MMCSRET
Member
All this love is leading me to premature ejection.
What are guns made of?
- Thread starter LoneCoon
- Start date
- Status
BADUNAME37
Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
- Messages
- 4,434
We will have none of that on this site.
Although, I'll admit, it was a clever statement!
Although, I'll admit, it was a clever statement!
Last edited:
leadcounsel
member
The blood of fallen heros fighting for freedom...
Macmac
Member
The question is too wide of a question..
Any stable wood, usually a tight grain hard wood such as birch beech maple, walnuts are medium hard. Fruit woods are hard and used at times on custom guns.
Any of the above can come from Euro and the USA.. if you consider Russia a part of Euro. I am sure there are other wood types but I live in NH, and so am limited..
Metals varry widely, most any tool steels not hardened, can be made into locks and actions, with limited parts hardened.
many kinds of Stainless Steels.
Brass these days is trim, but back in the day of black powder barrels were made of brass and bronze, and the term gun bronze came from casting ordinance (cannon)
I can't say I really even understand the question..
Any stable wood, usually a tight grain hard wood such as birch beech maple, walnuts are medium hard. Fruit woods are hard and used at times on custom guns.
Any of the above can come from Euro and the USA.. if you consider Russia a part of Euro. I am sure there are other wood types but I live in NH, and so am limited..
Metals varry widely, most any tool steels not hardened, can be made into locks and actions, with limited parts hardened.
many kinds of Stainless Steels.
Brass these days is trim, but back in the day of black powder barrels were made of brass and bronze, and the term gun bronze came from casting ordinance (cannon)
I can't say I really even understand the question..
A little searching of "Ordnance Steels" with Google will get you the following:
1137 Carbon steel
4140 Chrome moly
8620
416R stainless.
All are heat treated after machine work to relieve stresses, and annealed - meaning tempered dead soft. That is because of the heat build up that would draw the temper out anyway - no sense having blowups, make it dead soft and as strong in cross section as required.
Unlike knife steels that are drawn to RC 54-62, gun steels are not. Ever.
Hi performance barrels seem to use the higher graphite and carbon materials to resist wear, cheap barrels use a low grade high phosphorous and lead alloyed steel because it reduces machining costs. Strength is an afterthought.
If you are buying a barrel, a quality maker should be happy to tell you exactly what the material is. After all, he's paying the insurance tab, and they don't want to shell out on a liability suit cutting corners. So, buy direct, or a recognized name in barrel making circles.
Polymer is a catch all term - but the most used is fiberglass reinforced nylon type 66. The Remington Nylon 66 started this off long ago, in the early '60s. Glass content affects the strength considerably, low glass increases flexibility and deformation, high glass increases strength with a corresponding increase in molding costs due to the higher pressures. You can quickly tell the difference in comparing a cheap import FRN knife handle to a high quality designer from a reputable maker. One's greasy and flexible, the other has a dry, stiff feel similar to G10 fiberglass.
When it comes down to it, guns by their very nature are much simpler metalurgically, and have simple stress relief treatments. Knife steels are completely the opposite, exotic high alloys with expensive heat treats and cryogenic tempering.
Which make a S30V Bos heat treated Titanium framelock a lot more sophisticated than a dumb ol' 1911.
1137 Carbon steel
4140 Chrome moly
8620
416R stainless.
All are heat treated after machine work to relieve stresses, and annealed - meaning tempered dead soft. That is because of the heat build up that would draw the temper out anyway - no sense having blowups, make it dead soft and as strong in cross section as required.
Unlike knife steels that are drawn to RC 54-62, gun steels are not. Ever.
Hi performance barrels seem to use the higher graphite and carbon materials to resist wear, cheap barrels use a low grade high phosphorous and lead alloyed steel because it reduces machining costs. Strength is an afterthought.
If you are buying a barrel, a quality maker should be happy to tell you exactly what the material is. After all, he's paying the insurance tab, and they don't want to shell out on a liability suit cutting corners. So, buy direct, or a recognized name in barrel making circles.
Polymer is a catch all term - but the most used is fiberglass reinforced nylon type 66. The Remington Nylon 66 started this off long ago, in the early '60s. Glass content affects the strength considerably, low glass increases flexibility and deformation, high glass increases strength with a corresponding increase in molding costs due to the higher pressures. You can quickly tell the difference in comparing a cheap import FRN knife handle to a high quality designer from a reputable maker. One's greasy and flexible, the other has a dry, stiff feel similar to G10 fiberglass.
When it comes down to it, guns by their very nature are much simpler metalurgically, and have simple stress relief treatments. Knife steels are completely the opposite, exotic high alloys with expensive heat treats and cryogenic tempering.
Which make a S30V Bos heat treated Titanium framelock a lot more sophisticated than a dumb ol' 1911.
Zipperhead
member
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2008
- Messages
- 37
Yup. I qualified with the M-16 in 1975 (USAF). Several of the guys remarked it wouldn't inspire a lot of confidence in your weapon to go into combat with the Mattel Toy CO. logo plainly visible on the buttstock!
Zip
CYANIDEGENOCIDE
Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2008
- Messages
- 476
tirod I have some questions about what you have posted
Hi performance barrels seem to use the higher graphite and carbon materials to resist wear, cheap barrels use a low grade high phosphorous and lead alloyed steel because it reduces machining costs. Strength is an afterthought.
strength is an afterthought when dealing with 65,000PSI? I certainly hope not. I think graphite is actually a carbon compound not its own animal
If you are buying a barrel, a quality maker should be happy to tell you exactly what the material is. After all, he's paying the insurance tab, and they don't want to shell out on a liability suit cutting corners. So, buy direct, or a recognized name in barrel making circles.
unless of course they are using a proprietary blend of custom mix steel which they don't want to divulge to competitor, ala KFC recipe, Coke recipe, Glock polymer recipe...well you get the idea
Hi performance barrels seem to use the higher graphite and carbon materials to resist wear, cheap barrels use a low grade high phosphorous and lead alloyed steel because it reduces machining costs. Strength is an afterthought.
strength is an afterthought when dealing with 65,000PSI? I certainly hope not. I think graphite is actually a carbon compound not its own animal
If you are buying a barrel, a quality maker should be happy to tell you exactly what the material is. After all, he's paying the insurance tab, and they don't want to shell out on a liability suit cutting corners. So, buy direct, or a recognized name in barrel making circles.
unless of course they are using a proprietary blend of custom mix steel which they don't want to divulge to competitor, ala KFC recipe, Coke recipe, Glock polymer recipe...well you get the idea
- Status
