Heat treating receivers

[spitfire_er]

Anyone have the name of someone that can do this and or a price range for heat treating a fire scortched rifle receiver. Price is not a big deal on this one. Only reason is the gun means something to me and I would like to get it shootable again.

thanks.

 

[wapiti25]

you need to have the hardness tested on the reciever before you do anything else. Make any decisions after the hardness tests have been done. It may become a wall hanger. It is tricky to heat treat the second time, you may need to anneal first and then go through a new heat treatment. Do you know what the steel alloy is? All steels are not the same and will react differently. Suface finnish may be changed so the gun may not look the same. Warpage can be a problem. Ask heat treat shop's if they have experience with guns before you let then do anything.
good luck
also the locking lug and threaded area's are very crictical for the heat treat and they should be checked for cracks.

 

[Robert]

you need to have the hardness tested on the reciever before you do anything else. Make any decisions after the hardness tests have been done. It may become a wall hanger. It is tricky to heat treat the second time, you may need to anneal first and then go through a new heat treatment. Do you know what the steel alloy is? All steels are not the same and will react differently. Suface finnish may be changed so the gun may not look the same. Warpage can be a problem. Ask heat treat shop's if they have experience with guns before you let then do anything.
good luck
also the locking lug and threaded area's are very crictical for the heat treat and they should be checked for cracks.

+1 on all that. All depends on what temperature the action has been exposed to.
The heat exposure would also certainly have affected the other parts, even eventually more than to the receiver itself.
May be possible to surface harden the receiver by Ionic Nitridation, a low temperature process not affecting previous characteristics. This low temp process eliminate risk of warping who otherwise could well ruin the receiver
R.G.C

 

[Steve Blair]

Robert is correct about potential warpage. In order to properly heat treat the receiver, it would be brought to transformation (~1650°F) and quenched in room temperature oil, then tempered. It could also be Ausquenched in molten salts at the tempering temperature, reducing possible warping. The problem is the asymmetrical sections found in a machined receiver. The differing sections will react differently to the sudden temperature reduction and warp.

Have the receiver hardness tested, especially in the area of the locking abutments. If it did not see temperatures that exceeded the original tempering temperature, the hardness will be unaffected. That would usually be ~650° - 800°F for chrome-moly steel at typical receiver material conditions.