Sears and tumblers

[flint62]

As I finished my Bess lock, it occurs to me that after case hardening the tumbler and sear, Perhaps I should temper them also?
I should have realized this before, not real smart :youcrazy: eh?
My question is how far back should I draw them?
Should they be tempered like the springs were?
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. :hatsoff:

Thanks, Kevin

 

[robinghewitt]

I'd say no need if you did them with Kasenit which only hardens a thou or so deep.

All the heat from the core came out through the top layer when you quenched so glass hard is unlikely.

Leave it hard as you can get it, keeps it slick :thumbsup:

Assuming a low carbon core of course :grin:

 

[Stophel]

Is this one of the Rifle Shoppe kits? If so, the tumbler and sear are made of 4140 steel...one of the toughest materials known to mankind! (you go cuttin' or filin' on a modern "chrome-moly" rifle barrel, and you'll see!). Though I have a drawer full of Rifle Shoppe lock sets, I have only gotten around to building one of them. This steel seems to work VERY well and seems quite amenable to my preferred hardening method. I case harden them with Kasenit, warm water quench, clean them off, then temper down to a brown color. There is enough carbon in 4140 to harden somewhat. It may or may not be absolutely necessary to temper, but I do it "just in case". It certainly can't hurt. It is good for stress-relief anyway. I do the same thing with the occasional L&R tumbler or sear that is made of 6150.

Even if it is not a TRS kit, you should temper it down to "straw" or brown anyway, being a mystery metal, it could be mild steel or who-knows-what. Even when doing mild steel, I will temper down to straw or brown. I FEEL like it helps with super thin areas like the hook of the half cock. It doesn't reduce the hardness of the surface of the steel appreciably.

 

[flint62]

Der Fett,
This set of castings came from the Track of the Wolf I don't know if they get the castings from Rifle shoppe or not.
Regardless, both pieces are cast. As I was doing final fit on the sear, I broke a small piece off the tip that's why i figured they needed to be drawn back.
Thanks for your help. :hatsoff:
One last question, any tips on tempering?
I used the oil bath Ravenshear recommends for the springs and it worked like a charm.

Thank you, Kevin ( der fett irisher thats married to the deutscher)

 

[Stophel]

Yep, its a Rifle Shoppe lock then.

I can usually get 6150 springs sufficiently hard quenching in WD40. On occasion, though, it doesn't get hard enough, and I have to warm the oil first on a coffee warmer plate (I think 104 degrees is supposed to be the ideal temperature) and then it will harden enough. I HAVE to warm the oil with O1 Siler tumblers and sears...and even then, I don't think it's hard enough. I really don't like O1 steel... but, I live with it...

Temper them tumblers and sears down to brown with the propane torch. Heck, you could probably go to purple or blue with this stuff, as 4140 is an incredibly tough and hard wearing steel, and doesn't necessarily need to be rock hard (which is why so many modern guns use this steel).

Springs I temper down "all the way" to a nice dark gray blue with a propane torch (the colors go: straw, brown, purple, blue, light blue, red [which you may or may not see], and then dark blue gray, which is as far as you can go before having the steel begin to glow in dim light again). Heat the part slowly and lightly, and move the torch all over the spring back and forth until it is dark gray-blue all over. I hold it at heat here for several minutes with the flame of the torch lightly feathering the part. Set it aside on a piece of wood or a brick or something non metallic, and let it cool. It's simple and easy. There are about a thousand equally valid ways of hardening and tempering springs. :winking: