Metal Detectors

[Tankcommander]

The hand wands are the ones that pick up pennies and foil. The walk through picks up large amounts of metal. The hand held emits a much more sensitive but smaller magnetic field. I work with all this stuff so I have some experiance,though I don't want to say who for. If the operators are sharp its difficult to get some thing large through. Though the female breast area is a sensetive subject.

TC

 

[HankB]

I have no idea what would happen if you tried to fashion a firearm completely from 316 stainless.

I'm not an expert in metallurgy, but IIRC the 300-series stainless alloys are very corrosion resistant, but don't respond well to heat treatment. The 400- series stainless alloys can be heat treated, but aren't as corrosion resistant.

Wasn't there some sort of law passed a few years back mandating a certain amount of steel in firearms to assure detectability? (That's may be why they're not importing the famous porcelain Glock 7 from that Bruce Willis movie. )

 

[armoredman]

Our detectors are very sensitive - will pick up metal boot shamks, watches, badges, belt buckles, change, anything. I had one go off when a civilian female employee was coming into the unit for the first time, and wasn't aware of a restriction on a certain female undergarment. To make a long story short, instead of waiting for a female officer to arrive to pat search her, she sinply showed me her underwire...both sides....I am absolutely positive there was nothing else in there....my Main Control officer will never be the same....

 

[Father Knows Best]

I'm not an expert in metallurgy, but IIRC the 300-series stainless alloys are very corrosion resistant, but don't respond well to heat treatment. The 400- series stainless alloys can be heat treated, but aren't as corrosion resistant.

You are correct. The austenitic (300 series) alloys cannot be heat treated, but they are very corrosion resistant. The martensitic (400 series) can be hardened via heat treatment.

 

[SLCDave]

Tom Said: I have heard that sandwiches of ferrous and non-ferrous metals will not be detected.

I usually make my sandwiches with wheat bread and turkey or ham... I haven't had them set off a detector either.

The secret is in the sandwich...

 

[armoredman]

White bread, ham and swiss, mustard and mayo, doesn't set off the detector but does produce a gut rumble....
Seriously, find a harmless sandwiched metal item, and try to take it through an innocuous metal detector, like at a library....

 

[geekWithA.45]

I've found a slight mag field helps.

I had a flat pocket knife that I retired recently. Back in the old days, I'd take it on airplanes with me. It'd always setoff the metal detector, at which point the guard would take a look at it and wave me through.

Way back in ancient history, I was rocking out in my room, and for reasons that made perfect sense to me at the time, I fed my favorite pocket knife to the speaker magnet on my guitar amp, and forgot about it for a few days.

Naturally, it took on a magfield, which weakly persists to this day.

It hasn't bleeped a metal detector since.

It would be interesting to sort out the science behind that phenomena.

 

[TaxPhd]

This is interesting. I have a 10" titanium plate and 10 screws holding my left tibia together. I have never set off a metal detector.



Scott