Centurion Arms has just announced a new line of hammer forged barrels. Just like in the load carrying world, with the advent of modularity, small arms have become overloaded and a movement has formed to begin taking the weight off the rifles. One of the easiest means is to remove unneeded accessories, or to combine functionality into fewer items. Another move has been to produce lighter barrels. One way this is possible is through the hammer forging process.
Hammer forging is a process in which a drilled and reamed blank has its rifled bore and chamber formed by swaging. During production of the barrel, the internal profile is formed by a series of opposing power hammers which concentrically “crush†the drilled blank around a precision-ground and hardened mandrel. This process yields an extremely uniform bore with a tough, consistent surface finish on the inside of the barrel. Producers use differing methods of honing and Centurion combines theirs with a specially tapered section of rifling formed during the forging process to improve accuracy. They specified a 1:7 twist rate and a Mil-Spec 5.56mm chamber. Naturally, they chose to finish the barrels with a manganese phosphate finish (Mil-Spec A-A-59267).
Centurion Arms specifies that the hard chromium lining used to coat the chamber and bore is applied to twice the thickness of standard small arms barrels. The actual steel itself used for the barrels is a Chrome-Moly steel alloy specifically developed as a machinegun barrel steel providing increased barrel life under prolonged rigorous firing schedules. The forging process also work hardens the barrel steel resulting in a very durable and much longer lasting barrel. Finally, the barrels are HPT (High Pressure Testing) tested which is a process wherein a proof load rated at 70,000 psi (far exceeding the pressure of a normal round) is fired trough the barrel. The barrel is then tested with a non-destructive process called MPI (Magnetic Particle Inspection) to detect any flaws in the barrel extension and barrel from the proof load.
The barrels retails for $325.00. For more information, please contact Centurion Arms at www.centurionarms.com.
