I was looking at a RBL 12 bore on Tonys site and was wondering what this Tuff Bore stuff is ?

"The bores are then coated with our trademarked Tuff Bore™ process, allowing you to shoot steel shot or any other shot that we know of."

Is it anything similar to Armor Tuff Protective Firearms Finish ?
How long before it wears off?

Scroll down to #15 here:

http://www.a10american.com/FAQPage/FAQPage.html

OB

Lou said " it's hard chrome"

bill

I believe it's titanium nitride plating. Same stuff as on the tips of those gold drillbits in the hardware store.

Titanium nitride plating is too thin to be good coat for steel shot. This type of plating on triggers do not last too long.

It's hard chrome not titanium nitride. I have a RBL-12 32 incher with > 600 rounds through it on sporting courses and some hunting with steel and bismuth. I always scrub the barrels of anything I shoot after 100 rounds on a clays course, using a Brownells heavy duty bronze bore brush to eliminate plastic wad buldup, and the RBL is the ONLY gun I own that shows heavy copper color on the patch (from the scrub brush). From this I conclude the Tuff Bore coating is pretty darn hard.

Chuck and Geno are correct, the titanium nitride (derivative of nitrate per CSMC) used on RBL's is used to create the gold colored protective finish on the triggers and some internal parts. I have heard mixed reviews on how durable it is; my personal take is it depends on the thickness of the TiN coating. Silvers

Frank,
I believe TiN is harder than hardchrome. My tool manufacturing friend has been putting TiN on cutters now for about 20 yrs. Hardchrome is not used as much as it was prior to TiN coming around. Now, even chinese drillbits can be had with TiN. It's on everything these days.

Lou is a salesman. He does his job well, but he's not a technical guy, IMO.

I don't recall why I believe it's TiN, but I think I saw something to give me that impression while at CSM. Still, I could be wrong.

Is the bore a silver or gold color?

Chuck thanks for your reply. I've used drill bits with TiN coating and sometimes they hold up, and at other times the coating is gone after one hole is drilled. The bores of my RBL-12 look nice and shiny, regular steel/chrome/silver look. They are very much different than the gold colored triggers, hammers, etc. on the RBL's. Frank

Frank,
That makes sense. Hardchoming bores has been done for quite a while and understanding how to do it well has matured.

TiN on drill bits - I allways thought its for corrosion protection and I'll never believe its for hardness, once again the layer of TiN is too thin to add some hardness to surface. Its like case colors.

TiN is covered pretty well here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_nitride

It has a wide variety of applications besides as a wear
resistant coating.

OB

Thanks guys.
Appreciate the links OB.


Hard -Chrome 72 RC
Diamond-chrome 85 RC
TiN 90 RC