For those of you who have experience having bolt action actions re-hardened by a third party service:

1. Who is your first choice for this work in the U.S.? Is there such a thing as "fast and good" in this industry?
2. In addition to standard case hardening, is there a standout in this specialty for French grey treatment that comes to mind.
3. A ballpark cost for either is also appreciated.

CB

Do a search as it has been addressed many times.

Good idea. Found a few few leads, could use more input for French grey. Thanks.

Try these two. I had a couple of pre 64 Win 70 fire damaged actions done by Blanchards, but both are great for mausers.

Blanchard Metal Processing Company
1115 South Pioneer Rd.
Salt Lake City, UT 84104
(801)972-5590
http://www.bmproc.com/index.html

Pacific Metallurgical Inc.
925 5th Ave South
Kent, WA 98032
(253) 854-4241
http://www.pacmet.com/contact.htm

IIRC it was PacMet that did mine in ancient times , early '70s. I checked on the processes to see if they seemed acceptable to me a metallurgist. My M98 is still working and there have been no complaints from the deer !

LaPour did one that I purchased (09 Argie). He's now doing another for me (36 Mex). He is busy and you will probably have a wait.

I was under the impression that Ed Lapour does not Heat treat actions himself, but sends them out too a third party.

added:
We as a consumer today, are so fortunate that one can have their ordinary rifle action Heat-treated by highly skilled
and internationally accredited service providers that are also trusted to do work for several large high profile global aerospace companies.

I think that you are right.

How about Classic Guns in Crete, ILLINOIS? Anyone ever give them a try?

I gave you two of the best. Have you called them?

airgun1 gave you the most respected and used in the USA

I use Classic Guns regularly for falling blocks or doubles. I do not know if they will Color Case Harden a mauser or not. You could contact John and ask him. He will be honest with you as to the feasibility of your project. That said, I have a 1903 Springfield heading out to Pac-met next week. This action will be rust blued when finished. Best of luck.
Steve

Airgun and Butch, do you see any reason I shouldn't send the two early Wundhammer Spflds I got from the Petrov collection in to be heat treated ?

Phil, Though I have one factory Springfield, I am certainly not the one to give advice on this.

airgun1: No. I just browsed those websites a bit and as soon as I actually get the action in my hands will give them a call within a couple days. The semi-inlet should be here in another week or two and I still don't have the action. I think the gentleman is serious about selling his action and just needs more time, waiting patiently on pictures.
butch: Those two companies are at the top of my list. Good to know they are highly respected. Thanks.
skb: Thanks for your input as well. I had talked with John. They only do a few bolt actions a year. But quality appears top notch.

Springfields, especially low numbered M1903's are a different animal.

If a later (high numbered) M1903 I would say Blanchards.

If a non-M1903 Springfield there are probably other options, such as Turnbull, but he isn't cheap, and may not do it anyway.

The ones I listed have lots of experience with Mausers.

I thought this was about doing a recase. Didn't see anything about color case. Turnbull colorcased a receiver and blued the rest at a very good price.

So low numbered Springfields might require a different heat treat than Mausers ?

Yes ! Different steels require different HT.
"Hatcher's Notebook" gives a good explaination of the problems of the older steels.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I thought this was about doing a recase. Didn't see anything about color case. Turnbull colorcased a receiver and blued the rest at a very good price.

I don't think Turnbull will do Mausers any longer.

I do not think you will find anyone to do a low number M1903 period. There is no help for the bad ones and I doubt anyone would risk their reputation hoping it was a good one to start with.

Call Pac-met and see. I am sending them 2 later Springfields. I did not ask about the earlier ones. Personally I do not see them as a big risk to shoot but that is just one mans opinion.
Steve

SKB, are the 2 Springfields the double heat treated or Nickel Steel? Do the Remington 03/03A3 need to be reheat treated?

Butch; Your observation is correct. I was thinking color-cased and just said case-hardened in my OP. I had initially thought anyone that could do one could do the other. It's apparent that is not always the case with some shops like the 2 posted here by airgun1 as the website on each made no mention of CCH-ing.

As for the French white option, my research shows that French white can be obtained by lightly polishing away the color-case effect which I believe is pretty much laying on the top of the surface.

IF the action that spawned this post doesn't end up in my possession, I have another small ring action that was cleaned up on the front ring that I may update for the new stock including a basic case hardening so I can shoot some hopped up hand loads So, all options here will be considered.

1. CCH 2. French white 3. Re-case hardened only/rust-blued.

Thanks to all. Hope this blows away any smoke.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert: I thought this was about doing a recase. Didn't see anything about color case. .

Phil, were they mine, I would not try to reharden an original Wundhammer Springfield, simply because they would no longer be original, and thus the value would be diminished. After rehardening, the metal would likely require some minor polishing and would need rebluing. If you want to shoot them, do so, as-is, and just use milder loads if that worries you.

Jim,
both were late 1903's, not a3/03's, one a Remington the other a Rock Island. The reason for heat treating this time is because square bridges were welded on. The original heat treatment of both actions was fine.
Steve

My question was mostly academic. I certainly intend to do a little shooting and hunting with the rifles with mild 30-06 loads.

Phil,
1903s made by Springfield Armory below serial no. 800,000 and Rock Island under serial no. 285,507 are called low number 03s, these guns have single heat treated receivers and should not be fired...

the rest is mostly he said she said, won't stand up in court so I've been told. At any rate old friend bring by next time your down this way and Ill put on my welding mask and work you some hot loads

Actually if they fit the above ser. numbers I would shoot any safe maximum load in them. Those test were run by the NRAs Whites Lab. some years ago.

While on this subject I will add to what others have said. Different steels/steel alloys take different heat treating. Different applications need different hardness.

If you know the steel and hardness specified by the manufacturer that is fine. If not Blanchards and PacMet can test the steel with I believe a Spectrograph and determine the hardness specified. This will add to the cost.

I know gunsmiths who weld square bridges on and then do not reheat treat. They say they know what they are doing and don't let anything get hot. This always bothered me. I normally would not see an undamaged "High Number" Springfield as needing reheat treated. I think that I would get those welded on square bridged receivers reheat treated myself. I am far from expert, but that is my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Oh, I have welded a few mauser square bridges on; the heat does not get anywhere near the ring, so it is definitely safe.

maybe airgun1 is referring to people who weld bridges onto both front and rear.

Number one, I said I am by no means an expert. Yes I was referring to double square bridges. I worry about the temper, metallurgy or whatever being altered.

I just buy Ruger MKIIs and forget all this foolish.