I am going to build up a M96 in 358 Win with all of the bells and whistles, surface grind and polish, Lapour 3 Pos saftey, hopefully Duanes bottom metal, and a re heat treatment.

Now my question is this; I am looking to case color harden it. Should that be done post or prior to the rehardening?

Adam

your color case hardening will be your rehardening. one and the same.

Mausers are soft. Old Mausers are made of low-carbon steel which does not 'heat-treat' (read harden) very well unless case-hardened by adding carbon to the outer portion of the steel while heating/quenching.

Case-hardening is not case-coloring although it often produces attractive colors. Case-coloring does not necessarily increase hardness unless the operator uses the proper technique.

If your case-coloring is done by a knowledgeable operator to increase hardness then you'll not need any other heat-treatment if the case-coloring/hardening was done properly.
Regards, Joe

The process I am speaking of is CASE COLOR HARDENING. I know not to case harden a mauser and then run it full bore.

So if I Case Color Harden the action and it's done right I don't have to preform another heat treatment to increase the strength and prevent lug set back. Correct?

I want the colors but I need the strength, so case coloring is the way to go, and another heat treatment isn't needed.

Adam

Color case hardening doesn't usally add much carbon to the surface .However it can with added time.
Or you could case harden just to add necessary carbon then as a second step color case harden.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Color case hardening doesn't usally add much carbon to the surface .However it can with added time.
Or you could case harden just to add necessary carbon then as a second step color case harden.

That's what I thought, or at least I was understanding.

I have going to have Blanchards harden it (FalGrunt doing the work) but I will let them know my concerns up front. Any other reccomendations for the task of strengthening and cases coloring a Mauser?

Adam

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Color case hardening doesn't usally add much carbon to the surface .However it can with added time.
Or you could case harden just to add necessary carbon then as a second step color case harden.

I understand that color case hardening will destroy any prior case hardening.

So I will have blanchards harden it and then case color it. Adam

My point is that there is no use in case hardening before color case hardening. Even if done one right after the other by the same shop.

If Blanchard's or any other shop advises you differently, please let us (me) know, I have always been interested in the subject.

Thanks!

Delloro, No !
Case hardening adds carbon to the steel in a thin layer.
Color case hardening adds carbon also but to a thinner layer.
The color case will not take away carbon from a previous case hardening.

Mete, check your PMs please.

You need to consider the process steps separately. Case hardening means first carburizing the surface of the material to the required depth and then quenching it to generate martensite. Carburizing and quenching is usually done together (you quench from the carburizing temperature). However, you could also carburize to the desired depth, slow-cool your workpiece and then perform a separate color case hardening process. The quench involved in that process will still harden your previously carburized surface layer.

A full case hardening cycle (carburizing and quenching) and then a separate color case hardening process would not make sense, since the properties from the first quench would be lost when reheating.

I have no experience with color case hardening; however, in theory it should also be possible to produce a reasonable case depth and the desired color effect in one step.

quote:

Originally posted by JV:
in theory it should also be possible to produce a reasonable case depth and the desired color effect in one step.

This is how the true experts always do it.
Regards, Joe

There are lots of variables here . Mausers typically were plain carbon ,about like our 1020. Today an alloy steel is used like my Lone Star Rolling Block. That's made of 8620 ,color case hardened.
My Mauser M98 had spotty hardening so it was case hardened though not color case hardened .
Try to find what you have and decide what you want to achieve , then proceed from there .

I took a color case hardening class years ago at Trinadad College. Many differant types of steel were case colored. The only problem I saw was someone had a M98 that had already been carbonized by blanchards. When it was color case hardened,right after it was quenched, it started to crack and soon was spider webbed with cracks, It had pretty colors though.

Gentlemen, I know what little I have read about case and case color hardening but I have noticed that ab is talking about a 96 mauser, not a 98. From what I do know about mausers you are not discussing apples to apples...Just a thought