Stainless Steel barrel - how to blacken

[bigHUN]

3 of these barrels arrived to me with a very last train from ebay/Russia back in Feb.2022.
These are Russian Stainless Steel #1045 material, much softer then we got used here in America, I learned this I had to rework the muzzle end threads on the lathe and the cutting chip is well defined also I recrown them to my liking, and I got a feel the steel is a bit softer.
This .22x500 barrel is mounted to my L2, 15.5" TR polygonal rifling - non chocked - is a MOA accurate with .22 MRD's up to 75 meters this far I have it documented.
I would like to make it black as much the L2 handguard, but I did not decided yet to blue/black only the portion at front that is sticking out or the entire length.
Couple years ago I purchased two Birchwood packages for aluminum and steel tuch-ups if needed anywhere on my airguns, but stil never opened these bottles yet, so I don't know nothing how those work.
What other DIY tricks would you suggest from your experience? Sending out for ceracoating at my place is not budget friendly.

 

[doninva]

Carbon fiber sleve.

 

[subscriber]

I could be mistaken, but 1045 steel is not stainless:

AISI 304 Stainless Steel vs. SAE-AISI 1045 Steel :: MakeItFrom.com

www.makeitfrom.com

My advice is to "first do no harm". Do nothing that might etch the bore...

 

[bigHUN]

I like the idea of a CF sleeve, but I have that front cap in place not much clearance in the hole to install a full length. Only to take the front cap to a friends machine shop and make the hole larger or to cut just a short tube for a front visible portion.

 

[subscriber]

Black heatshrink tubing: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/heat-shrink-tubing/

 

[Jaxjax]

C series Cerakote .? It's aircure & shipped to your door. Probably not as good as E , H & V but maybe would work out just fine.
Joe

 

[TheBeardedGunsmith]

Cerakote is cheap to purchase, easy to spray and you can bake it in your oven, although it smells like a urinal cake.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

You're right about that clearance, it looks like very little room for even a 1mm sleeve to fit and float without machining the hole bigger. What do you think about getting the barrel nickel Teflon-coated in and out like the Skout Epoch's? It would be slicker than whale snot.

 

[bigHUN]

In meantime last Friday I drop of these pair of barrels to a local CNC lathe shop. I told the guy to remove the M14x1.25 and cut a fresh new 1/2-20.
With this change I shall be able to reuse one of my spare FX shrouds. And I will go from there.
Also I left him a Leshiy2 airtube to shorten for 40mm.
He called me today, my parts are ready, but I just didn't had a time for pickup. Maybe tomorrow afternoon.

 

[TheBeardedGunsmith]

In meantime last Friday I drop of these pair of barrels to a local CNC lathe shop. I told the guy to remove the M14x1.25 and cut a fresh new 1/2-20.
With this change I shall be able to reuse one of my spare FX shrouds. And I will go from there.
Also I left him a Leshiy2 airtube to shorten for 40mm.
He called me today, my parts are ready, but I just didn't had a time for pickup. Maybe tomorrow afternoon.

Make sure he indicated the bore concentric and not just the OD. I would imagine that he probably doesn't even have range rods to do so.

 

[bigHUN]

Done, I got the barrels (and some other L2 parts). Cleaning tomorrow and I want to re-crown and polish the breach lead in.

 

[JDGriz]

If truly stainless, then two-part epoxy spray-can paint. Or DLC or PVD Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiAlN).

 

[bigHUN]

Along this week I managed to recut the M14x1.25 into 1/2-20.
This is a 6 grove polygonal .22x500 barrel, no choke, the outer OD cut to to rifling ID from 15mm to 14mm, , made in russia.

I realized that the FX shroud internal air stripper is more important to me. I had that shroud laying around after I replace it with barrel tuner on my Impact MK2.

So my Leshiy2 looks like this ... today , but waiting for my prism sight (in the mail as we speak) and that red dot is going down soon.