it’s easy to clean. The problem was it’s bright, shiny finish was not to the liking of the military. In this day and age, chrome is largely relegated to retro builds. Ion diamond coating is a molecure thick layer of carbone bonded to the steel. It’s less expensive than chrome yet gives the matte black finish the military want. Titanium Nitride is a relatively new coating which results in a satin bronze/gold finish which you will either love or hate. This treatment can be hard on the rest of the rifle and some users have complained that it abrades anything not similarly hardened and never wears in. Only time will tell