Has anyone ever sent out their BCG to be chromed, if so who did it and what did you think about their work?

I have the regular finish, Chromed, Micro Slik, Titanium Coated, and Black T.

I prefer the chrome for one reason, easier to see that it is clean, so i was thinking if I could find a company to chrome a few more of mine who does it and has anyone had the work done?

yer gonna get some increased O.D. with chroming, pretty sure Young takes this into effect with theirs, it's not gonna be a huge increase but it could well increase friction on the BCG

Anything I owned that had Black T, I would keep that way. Birdsong is sadly gone, and if you had a part or weapon with his finish, I would keep it that way.

Oh absolutely it will remain Black-T'ed.

Wally is still running the business and I am going to send another one to him.

i was curious of this question myself because i wanted a chrome lefty bolt.

looks like im stuck keeping it black.

Sell the phosphate and titanium finish ones and buy some more YM BCG's. Then you know they will be done right.


Wonder if you could, or even should, have Microslick done over the chrome?

not sure how well that would work since chrome has very little porous surface to it

I want one chromed like a truck bumper. lol

Someone mentioned a company that polishes the chrome parts for you. Can't find the thread though.

Besides the looks it would reduce friction.






Doesn't need to be porous if the matte finish gives it a proper hold. Just don't know if it will grab the chrome well enough or if it is just redundant. What use is the hard chrome finish if it is the Microslick finish that actually the wear surface?

If the chrome isn't needed then you can save a little change to use towards having the Microslick done by getting the phosphate coated YM BCG.

grabbing the chrome finish is what I was talking about porosity of chrome, phosphate is still very porous that's why if ya dont clean properly and relube ya can quickly get spots of brown corrosion, it's also another reason I like the Mil.com TW25-B for a lube since it penetrates deep and neutralizes aflot of different stuff

I've had to deal with a lot of metal finishes. Chrome parts a bit (I don't have a Machinist Hand book here in the Hack but I remember the grinding spec where like .0015 ±.0003
there or about. Da am I wish I had my Hand book. You have to Copper plate then Hard Chrome. Plus on some parts had to be honed on the inside. Threads rechased (have a tap or die passed thru or on). Actually sound cheaper and easier to by a chromed BCG.
Oh the proccess I remember the sizes I not going to say are even in the ball park. 1988 was a long time age.
Hey Neil if you see this hit me with a PM. I'm not going to be up before 1300 est but I'll try to see if I still have the information and post it.

This post has been edited by pzkwV424: November 8th 2009 8:43 AM

yeah I wasn't even tryin to dredge up numbers today pz, thanks ya made me do it to My brain, ya seem in the ballpark though, My handbooks I stupidly enough left in My HHG which are sittin in some Okinawa storage facility right now until I can get the wifes flight itinerary(let's not hijack this thread with Oki questions Rampy), but yer other suggestion about price, yeah is prolly right too especially since chromers want to run large batches , sumthin like a coupla BCGs ya'd only be able to save money by waiting on them to a do a run with someone elses stuff

Tried chrome and now I have my bolt carriers hard nickel plated and polished as the nickel bonds directly to the steel unlike chrome where the steel is plated with either copper or nickel before the chrome is applied. Have one with 2500 rounds through it and cleaned with Brasso and I can strip and clean the bolt and carrier quicker than I can clean the bore. Friends say that its so easy to clean and makes their gun run smoother. One a target shooter even went as far as to say that as the plating tightens the tolerances on the bolt he is getting tighter grouping. Don't know how to post a pic so if anybody wants to see it you can e-mail me for pics. Another thing it looks good as well and can be done to any Ar bolt and carrier.

Forgot to say it costs me $75.00 to get it done and sent back to me priority mail and about a week turn around time.

I remember that nickel plating mentioned before. Do you have a link for them?

My bumper is painted fiberglass over steel...

why not just microslick it? or I thing there was a compound called ultra gun coat or something like that.

Greetings all, 11/14/09
I just spoke to Jim, of Quality Arms Idaho, one of the owners, and he told me the website will be up at the end of next week. By the way, He built my AR early last spring before they had formed the company and gone into the gun business. He is very knowledgable about ARs. He built my gun from a collection of parts he purchased off the internet. The gun climate was quite different last january and february when he assembled my gun. Parts were next to impossible to get. The gun he built me shoots really well. My oldest son took it to Montana in July and shot squeakers for 2 days and killed hundreds. I had my bolt polished and then nickeled by Quality Arms Idaho, and the results were remarkable. They use a nickel process as chrome has a tendancy to peel and flake off. (ever look at used mag wheels?) It cycles much more reliably, and is smoother. It will run ALMOST COMPLETELY DRY.(I don't recommend) I have a Jewel trigger in my gun so I didn't bother with the trigger. Jim is very professional to do business with and has become a very good friend. The bolt and trigger nickel job is definately worth the money. Dave, the dr

P.S. Jim can be reached at jimbee52@msn.com When the website is up I believe the link will be www.qualityarmsidaho.com

Thanks for the info for nickel plating...