Hard chrome or Cryptic Coatings Mystic Black. The latter is more expensive than the former.
As far as the Geissele nano coating is concerned, when I shot my GSD for zero it did clean up pretty easily, even the infamous bolt tail. Maybe there’s something to the DLC-ish coatings?
I just cleaned my Geissele Super duty BCG and whatever coating they used cleaned up as good as any coating I’ve used. And I love my NP3 coatings. The bolt and carrier were slicking than an eels goodies. It was unique IMHO. Very impressed.
PB
It is called “Nano Coating”, which I believe is a form of DLC.
+2 on this. I used one of the RCA BCGs in my x39 build (which is a dirty, dirty Russian whore) and it’s amazing how easy it cleans up. I’ve got a few thousand rounds through it and so far the coating is holding up really well. I put a few of them in 5.56 builds as well. To be fair they are not like most other nitride coatings. I am not sure what, in their process, makes it different but you can tell it when you handle them. That and if you buy direct you can spec OCKS be used for your BCG.
Pappabear made mention of how well the Geiselle cleaned up. When I hear “nano”, I think of a sales pitch that you can’t disprove. But maybe the finish is really better.
I’ve always wondered this, is Pappabear your dad?
No. He’s a father… but not my father. We’re about the same age.
(we actually met because Iraqgunz was going to work on his ARs. Turned out we lived 4 miles apart, and started shooting together.)
I gave myself that name years ago because I got on a gun forum and this particular forums was riddled with some cool, some crazy military gun names. And I thought what am I, and my most valued accomplishment was just being a dad. Hence, Pappabear was born.
PB
Thanks for the origin story, gents. I always assumed markm was your son.
Huh, so did I. Guess you do learn something every day after all.
What other nitride carriers are you comparing? I found that a Brownells lightweight nitride carrier cleaned very easily but my other BCGs are phosphate so I wonder if others are better still.
We are both old fckers. I’m just about 10 his older buddy. But that’s it.
Still just hanging in there.
PB
As long as it’s chrome lined it doesn’t matter. Just a regular old milspec phosphate really can’t be improved upon. Everything else is an answer to a problem that doesn’t exist.
This.
I’m a fan of HC.
I’m strongly considering dropping the coin on a chrome BCG due to claims that carbon “literally wipes off.” If true, I’m in.
I have one Hard Chrome Carrier. It’s only downside is that it’s so smooth it doesn’t hold lube in place very well. With the NP3 finish, it’s slick, but still has surface texture that holds lube in place a lot better.
If it came down to one single BCG for my end of civilization gun, it would just be a BCM standard BCG. Maybe a COLT too, but those aren’t as simple to get at this time.
On an AR, mine are either phosphate or nitride. Nitride might be slightly ahead. A good BCG is more important to me than the specific finish.
Now, if we start talking about blowback… like my Stern AR9 or Beretta CX4… nickel boron does an awesome job. Blowback is usually dirty (AR9 is dedicated suppressed firearm, and even worse), so I like an easy clean. My Stern bolt, dry paper towel can clean like 95% of the carbon. Don’t really want to mess with my ultrasonic all the time.
Also did my AK bolt group… mainly because I was redoing the rifle. It was a post-ban WASR, but was my first AK and wanted to keep it around. Did I need a nickel boron bolt group? Nope, but looks cool. Sort of like a Chinese bolt that’s in the white.
I am likely buying a Fulton Legacy Rifle… which is along the lines of a Colt 601. Main reason I’m going Fulton is that I can get it in a current twist rate… and Windham will never get A1 receivers in (I live in Maine and would go direct to buy one). If I could have got a chrome BCG with it, I would have… as it is “correct.” But it isn’t something where I feel like I need to upgrade the BCG or anything. I’m sure phosphate will work.
A few off the top of my head. AIM, RTB, PSA (I think was microbest? back in my poor days.) All cleaned up just fine mind you but the coating on the RCA just feels more slippery if that makes sense? I also have a Young NM chrome BCG as well as the one that came stock in my LWRC currently in the safe. Both clean up just fine but they hold dirt more than the RCA. Right now I have I think 4 rifles with RCA BCGs in the safe on top of the LWRC and Young that I mentioned thats in an older build. Also RCA makes BCGs for a lot of other companies so it may very well be that the Brownells you are referring to was made by them?
Thanks.
I’ve had good luck with a nitride bcg from JP Enterprises. It seems to wipe clean really easily, and doesn’t require that much scraping, even when shot suppressed. I’ve had two hard chrome bcgs from Daniel Defense. They both performed really well, but I seem to remember they still needed scraping at the bolt tail, more than the JP.
Edit: I’ve used Nib bcgs in the past (Failzero, and Lantac), and found they offered no advantages over phosphate. Nib carriers are a waste of money IMO.