Underhammer question?

[Richard Brinkman]

In the past year I have bought two underhammer locks from two sources, I have discovered that both triggers and hammers are cast of very soft steel as in not hardened at all, I can file both with a dull file. Became suspicious when both triggers seamed to be changing on both locks. Question is can a amature gun nut case harden these enough with something like KACENIT to be useable for a long period time or do they need to be hardened by a professional. Safety is a issue here too.
Any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Richard

 

[bitehard]

I have bought many U/H kits and they all came with hardened hammers and triggers. I don't know where you got yours from. Not said in your post.I would contact the supplier and see if he would harden them after you have polished them up. It would nodoubt be quicker and easier to do it yourself if you had the heat control and aufait with kasenit. If your supplier is the same as mine [DC] they are very good to deal with and would help you in every way Possible.

 

[Richard Brinkman]

One was Deer Creek and the other was Blue Grouse I,m just totaly surprised that they were sent out to be used without being hardened. Actually have been shooting both a number of times before I discovered that they are quite soft.

 

[44-henry]

If you have some Kasenit go ahead and do it yourself. On small parts a propane torch will work fine. It is not a bad idea to do a post temper on them following the quench if you are not sure of the original alloy. In my opinion they should have come properly hardened, but it wouldn't be the first time that defective parts made it through Q/C.

 

[gmww]

Be careful about hardening them. I actually like mine soft. Deer Creek years ago had a batch that was so hard they were brittle and break. They got rid of that batch.

 

[Richard Brinkman]

Thanks guys actually I know of another Blue Grouse lock that wasn't hardened too. A friend started having problems with his and told me about his so I checked both of mine and both quite soft. Thanks again.
Richard

 

[bitehard]

Blue Grouse, when they were going sourced all their U/H stock from Deer Creek who were the makers. Go to D/C 765 525 6181 tell them of your problem and I am sure they will see you right.

 

[gmww]

I agree call Deer creek. They made it right for me and were very cooperative folks.

Edit: BTW, what kind of problem are you having?

 

[AZ Muzzle]

If you want a quality underhammer lock, contact Fire & Iron: http://fire-iron.biz/

Here is a photo of one of the Fire & Iron locks I used on a build.

Mark B

 

[44-henry]

Soft is bad on working parts, they should be properly hardened and tempered to resist wear. Soft steel will work for a time, but it will eventually wear destroying the fit of the parts, and in the case of the trigger on that underhammer, quite possibly will create an unsafe condition.

I still say if they are a low carbon steel to caseharden them, otherwise harden and temper them. It's not a bad idea to temper parts that have been casehardened either if you think the carbon could have penetrated through the piece.

 

[Richard Brinkman]

OK for a update I did call Deer Creek and they said no problem send back the trigger and hammmer and they would make it right. When I took them apart I could see that they had been hardened somewhat and are probably Ok. Up near the full cock notch and the tip of the trigger I can barely touch that up with a file, I'm not filing the engagement surfaces just along the sides. Maybe OK, out toward the end of the trigger is where I filed pretty easy and caused some worry.

The Blue Grouse lock is really soft and something will have to be done with that. I myself have not yet had a problem with it other than the trigger is getting harder to pull. A friend that bought one about the same time and has shot his a lot less than mine had his get to the point where it wouldn't stay on full cock, a very dangerious situation I think. That is what alerted me that there might be a problem here. I do have a gunsmith friend that would help or at least talk me through the case hardning process. I have done some years ago but its been a while.

Thanks to everybody that helped on this issue.

Richard

 

[gmww]

When I had a problem with the hammer and trigger slipping, I used a triangle file to fix the problem. It has worked on several triggers. I polish them with a triangle stone once I'm satisfied with the two fitting properly. :thumbsup:

 

[Richard Brinkman]

OK cleaned up the full cock notch and the trigger sear, case hardened with Kasenit cleaned them up again reassembled, feels great hope it's a long time fix.
Thanks everybody
Richard