Heard of it, think there’s an element of the bench rest shooters into it, probably more luck on one of those boards. Bit of an application with machine tooling also.
Cryo treated barrels were all the rage many years back… It seems that in the last few years it has faded from popularity, other than those folks that are trying to wring every possible bit out of a barrel.
I’ve read about similar stories regarding cryo treatments of aftermarket vehicle drivetrain parts. The extra costs associated for cryo treated parts is a toss up IMHO.
Perhaps the process is still being refined for firearm parts/barrels, but I don’t see it as a “must have” when selecting a barrel. Cryo treatment does sound “good” in theory though…
It was all the rage for the varmint crowd in the '90s. Any self-respecting .220 swift or .22-250 shooter was getting their bull barrel or entire barreled action cryo’ed. I had my .22-250 and .17 Rem done after I raced through a .243 barrel by slinging 55grain bullets at @4100fps.
It seemed like good money sense for a varmint barrel. $60-$80 for an extra 500 or so rounds of minute-of-gnats ass, but for a chromed-lined, minute-of-center mass carbine, I’d just put the money aside for a new barrel.