[GBullet]

Have you ever read about the hardness of the steel in your gun and wondered why your hunting knife and your pocket knife are harder than your gun? Your pocket knife can easily mar your gun's finish.

Consider your hunting knife or your pocket knife. It has to be hard to hold an edge. But doesn't a gun have important edges such as the edges of the rifling? Isn't it desirable for the rifling edges to stay sharp? Yes it is, but other characteristics of your gun are more important.

Guns are subjected to sudden, brief, yet severe forces during firing. Firing is a type of cyclic loading. One moment there is no load on your gun and less than one thousandth of a second later it has tens of thousands of pounds of force per square inch pushing from within. All metals have cracks and other flaws within; perfection belonging to God. Each of these firing cycles can open cracks a little wider. Your gun's ability to withstand repeated firings without breakage is a measure of its fracture toughness. If your gun were as hard as your knife, it would one day shatter like porcelain.

That's why your hunting knife is harder than your gun.

 

[Aslan]

Good post, good information.

Makes a lot of sense.

:devil:

 

[Old Snort]

GBullet---Your knowledge ofsuch matters leads me to believe that you will be interested in this site; www.varmintal.com. Take a look and Let me know what you think.

 

[GBullet]

GBullet---Your knowledge ofsuch matters leads me to believe that you will be interested in this site; www.varmintal.com. Take a look and Let me know what you think.

Snort,

Varmint Al's is a wealth of data. I stumbled into Al's about two or three years ago.

P.S. Those CZ rimfire rifles are every bit as accurate as Al claims.

 

[BigJon]

Guns are subjected to sudden, brief, yet severe forces during firing. Firing is a type of cyclic loading. One moment there is no load on your gun and less than one thousandth of a second later it has tens of thousands of pounds of force per square inch pushing from within. All metals have cracks and other flaws within; perfection belonging to God. Each of these firing cycles can open cracks a little wider. Your gun's ability to withstand repeated firings without breakage is a measure of its fracture toughness. If your gun were as hard as your knife, it would one day shatter like porcelain.

That's why your hunting knife is harder than your gun.

Makes sense. That, as I understand it, is why McCormick no longer makes Ti hammers for 1911s. I have a 1911 with a Ti FP, hammer, hammer strut and MSH cap. All those other parts have are cushioned in some way from work hardening. The hammer, though, gets direct steel-to-Ti-to-steel contact. One day, it will shatter like glass.

Best,
Jon