Rifle heat treat

Greener Jim

Well-Known Member
Weird one but I was thinking, where do UK rifle makers send their rifles for heat treat? I'm thinking of proper customs like Mayfair, DCR and Valkyrie actions or even the big names like Westley Richards or Holland and Holland.
 
Weird one but I was thinking, where do UK rifle makers send their rifles for heat treat? I'm thinking of proper customs like Mayfair, DCR and Valkyrie actions or even the big names like Westley Richards or Holland and Holland.

Jim, with modern machining techniques ie. EDM and high speed CNC machines i would suspect the material ia already in a "T" condition meaning its already heat treated before machining, the benefits of this are no risk of distortion during heat treatmant of a finished machined action

Ian
 
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I had forgotten about EDM. I know E19t is definitely used by some action makers so what you're saying makes sense and I completely agree.
I was just curious as to whether there existed a heat treaters with an RFD.
 
Muir the recent manufacturers I visited all seem to "heat treat" as in harden actions or surface hardening. Not a problem with modern materials and processes. Even the 98's were hardened as far as I understood. Production pressure and dubious materials of war time production left some soft and some glass-hard.
Some rifle builders require the action to be soft when building and then harden towards the end of the build.
Modern Tool making often through harden before an machining. Expensive machining but can lead to be better quality.
edi
 
I spoke to John at DCR today and what he does is have the metal hardened before machining. That way he can send a tube to a generic heat treaters as it's not a firearm component at that point. When it is back he then turns it in to an action.
 
Normally (I presume) the hardness of a firearm action/bolt is not hardened to the level of some tool steels such as HSS and therefore somewhat easier to machine.
I had a few DCR actions with me in the last half year and they seemed very well made. Hope to have one some day....

edi
 
E.g. Barnard (http://www.barnard.co.nz/) says this for S model actions, didn't bother checking all models.

"The action receiver is of 4340 chrome/moly/nickel steel through hardened to 38Rc and finish machined after surface hardening to ensure concentricity. The bolt is casehardened EN39b, ground and machined after hardening to ensure straightness and concentricity."
 
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