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How do you "heat treat" stainless? Do you heat it, cool it? nothing? I'm curious... | ||
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400 series stainless steels can be heat treated -- heat, quench, temper. The heat temperature will vary depending on alloy but is generally around 1600°F. Quenching is normally done in oil. It will then be brittle unless it is tempered. The tempering temperature depends on the application. Most stainless centerfire actions and barrels are 400 series. 300 series cannot be heat treated. 300 series are not normally used for firearm receivers and barrels except for rimfires. They may be used for less critical parts like screws, triggerguards, etc. Then there are the precipitation hardening stainless steels such as used for Freedom Arms revolvers, 17-4PH and the like. They can be heat treated at relatively low temperatures. I haven't worked with them so I don't know the details. They are pretty spendy, but are stronger. | |||
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416 stainless (most barrels are made of this) can be hardened to RC 42 or so in a vacuum furnace. I send my dies to a shop in Baltimore that provides this service. | |||
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Thanks... Lets say you have a finished SS heavy barrel, and you want to flute it. Would this be difficult for a smith to do with out screwing something up? Would I expect the same level of accuracy from the re-finished bbl? My firsth thoght is no. With my limited knowlege of mechanichs of materials, my intuition says that stresses are either going to be induced or releived during the process, and either way the barrel has a pretty good chance of not being quite as good as previous. Could someone explain the process of doing this to a bbl? Thanks again. | |||
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You are correct, theoretically speaking. The same is true when a barrel is turned to a lighter profile. Yet it is done all the time. Custom barrel makers stress relieve (temper) their barrels several times at various stages of the manufacturing process to minimize these effects. Why flute? Fluting is a gimmick. It does not make the barrel stiffer, as often claimed. Varmit Al has a nice article on the fallacy of barrel fluting. | |||
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An excellent reply...thanks Popenmann May I add that one can heat treat a cold chisel with a gas torch.....but please don't let anyone heat treat your action unless he has a controlled furnace and they run about $6,000 and up. Heat treating is a serious science and not to be left to amateurs. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gunsmithing heat treating/hardening stainless
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