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Hardening Parts


JimmyZip

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I have several friends that are artists and have kilns and ovens. (Industrial type ovens capable of melting glass if you need to ) What I was wondering is if you could hone your trigger parts and THEN harden them again? Otherwise is it just better to get the EGW sear? (For a BHP) I have manuals, or rather access to them, that tell you how to harden steel, and feel that I could do a decent job of it.

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As long as you don't cut much off the surface of the part in the first place, you will be fine and it will be the same hardness as before.

The heating of the metal will affect its surface finish, you'd want to touch up the surface again after you're done. Not to mention that the whole part might move around dimensionally with the heating, you might wreck it.

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Jimmy, if you are doing it to gain knowledge of heat treatment and trigger jobs, then by all means, carry on. If you are doing it to try and get a better trigger job, just buy a very high quality tool steel sear and don't count the dollar cost. It takes time and money to make the very best parts. Ideally, something like a sear and hammer set should be made from shock resistant tool steel and machined after heat treatment to insure dimensional integrity. This requires cutters that are more expensive to purchase and they don't last as long as cutters used on softer steel. This expense led to the use of "squirted" parts made by the metal injection molding process. And I'm not disparaging MIM, this is a great process for many things! Many of the "factory" guns actually come with "squirted" hammers and sears. But, these parts are surface hardended after molding, and it is very easy to stone right through the hard surface and into the softer metal in the core. In my opinion, a factory gun that is going to fire 5,000 rounds over its lifetime is just fine with MIM trigger parts. But, a high quality trigger job on a gun that is going to fire several thousand rounds per year should be done with tool steel only. Just my two cents. -Sam

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As long as you don't cut much off the surface of the part in the first place, you will be fine and it will be the same hardness as before.

The heating of the metal will affect its surface finish, you'd want to touch up the surface again after you're done. Not to mention that the whole part might move around dimensionally with the heating, you might wreck it.

That is what I'm thinking. I actually have a couple I found in a parts baggie yesterday. Just thought it might be cool to experiment.

Jimmy, if you are doing it to gain knowledge of heat treatment and trigger jobs, then by all means, carry on. If you are doing it to try and get a better trigger job, just buy a very high quality tool steel sear and don't count the dollar cost. It takes time and money to make the very best parts. Ideally, something like a sear and hammer set should be made from shock resistant tool steel and machined after heat treatment to insure dimensional integrity. This requires cutters that are more expensive to purchase and they don't last as long as cutters used on softer steel. This expense led to the use of "squirted" parts made by the metal injection molding process. And I'm not disparaging MIM, this is a great process for many things! Many of the "factory" guns actually come with "squirted" hammers and sears. But, these parts are surface hardended after molding, and it is very easy to stone right through the hard surface and into the softer metal in the core. In my opinion, a factory gun that is going to fire 5,000 rounds over its lifetime is just fine with MIM trigger parts. But, a high quality trigger job on a gun that is going to fire several thousand rounds per year should be done with tool steel only. Just my two cents. -Sam

Exactly. I do not know if these are suface hardened or not. Was thinking of trying myself but wondering if they seem soft after I work them, can I get them hard again, or will their dimensions be altered substantially?

Thanks, maybe I'll leave well enough alone :mellow:

JZ

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Just to toss my $.02 in...

When I work a hammer and sear I almost always 'cut' through the case hardening on the hammer. When I'm finished I use Kase-Nit (sp?) to redo the surface hardening. Most of the factory hammers are only surface hardened to .003 - .005 so when I cut the hooks to final dimension I'm way past that. I don't want the harder surface of the sear to wear away at the hammer hooks (bad news there) so re-hardening the hammer hooks gives me peace of mind that it won't fail. It's fairly simple to do (MAPP gas torch) if you follow the instructions.

Otherwise definitly buy quality parts (A2 tool steel) and be at ease from the get go.

Joe

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I've made and heat treated links, but for something like a hammer, or sear, just buy good parts.

I do have an early P-14 hammer in one of my guns. It was the victim of a bad trigger job when I got it. I recut the angle, and didn't expect it to last. I have put 10,000 plus rounds on it, and have not had one lick of trouble.

Edited by wide45
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You mentioned Hipower, something I have alot of experience with. Save yourself the time and trouble and order tool steel hammer and sears. A stock hammer works well with a stock sear, add a hardened tool steel sear to the factory hammer and you'll wear it out quickly. The baggie of sears you found were removed by someone who installed most likely Cylinder and slide parts.

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Once again Joe you hit it on the head. I called the guy I bought the last HiPower from and asked what the extra sears were from, he said he had them left over from when his gunsmith did the triggers on his pistols. He only sold me one of them, the other is from the pistol he kept. He had for gotten them in the guncase.

The triggers are actually good now. That is why I think I'll leave well enough alone.

JZ

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Oh one other thing, the safety and sear are fit together replacing a sear may mean replacing the safety. A typical trigger job for a Hipower for me consists of a C&S sear, hammer, and safety, and a 26lb mainspring.

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