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heat treating receivers

st1300

Plastic
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Can any one share there experince on how to heat treat receivers for hardening, I have a FAL receiver I need to harden after machining. would you use Kasinite to do it?
 
My experience with Kasinite is that there is a limit to the size of the part you can harden correctly. I think that a FAL receiver would not be able to be covered uniformly and thus would not hard in an even and consistant manner.
 
I think a FAL reciever would need to be through hardened esp in the area of the locking shoulder. Local flame hardening might do the trick but could require some experimentation. Another option (probably the best) would be to find a local shop that could handle the heat treating and send it out, I know this is alost blasphamy to the DIY guys. The aluminum WAC receivers that were on the market a while back were surface hardened (hard coat anodized), the big problem wasn't wear on the surface but the metal not having the structural strength to handle the pressures.
 
I remember something about US made FAL rec. being only locally treated in certain areas, as opposed to the whole thing being brought to temp, quenched, then drawn. I would think warpage would be a major problem with the later. You may be able to get some info. from DS Arms, or Entreprise Arms. It'l depend on who you can get on the phone and weather they feel like sharing info. with you, or not. These rec. are not as hard as many think they are. I've cut DS rec. for L1A1 folding cocking handles, and they cut ok with high speed cutters, as I recall. Try that on an M14 rec. Those things are HARD!
Pete
 
If you know the type of steel ( often 4140 )You can have a commercial heat treater do it. There was a place in Nevada or Utah that specialized in re heat treating rifle receivers. I'll look for the name tommorow if you would like me to. Kasinite only goes about 10 thou deep and would not be my choice on an FN.
 








 
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