Knife steels & firearm steels

[Uncle Bill]

Anybody know how they compare chemically? What the heat treat differences are? How firearm brands differ among themselves? What Ruger uses for a stainless barrel? Remington for a blued one? Whether a gun barrel steel could ever be used for a knife and vice versa? Etc.




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I don't want my children fed or clothed by the state, but I would prefer THAT to their being educated by the state.

 

[johno]

Firearm barrels and actions aren't hardened like knives as that would make them too brittle, like some of the early '03 Springfields. I seem to recall that medium carbon steel is often used for barrels, and that the 400 series is often used for stainless barrels as it can be readily hardened. Case hardening is sometimes used, where wear properties and toughness need to be balanced.

 

[Uncle Bill]

Come on, guys! Surely somebody else knows something about this.

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I don't want my children fed or clothed by the state, but I would prefer THAT to their being educated by the state.

 

[Cougar Allen]

The main considerations in gun steels are low cost and easy machinability, which is even more important to keep costs down. Guns are not a demanding application.

When the first stainless guns were made they were a harder, longer wearing grade of steel than was in common use at the time, and some people bought them because of that more than for corrosion resistance -- but those steels were hard to machine, so the manufacturers found stainless alloys as soft as the medium and low carbon steels they had been using and switched to them.

In recent years there's been some improvement in the steels used in some barrels, and you might possibly find a barrel that could be forged into a more or less decent knife ... but if you're looking to the gun trade for the next super-steel for knives, forget it. Sorry.

-Cougar Allen :{)