Stainless vs Chrome-moly receivers
- Thread starter corning
- Start date
Personaly i would always pick CM reciever over any SS .At least you can not fiction weld the SS barrel to CM reciever , that is quite doable on SS on SS combo. Not many sturctural items in this world are SS for good reason, as SS is a shity material by any standard. SS in guns is mostly used for looks
I bought a used CM Rimrock BR action SR score rifle. Talked to Borden about it. He told me he only made about 6 of these. He told me that he preferred SS over CM. He said that the biggest disadvantage is CM does not stay as straight while being machined. He said that there is a minor advantage that CM has is that it stretches a little less under load than SS but not enough to be worth while.
Sorry to disagree on this for one point: CrMo stretching depend on the alloy used, Some are absolutely stretch-free.
SS is often preferred for the shiny aspect and the claim of corrosion resistance. Modern surface treeatments of CrMo even do better in those two aspects with the added advantage of obtaining a harder surface and reducing friction:
Electroless Nickel give a matt surface finish and some 55HRC.
Chrome or Niclel electrolitic plating allow shine even better than SS.
Melonitegive a dark black finisH with some 60HRC.
DLC-PVD gives a dark blachk finish with over 65HRC.
There is also other PVD coatings giving differebtcolours ; old silver, gold with hardnesses over 70HRC
R.G.C
c.g.designs-blog4ever.com
I'm no engineer and Borden is. I'm just quoting on what he told me. He makes actions and I'm sure he knows a thing or two about what he's talking about.
Sorry if I hurt you. This was not my intention.
I just expressed my opinion, if of some value ....
R.G.C
mikeeg02
Michael Glantz
I was talking with an older, very competitive short range friend of mine(who's been in the game a loooooooong time) on the subject of nitride and chromemoly. It was his opinion that he wouldnt want to nitride a CM bolt/action because he feared the heat treat would affect the properties of the alloy. It would still surface treat, but his concern would be how it affected the material itself. When I talked to Kelbly's about it, they had said they had done tons of CM actions in nitride, mostly ones people sent in to them to have done.
Not knowing how the heat would affect the alloy always made me curious. Nitride sure does make for a nice finish IMO. All my Kelblys are nitride. Wouldnt have it any other way.
Not knowing how the heat would affect the alloy always made me curious. Nitride sure does make for a nice finish IMO. All my Kelblys are nitride. Wouldnt have it any other way.
I'm not hurt at all. Everyone has a right to their own opinion whether it's right or wrong. I just figured after all these years of being an engineer and building his own stuff that he has some idea what he's talking about.
R
R.G.C is a engineer with bunch of actions , triggers and sights to his name built on 4 different continents . Most recent is the new Giessele Super 700 trigger , that is evolution of a design he licenced to Geissele
Like said nothing precision made or structural is realy made in SS unless its requred to be biocompatible (medicine ,food industry) ,acid resistant or some other niche aplications ,most machine parts ,anythign realy structuraly loaded is steel ,tools, machines , wrenches , turbines down to your lawn mower , of course there a bazilion differnet steel fomulations and grades stability when machining and heat treating is dependent both from grade but also quality of the supplied grade .
But coming back to actions , of course SS actions work just great and manufacturers mastered making them, for some CM is just out of comfort zone that is all and as said SS is shiny and also any blueprinting is 'invisible' with CM that is coated things have to be blueprinted before the protective coatings and/or surface treatments are applied ,for custom action maker SS is an easyer sell smilar story on the barrel materials.
Surface treatments availible to CM are one of the things that should slowly tilt the scales for more people towards CM custom actions. Its one thing to grease your SS action and lugs all the time and another if the material is treated to have glass hard and slick surfaces
R.G.C is a engineer with bunch of actions , triggers and sights to his name built on 4 different continents . Most recent is the new Giessele Super 700 trigger , that is evolution of a design he licenced to Geissele
Like said nothing precision made or structural is realy made in SS unless its requred to be biocompatible (medicine ,food industry) ,acid resistant or some other niche aplications ,most machine parts ,anythign realy structuraly loaded is steel ,tools, machines , wrenches , turbines down to your lawn mower , of course there a bazilion differnet steel fomulations and grades stability when machining and heat treating is dependent both from grade but also quality of the supplied grade .
But coming back to actions , of course SS actions work just great and manufacturers mastered making them, for some CM is just out of comfort zone that is all and as said SS is shiny and also any blueprinting is 'invisible' with CM that is coated things have to be blueprinted before the protective coatings and/or surface treatments are applied ,for custom action maker SS is an easyer sell smilar story on the barrel materials.
Surface treatments availible to CM are one of the things that should slowly tilt the scales for more people towards CM custom actions. Its one thing to grease your SS action and lugs all the time and another if the material is treated to have glass hard and slick surfaces
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R.G.C. has designed some outstanding actions. His preferred action material is B-U K600 which is hardened to 52 HRC.
Probably not the easiest material to work with and no doubt would be not the material of choice by action makers. This alloy is tough with excellent strength and impact resistance hence the use in coining presses and the like. I doubt you could appreciatively wear an action made of this material over many thousands of cycles.
Probably not the easiest material to work with and no doubt would be not the material of choice by action makers. This alloy is tough with excellent strength and impact resistance hence the use in coining presses and the like. I doubt you could appreciatively wear an action made of this material over many thousands of cycles.
The US equivalent is 6f7. It is rated as a tool steel of good machineabilitry,not as a construction grade as 4140 or 4340 for instance. Its main advantage is its total stability under heat treatment ensuring total absence of warping allowing closer tolerances.
R.G.C
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