WADR, someone has told you something that is not true. Tempering simply keeps hardened steel from being brittle, by realigning the grain patterns into long strands, instead of the crystal, diverse patterns that occur when hardening is done. Tempering makes the steel usable, by making it tough, instead of brittle. Hardening occurs at 1500 degrees and above. Tempering is done at from 350 to 450 degrees F. It will not harden any steel I know about. Frizzens should be both hardened and tempered at the factory, but it is clear that many come from the factory with one or both processes omitted.
Shooters who find this problem should alert the manufacturer, as this kind of thing is jobbed out to subcontractors, who are selling inferior products to the assemblers, who usually don't have the testing equipment on hand to discover the problem at the plant. Even rifle barrels come in the wrong steel, and the factories have to ship it back, or sell it at a loss. Testing facilities are out of house, for most of the industry, and it takes several days to find out what was delivered. The manufacturers don't like being sold a bad lot of metal, either. It costs them money, time, and customers and their reputations in the industry when something like this gets by and out to the public. It is a constant product, as the industry is so small, there are only a few suppliers of materials, and you either make it yourself, as TC has apparently done, or you have to depend on a few suppliers, and subcontractors.
