I was told by Mike Orlen, in a conversation, that the chrome lining in shotgun barrels bears no resemblance at all to a chrome plated car bumper, for example. He said that the chrome in a barrel is done in such a way that it can never, and will never, flake off, and is indeed permanently bonded to the steel. This flaking that I have witnessed on car parts is due to rusting underneath, it seemed to me, as you mentioned, Ted.
I was concerned that, if I got him to lengthen forcing cones on an Italian O/U with chromed bores, it might lead to flaking off of the plating adjacent to the machining. He said not that it could not happen.
Personally, I've never witnessed a failure of any kind with the chrome lining of barrels. Has anyone here ever seen such? What I do find is that they're a heckuva lot easier to thoroughly clean than an unlined barrel, and a thousand times less prone to corrosion of any type.
SRH
