Chrome is an attempt at making a barrel that cleans easier {which the Army feels is a good thing in the field} and maybe might last a little longer if shot "too much too soon", so to speak. I never really saw where the hard chrome lining accomplished either one. I have seen it flake off and the bore looks like a real mess, amazingly though it will still shoot pretty good.
The Army, in their infinite wisdom, figured out that it was not necessarily conducive to accuracy and so none of the barrels they use for match shooting {at the AMU} are chrome lined.
Personally, I never got the "trying to make it last longer" doctrine...the Army has unlimited access to our tax money, why would they care how long a barrel lasts??? Just order another batch.
Bottom line, if I was building an AR for plinking at moderate ranges I wouldn't care if it had chrome lining, but if I was in it to get the smallest groups I could I would pass on chrome lining. Someone above posted the question why so many AR builders use chrome lined barrels??? It's not that they necessarily want/need it either, its that surplus/overrun Army barrels are cheaper so they buy them. I wouldn't throw a chrome lined barrel away, but it wouldn't be my first choice in a rifle I needed to be really accurate either.
This board is primarily made up of bench rest and precision shooters, so I mistakenly thought along those lines and made my comment "tongue in cheek"; just knowing that folks would understand. I regret my post and will hold my tapatalking until I understand the level of sophistication of those I am talking to. My mistake.
