Chrome Face Receivers

[Bubba1]

[Jersey Devil]

What was the purpose of the chrome face?

[Bubba1]

Back in the day, they actually repaired things instead of throwing them away. If the receiver was out of spec. and allowed the barrel to over index the armory would chrome the face of the receiver to build it up and bring it back into spec. so it could be used. Nowadays they just chuck it and make another one. It is not uncommon to find parts that have had chrome added to them in out of spec. areas to bring them back into spec.

[M14]

Kind of funny actually. All they had to do was swage the barrel shoulders. Quick and simple, takes seconds to do with the proper tool.
Reminds me of a guy I knew once. You would ask him directions to someplace you were all talking about at the range, with good deals on guns and ammo,
and he would say...."You can't get there from here."

[RCS]

Back in the 1980's, Tony Pucci use to publish a newsletter every two or three months and he once did an article on chrome faces on receivers. I have also come across a few
too. There is some debate on new production during the war years as to the use of swaging new production barrels or repairing the receivers.

While on the subject of using chrome, years ago my friend owned SA 544121 excellent condition and purchased at Klein's in Chicago. The barrel was dated
S-A 10-41 D35448-7 REP 33A and the TE was just over 1.0. There were British proofs on the front end of this barrel and the gas port area was chromed like
the post war barrels !

Ed Byrns also found SA 501023 with London proofs and a S-A 9-41 barrel with chrome plated gas port area and still with the "flat" flush nut too.

It is thought that new production barrels that were undersize at the gas port area were salvaged by chrome plating

[Bubba1]

Springfield was experimenting with different ways of doing things and trying to find the best, easiest, and cheapest way also . Rolling the shoulders on a barrel does work but not in all instinces . Another thing is if the shoulders are rolled the barrel may not work on another receiver without doing more work to it or if it is not properly done then it would also have more work done to repair it. Now you would have two components to work on instead of one . I believe it is more common to see the edges rolled on the barrels for repair later on . The receivers shown are prewar and there was an issue in 1938 with several having been out of spec. in this area . So what would be easier , repairing the receivers or repairing the barrels ? There is always more than one answer to a problem and sometimes more than one solution .

[M14]

I get all that and fully understand, but coming from the standpoint of someone that does this every day for a living, it just makes no sense to me. If you think about how many layers it would take, and the expense it would be to plate enough thickness to make any difference in how a barrel clocks, it's a pretty screwy idea. We are talking microns of chrome here, not thousandths.

I have taken obemeyer and douglas heavies and rolled the shoulders for one customer, they shot them 3500 rds. I took them off and another customer wanted them on their rifles, worked the shoulder quickly, minutes, and back on another receiver and in business again. Never a complaint or issue with the builds, nothign coming loose or shooting loose, or shooting around corners. Swage, file or roll, and swage again if necessary for next receiver, never had any problem making a barrel fit the many out of spec receivers I have built through the years, and I've done a lot of them, every kind of barrel under the sun too.

The premise of the military ever barreling one receiver, then removing the barrel to use on another receiver, I just don't see that happening much either. Why would they? when they have all those billions of stolen tax dollars they forcibly took from people, to buy millions of new barrels with?

[Bubba1]

It really doesn't matter wether it makes sense to you or not. You are looking at it from a standpoint of your own experience not history. You're idea of the military not reusing parts is quite flawed, at least back then. Nowadays you may be correct in your assumptions , but we are not talking about today and these receivers were made and used some 70 years ago. They also were used and repaired in the field during wartime not at a gunsmiths shop for hunting or pleasure use.

[Orlando]

I remember seeing a IHC done the same way a few years ago

[Jersey Devil]

Also, to add, they did this with M14 bolts and made them into test bolts. I have seen more than a couple M14 bolts that were chromed on the face, and some even on the lugs, to bring them to test-gage-specs and used, like I said, as test bolts.

[M14]

It really doesn't matter wether it makes sense to you or not. You are looking at it from a standpoint of your own experience not history. You're idea of the military not reusing parts is quite flawed, at least back then. Nowadays you may be correct in your assumptions , but we are not talking about today and these receivers were made and used some 70 years ago. They also were used and repaired in the field during wartime not at a gunsmiths shop for hunting or pleasure use.

You're absolutely right there B. I keep forgetting how old I am, at least until I look in the mirror again. Things were so much different way back. When I saw them shove choppers off the deck during the fall of Saigon, I knew what waste the government was capable of. Thanks for posting the pics, I didn't have any of them.

[GunWorks of LA]

Chrome plate doesn't go on in layers it is buildup in an electroplating process. This is done by dipping the receiver hot wax, letting it harden, and then cutting the wax off the face. You then submerge it in an electroplating solution and the longer you leave it submerged in the tank the more buildup you get. But for it to be true it would have to be ground true and flat. You could do this by grinding it back to a .700" barrel ring distance which if the receiver is correct, a correct barrel would clock correctly with out any extra work. Also if you swage a barrel it wouldn't be true and perpendicular unless you refaced the barrel mating face surface after you swage it. It would seem to me that the straighter the barrel was lined up with the center-line of the receiver the straighter it would shoot. I just saying!!

[CCyooper]

I was reading Bodyman's post regarding repair pins/screws and he mentioned chromed receiver faces so I thought I would revive this old thread. This WRA 1.241M has a chromed receiver face with a WRA barrel that looks like an original combo to me.. CMP purchase. For the gurus out there, do you think this could be an original barrel combo or do you think it was done later during repair? I don't believe it was something the CMP did because it looks like it was together forever and it was a field grade. Sep 42. I don't have my Canfields handy for a review to see what he was saying about WRA in 42. Regards, CC

[Bubba1]

CMP wouldn't have done that. Too much effort and cost. Definitely done by one of our arsenals. Now as to who and when is unknown. There were some parts that were chromed during WWII . Most, I think , were done afterwards. No way of really telling as to exact hen it was done , unfortunately.

[CCyooper]

Paul, thanks for the comment and information. I suspected the CMP would not have plated the receiver but I thought it was possible they could have added the barrel. Since it has a WRA barrel do you think it could have been done by WRA during the initial build? Most of my ref material is at the other house, the earliest TB I have appears to be 1953 and it says to send the receivers back to RIA for plating if they cannot be done locally.