Cryogenic Processing for Gun Barrels
Editiorial - Precision Shooting - March 1995
Barrel Freezing PS columnist Geza Nagy first mentioned the idea of barrel freezing in our December, 1994 issue... wherein he described a barrel that was shooting in decidedly mediocre fashion for 500 rounds or so... at which point it was removed from the rifle... "frozen"... and suddenly it began shooting like the proverbial hammers of hell. Geza is a dispassionate writer by nature, and not at all inclined to go off on emotional tangents, or following the little red wagons of life. We contacted the company.. and persuaded their president to author an article for us, explaining just what the heck their process entailed. That article appears in this (March) issue. Now, flash forward to January 31st, and the plot commences to thicken... at a remarkable rate... when Merrill Martin called us. For some reason, Merrill was speaking at what was just about a (conspiratorial) whisper. (Is it possible that he is being held for ransom, and he has somehow gotten to a phone?) "Uh... David... that Gena Nagy report about rifle barrel freezing in the December issue... it... uh... was of some interest to me... so I sent a couple of barrels off to them". "Okay, Merrill. So...?" (Dammit, now he's got me whispering as well...). "Uh... David... I've now had six barrels treated by them... and every confounded one of them has shot better... some much better... after the treatment. These were not new barrels... each and every one of them, I knew quite well exactly what it was... or was not... capable of. What the treatment did to a couple of previously ho-hum rimfire barrels was just about amazing". Before Merrill rung off (still whispering), I had promised... on mother's grave... that the new barrel that Jim Borden was about to install on my Hickory Egg Shoot gun rifle would go off (for processing) .. immediately. I called the company president to tell him that the barrel was coming... and he remarked that all the sudden... rifle barrels were coming through the door like there was no tomorrow.
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