Stainless or Melonite

[O4L]

I'm thinking of getting one of these for another AR. Which one would you choose OSA?

You have to scroll down a bit to find them, but they have the freedom rifle kits priced at $399 in either stainless or melonite.

The melonite version includes the BCG and CH.

http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/

 

[Jwryan84]

I ordered the Melanie Kit for my buddies first AR. Thought it was the best if the 2. What a deal. He's getting the votrex red dot for $99 also, so complete AR for under $600 with Red dot.

 

[uncle money bags]

All things being equal the stainless barrel should give you a very marginal degree of precision over the melonite barrel. The trade off will be barrel life. Honestly, I cant even determine the degree of accuracy gain because I dont really do any high precision shooting at distance.

 

[henschman]

Between those two, I'd go melonite. While GOOD stainless barrels tend to be more accurate than chrome moly, there is no guarantee a cheap stainless barrel like that one will shoot any better than anything else. When both of the barrels you are looking at are cheap/budget ones, might as well get the one that has a longer service life. I think either one will be plenty accurate for anything you want to do with the rifle. I assume if you were buying it to use in the Benchrest Nationals you would have said so.

 

[Jwryan84]

Between those two, I'd go melonite. While GOOD stainless barrels tend to be more accurate than chrome moly, there is no guarantee a cheap stainless barrel like that one will shoot any better than anything else. When both of the barrels you are looking at are cheap/budget ones, might as well get the one that has a longer service life. I think either one will be plenty accurate for anything you want to do with the rifle. I assume if you were buying it to use in the Benchrest Nationals you would have said so.

That's the exact reasoning I used to help my buddy. I'm sure either would work.

 

[08H3]

Having shot both and having both in the house, either is good but I prefer the Melonite over the SS from PSA. The examples I have shot are about the same in terms of accuracy and weight. My recent build was with the the PSA Freedom upper with 16" LW barrel Melonite coated with 15" SQR rail, that's on sale at the moment.

[Broken External Image]

 

[Wolf44]

Melonite / Isonite / Carbo Nitride / QPQ etc................. is a Metal Process/Treatment. NOT a coating.

LW50 and Noveske SS barrels, as well as a few SS barrel blank manuf. have excellent tolerances and do very well for corrosion/longevity. Metallurgy Unobtanum SS.

As far as carbo nitride ---- getting a wylde chambered barrel from a respected source like ARP or Ballistic Advantage......you will be GTG with 4150v.

The key is how they treat the barrel extension and what process of treatment they use per the barrel composition. All can influence the end product quality and longevity. Thus, with the new parade of barrels being treated by the few sources in the US, i'd still stick to the best blanks and best sources to achieve the results wanted, or buy from the best sources with proven history.

To fully understand the difference in quality, just buy a cheap 'melonite' treated barrel and then one of known quality --- Try to drill a GBlock set screw dimple in each.........should clearly separate the two.

Also - cerakote over IonBond for a Coating, IMO .... Kyrlon on the cheap if you just want some color

 

[O4L]

Looks like the Melonite version is sold out for now.

 

[Fredkrueger100]

What about a carbonite barrel? That stuff will not fail. It will never lose its strength. Just ask Hon Solo. Seriously I would go with the melonite barrel myself. Of course I will never shoot s barrel out so it really don't matter that much to me.