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I thought that "hard" chrome was applied directly to the steel substrate and used slightly different "chemistry" and current density and a chrome wire electrode, (anode) up the bore centre-line.
As opposed to the "decorative" chrome that is laid on old-style car bumpers over a very thin copper base layer.
A little light reading:
http://www.finishing.com/faqs/chrome.html
Our Bren and GPMG barrels were hard chrome as described
Seems not the US barrels in the M14s. There's cross sectioned views in US Rifle M14: From John Garand to the M21 by R. Blake Stevens. Seemed odd to me as well. But having removed large swaths of chrome from one TRW barrel with not much effort, I tend to believe it. Thing still shoots well, as good as some of my match barreled rifles, but expect it to "die" any year now.
Too bad I haven't sorted a way to make photos utilizing the borescope, as it's really ugly, but hasn't been a priority.