Can you harden soft steel parts at home?

[twinhairdryers 2]

So the safety lever on my Saiga seems sort of soft, and a couple other parts do also. Is there a way to "home" harden softer steel so the parts might last longer? Or does this take a metalurgist and foundary to pull off. I have many other guns that have a "soft metal" failure point also. Rather than stocking up on replacement parts, it would be great if there were a way to home fire harden these parts, home blue them and be done with the crap pot metal they originated from.

 

I also have one of the near evil banned list Intratec Tec-22 Scorpions. The gun itself is one of my most fun plinkers other than my PLR-16 and of course my AKs. It runs 30 round magazines of 22LR in about 15 seconds just in semi auto mode. The problem with the gun is the steel that Intratec used for the firing pin is junk, close to pot metal so every owner of these guns has a breaking of firing pin every 200 to 800 rounds or so. The replacement parts are nearly impossible to obtain and are 60.00 and are still the same junk metal.

 

Is there a way to home harden a metal do it yourself style? I've run into this on extractors for some guns like ARs. If I use a Colt or Bushmaster part, it lasts for several thousand rounds, some 1500 rounds in their cheap soft form.

[mark56 0]

So the safety lever on my Saiga seems sort of soft, and a couple other parts do also. Is there a way to "home" harden softer steel so the parts might last longer? Or does this take a metalurgist and foundary to pull off. I have many other guns that have a "soft metal" failure point also. Rather than stocking up on replacement parts, it would be great if there were a way to home fire harden these parts, home blue them and be done with the crap pot metal they originated from.

 

I also have one of the near evil banned list Intratec Tec-22 Scorpions. The gun itself is one of my most fun plinkers other than my PLR-16 and of course my AKs. It runs 30 round magazines of 22LR in about 15 seconds just in semi auto mode. The problem with the gun is the steel that Intratec used for the firing pin is junk, close to pot metal so every owner of these guns has a breaking of firing pin every 200 to 800 rounds or so. The replacement parts are nearly impossible to obtain and are 60.00 and are still the same junk metal.

 

Is there a way to home harden a metal do it yourself style? I've run into this on extractors for some guns like ARs. If I use a Colt or Bushmaster part, it lasts for several thousand rounds, some 1500 rounds in their cheap soft form.

[mark56 0]

I just successfully case hardend a piece of mild steel with this product. You just need the capability to heat the piece hot enough for it to work. I bought it at Brownells. Here's a link: [non-business member link edited]

 

So the safety lever on my Saiga seems sort of soft, and a couple other parts do also. Is there a way to "home" harden softer steel so the parts might last longer? Or does this take a metalurgist and foundary to pull off. I have many other guns that have a "soft metal" failure point also. Rather than stocking up on replacement parts, it would be great if there were a way to home fire harden these parts, home blue them and be done with the crap pot metal they originated from.

 

I also have one of the near evil banned list Intratec Tec-22 Scorpions. The gun itself is one of my most fun plinkers other than my PLR-16 and of course my AKs. It runs 30 round magazines of 22LR in about 15 seconds just in semi auto mode. The problem with the gun is the steel that Intratec used for the firing pin is junk, close to pot metal so every owner of these guns has a breaking of firing pin every 200 to 800 rounds or so. The replacement parts are nearly impossible to obtain and are 60.00 and are still the same junk metal.

 

Is there a way to home harden a metal do it yourself style? I've run into this on extractors for some guns like ARs. If I use a Colt or Bushmaster part, it lasts for several thousand rounds, some 1500 rounds in their cheap soft form.

Edited October 17, 2009 by MCASSgt New River
Non-business member link.

[Flashbang 34]

I just successfully case hardend a piece of mild steel with this product. You just need the capability to heat the piece hot enough for it to work. I bought it at Brownells. Here's a link: [EDITED]

So the safety lever on my Saiga seems sort of soft, and a couple other parts do also. Is there a way to "home" harden softer steel so the parts might last longer? Or does this take a metalurgist and foundary to pull off. I have many other guns that have a "soft metal" failure point also. Rather than stocking up on replacement parts, it would be great if there were a way to home fire harden these parts, home blue them and be done with the crap pot metal they originated from.

 

I also have one of the near evil banned list Intratec Tec-22 Scorpions. The gun itself is one of my most fun plinkers other than my PLR-16 and of course my AKs. It runs 30 round magazines of 22LR in about 15 seconds just in semi auto mode. The problem with the gun is the steel that Intratec used for the firing pin is junk, close to pot metal so every owner of these guns has a breaking of firing pin every 200 to 800 rounds or so. The replacement parts are nearly impossible to obtain and are 60.00 and are still the same junk metal.

 

Is there a way to home harden a metal do it yourself style? I've run into this on extractors for some guns like ARs. If I use a Colt or Bushmaster part, it lasts for several thousand rounds, some 1500 rounds in their cheap soft form.

Heat the steel using a torch or a furnace with bellows. Continue until the steel glows red-hot. Work in a well-ventilated area and wear protective clothing, heavy gloves and eye protection.

 

Pick up the red-hot steel with your tongs and immediately immerse it into the motor oil. Allow the steel to remain in the oil for approximately 30 to 60 seconds.

 

Remove the steel from the oil and wash the item using dish soap and water. Be careful not to drop or strike your steel, as it will be brittle at this stage (much like glass), and could shatter.

 

Reheat the now-clean steel until it is blue-hot. Blue is the color steel turns just before it becomes red-hot.

 

Pick up the blue-hot steel with your tongs and immediately immerse it in a vat of room-temperature water. Allow the steel to cool in the water.

Your steel is now case-hardened. The outside layer of steel will be at least 40 percent harder than when you started, and your steel will be malleable, rather than brittle like glass.

[6500rpm 670]

On the firing pin, wouldn't the fact that the pin breaks rather than peens out imply that it might be too hard already and needs to be annealed, not hardened?

[teddyraynelson 2]

"Soft" parts that are actually steel in mild or alloy form can be hardened using heat and quenching as mentioned by flashbang. But if you're dealing with shitty pot metal from the orient I'd say don't waste your time. You'd do better by taking a new firing pin to a machine shop and having someone replicate it for you from chromoly or stainless. May cost three or four times as much as the crappy factory one, but if you enjoy shooting that gun and you only get a couple hundred rds out of a firing pin then build a good pin from another material and get thousands of rds out of it. Do the math. Plus if you pioneer that part and its good then you can have them made and slang 'em to all the other people with the same problem. Then your parts are free.

[RobRez 1,895]

Home seems to be the only really appropriate place to harden your soft parts!

[HillBilly2 9]

If it breaks it's too hard already. If it bends or peens over it's too soft. Your worrying about a non issue anyway. No one has ever reported on a broken Saiga safety. There is no "pot metal" in an AK, including Saiga's.