What are guns made of?

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LoneCoon

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Metal, obviously. Wood, sometimes. Polymers, other times.

But obviously they're not just any type of wood, metal, or plastic, other wise we'd see see Raven Arms Aluminum and Tupperware .25 special.

What are the common metals, woods, and polymers used to make modern firearms?
 
other wise we'd see see Raven Arms Aluminum and Tupperware .25 special.
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Aluminum alloy and polymer are not uncommon and are used in many quality firearms. Raven and Jennings on the other hand uses potmetal (zinc) and is the worst material for guns IMO.
 
nylon 6, or derivative
walnut, mahogany, poplar (cetme)
steel 4130 and others
aluminum i couldn't begin to guess
stainless no idea
titanium and scandium alloys
brass
 
As has been discussed here before, "polymer" is a very broad term, and technically includes hamburger meat. "Plastic" is more precise and accurate, but even that is an immensely broad term. The materials which go into plastic pistols are very specific, and are probably not of general interest.

As to metals, here we have some interesting stuff. Titanium and scandium alloys compete with alluminum alloys and "steel" (itself a broad category of alloys of iron, copper and tin, with other metals typically added for desired properties). Then there are the brass and bronze guns, a different family of alloys. Any of these may be overlain with nickel plating or chrome coatings, or treated with various chemical additives and coatings via bluing or parkerization.

Grips can be made of walnut or other wood, with walnut preferred but others perfectly serviceable, or bone, or horn, or rubber, or ivory, or anything you please.
 
guys

I think that he is looking for the metal (polymer or wood type).

While they vary widely, here goes to the best of my knowledge:

Caspain Arms uses 416 stainless for their SS frames and receivers

Sabre defense uses 410 SS for some of their barrels Vanadium steel for others. They use 7075-T6 for their aluminum forgings.

I see if i can dig up some more for ya
 
Yes, thank you. I was looking for alloys, polymer number, and woods.

CYANIDEGENOCIDE Brass? Seriously?
 
LoneCoon: "Brass? Seriously?"

Sure. Mostly these days for blackpowder cap and ball revolver replicas, and for certain lever action rifles. Historically, brass and bronze made everything from handguns to ship cannon. I once designed a bronze submachinegun. Sure, it would fly apart rather quickly, but could you imagine a Roman legion armed with the things?
 
sugar spice and everything nice.



The stocks are normally made of Walnut for rifles with various types of finishes. The stock needs to be of a hard wood. Though maple has also been used.

For the barrel and most areas that will need to handle pressure. 4000 grade type arsonal steel is most used. Now there are several different types of grades with some minimum type required. At least here in the U.S arsonal grade steel is used. Most manufactures have pressure tested certain parts to a certain amount of psi. Thus being able to tell the guns barrel and chamber breaking points. This allows the manufacture to know where the minimums lie for what they are going to use. Internal parts should be Case Hardened to prevent premature where and to keep the actions consistant. Polishing up on the internals has always helped improve the actions of most firearms. So the two main things i can say. Arsonal grade steel and a good hardwood for rifles.
 
As long as my S&W 642

is not made of that cheap white metal that toy guns used to be made of, I really don't care.

Also, as long as it goes BANG every time I touch the "bang button" and as long as it stays in one piece in my hand, I'm happy as a clam!:)
 
let a machinist in on this one :D

there too many alloys of steel, stainless steel and aluminum to name

6061 aluminum is a favorite, also are the 2000 and 7000 series aluminum alloys, im pretty shure good ol' Eugene Stoner came up with an AR-10 model that had an all aluminum barrel. im pretty shure the 2000 series arent used in firearms because they were especially prone to stress cracking and corrosion. 7075-T6 like prelaw09 said...

440 stainless steel and others in its grade (440A, B) are very common in most knife blades. i gest-i-mate there is about 140 types of stainless steel.
300 series is also popular. 316 stainless is what you would call surgical steel.

as far as regular steel, buddy, i dont know, i couldnt even guess how many kinda there are. stuff like low carbon steel is what i used a lot for machining on, because its fairly cheap and also soft, high carbon steel on the other hand is very hard. (a simple rule of thumb)
once again, i cant really say what kind of steel (its exact alloy #) is used in gun parts.

speaking of which, has anybody ever tested a gun barrel for its rockwell hardness? i really want to know now.

self influenced curiosity at its finest:D


and yeah, they a lot of older guns are made with brass. like the brass framed 1858 remington navy cap n' ball revolver that hides under my bed...

i also seen a few derringers (blackpowder) that had solid brass barrels. .32 caliber i think...

sorry, but im not that good into wood. cocobolo is a fine exotic wood used in some grips. most synthstic gun stocks are simply glass filled zythel of something like that.
 
As has been discussed here before, "polymer" is a very broad term, and technically includes hamburger meat.
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Huh?

Polymer: A long molecule consisting of a chain of identical parts, called monomers. A polymer is formed by polymerization, the joining of identical molecules

Source: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/polymer
 
speaking of which, has anybody ever tested a gun barrel for its rockwell hardness? i really want to know now.
Click to expand...

Well, rock creek (might be POF, they get rock creek barrels, so...?) made a new process in which the most (i think) is hardened to about 70+ rockwell!
 
Mikee Loxxer: "Huh? Polymer: A long molecule consisting of a chain of identical parts, called monomers. A polymer is formed by polymerization, the joining of identical molecules"

More, from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymers

"Well-known examples of polymers include plastics and proteins. A simple example is polypropylene, whose repeating unit structure is shown at the right. However, polymers are not just limited to having predominantly carbon backbones, elements such as silicon form familiar materials such as silicones, examples being silly putty and waterproof plumbing sealant. The backbone of DNA is in fact based on a phosphodiester bond.

Natural polymer materials such as shellac and amber have been in use for centuries. Biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids play crucial roles in biological processes. A variety of other natural polymers exist, such as cellulose, which is the main constituent of wood and paper."

Polymers include hamburger meat, as well as other protein compounds.
 
Technically anything past a trimer could technically get called a polymer.

SInce many/most pathogenic bacteria such as E.Coli are coated in a polysaccharide mucus I'd say you have a realllllll good chance that almost all burgers have a significant polymer content..........
 
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