1911 heat treat

tacticalcnc · Apr 19, 2011

I had a gentleman bring me an Auto Ordnance 1911 that accidentally was thrown into a fire. They where able to Fish the pistol from the blazing flames within a few minutes to find the Plastic Hand Grips sliding off in a lump of goo. Fearful of the Flames altering the hardness of the metal i checked the the entire pistol and came up with these results Slide 34 rc, barrel 42 rc, Frame was extremely soft at 4 rc. I was told the Frame was a Cast Steel Frame and that they where not heat treated. Does anyone have any experience with 1911 frames, I'm sure the slide and the barrel are just fine, more curious about the frame.
Thanks

Helix_fr · Apr 19, 2011

Since auto ordinance is low end, its not even worth risking safety to save a cheap frame. They are cast but the rails are hardened. To what Rc I don't know but IMO, not worth even trying.

pogo · Apr 20, 2011

No experience, but I have plenty of opinions!

If the slide still has a good hardness, the critical part of the receiver - the rails - still have adequate hardness. They make 1911 recievers of aluminum, and raceguns of majority plastic. Hardness around the grips doesn't matter in this low stress area.

I would carefully check the hammer and sear, and replace those (and springs) if I had any doubt on hardness.

Otherwise, clean it and shoot it.

ArdRhys · Apr 22, 2011

My drawings of the 1911 government pistol frame do not call for a specific hardness. However my drawings for the slide (4140 or 8650 steel) call for two different hardness values. On the outside it calls for 40-46 HRC and specifically notes the locations for the slide stop and safety cutout, and for the inside where the disconnector slides it calls for 33-46 HRC. The barrel hardness requirement is 53-58.5 (4150 steel), which to me seems a little on the high side. However, I agree with pogo that the sear, hammer, and springs are likely to be most affected, but unfortunately I do not know the hardness requirements for those specific components.

ArdRhys

ogree · Apr 22, 2011

You could contact Auto-Ornance and inquire about sending them the frame to be heat treated.
Explain the situation..........the worst they can do is tell you no.

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1911 heat treat

tacticalcnc

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ogree

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