Anyone ever nitride the ram on their press?

Thinking about ordering a new ram for an RC Supreme and sending it off to be nitrided. Anyone ever try this out? I know on custom actions it makes a world of difference in terms of smoothness, and I figured it'd be the same on a reloading press.

I'm willing to be the guinea pig, but before I pulled the trigger I figured I'd see if anyone had done it before?

 

Or just oil the ram once in a while. My Rockchucker is 25 years old. I disassembled it last year for the first time and found essentially no wear on any moving part. Have oiled it a time or two each year and it keeps cranking out straight, concentric ammunition. I added a grease zirk to the horizontal piece where the handle threads and off to another, uh, 'couple' of years.

 

Sounds like a great idea

 

I figure if you can get it done for free it would be an added bragging item

 

Hobo oil.

 

Don't know where you got the info that nitriding increases smoothness. All nitriding does is increase the surface hardness. It doesn't provide any self lubricating properties. Action smoothness is the result of high quality machining and tolerances. One of my jobs was quality control on nitrided gears in aircraft fuel pumps. The heat treatment could warp the rod. If you hardened the ram shaft you would have a hard piece of metal rubbing on the bore which wouldn't be nitrided. Like someone else said I used my RCBS press from 1970 to 2018 without any problems. I bough a new press because I noticed the shell holder wasn't square to the die. I checked for thread slop in the die threads. The new press was square. More important things to spend money on for reloading supplies. Never had any thoughts about smoothness of pushing the case into the die. I use very little force to size my 6BR and 6BRX cases. I don't think any of the high quality actions used by serious bench rest shooters are nitrided. I am positive the BAT and Kelbly actions are not nitrided. I visit Kelbly's shop at least 5 times every year.

 

I'm not trying to solve a problem here. I hobo oil my press up about once a month, but again I go back to the difference it makes on custom actions. If it was going to warp stainless, you'd think it would warp the barrels and actions that are nitrided.

Next time you're in the Kelbly shop, you should ask to look at one of their Atlas Tacticals. I've got a factory nitrided one, and it's smoother than both my polished up CNCed Pandas.

 

What is the difference between black nitriding and nitrided? Kelbly's Atlas Tactical are black nitrided finish.
I have a BAT that is melonited, a form of nitriding.

https://www.kelbly.com/actions-steel-atlas-tactical/

 

A softer surface against a hardened surface won't wear as long as it's lubricated and clean. I don't see any issues with having the ram melonited, nitrided, black nitrided or whatever you want to call a salt bath treatment. Many bolts are nitrided and installed in receivers that are not nitrided and I haven't seen any posts on premature wear.

Edit: Somewhat OT but aluminum engine blocks use steel rings of different HARDER materials. Some are nitrided.

Good writeup on the different types here:

https://www.jepistons.com/blog/piston-ring-materials-explained

 

Looks like I am not correct that they don't nitride actions. Some do and some don't. I am used to looking at Kelbley Panda and Stolle actions they don't look like they are nitrided. Kelbley sends some of their actions to a heat treater. They don't do them their self. Where I worked we only gas furnace nitrided. There are different methods of nitriding, gas, salt pot and plasma. I am surprized the you said BAT are nitrided. Will look into it. Looks like a good area to research. Going back to the original post I think it's a waste of time to harden the press ram shaft. It isn't a high wear part.

 

Grease is a lot easier and cheaper.

 

Melonite is a registered trademark for a specific company's proprietary method of what is basically salt bath nitriding. BAT has the LiFe (Melonite) option listed on their website. I have a B that is 100% Melonited.

https://www.batmachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/action-config-2020A.pdf

 

I hit my with ballistol every once in a while

 

TN (titanium nitride) is a coating and not a heat treatment that pentrates the surface. Looks like an area to learn more about as far as rifles go. A true nitriding process diffuses nitrogen into the surface. Nothing to do with titanium. The process should not be called nitriding but Titanium Nitriding.

FROM BAT:
That is an option we do offer. We send them to TN to get that done. The benefits are that the receiver and bolt will not rust and reduces friction between the bolt and receiver.
Steve P.
Shipping and receiving.
Bat Machine

 

I’d add to ^^ Steve P. that harder surfaces resist galling than softer surfaces do, all other things being equal.

 

I have a REM 700 BDL purchased in 1970. Well over 20,00 rounds thru it. No galling. It's easy to make stuff up.

 

My Kelby Panda TR has had some form of Blackening process done to it , from them . As far as I know . Bolt also .

Mike I have two RCBS , single stage . One is a very old A2 model and I use Liquid Wrench silicone spray on my rams as soon as I feel any drag on them while loading . Any auto parts store or Wal-Mart for about $5.00 a can . Good stuff , Maynard .

 

I’ve never had a problem with 700’s galling, either. If I lock up my brakes at speed, my tires will gall and smear off on the concrete, because they are softer than concrete.

 

The phrase “solution in search of a problem “ comes to mind.

 

Reading the OP, I first thought of chrome plating the ram (cheaper?). Not familiar with nitriding though...