sako reciever soft

butcher41mag

i have a older sako magnum reciever that went thru a fire. burndt the wood right off the gun. salvaged the reciever, but the shop i had test the steel said it's soft. where would i look to get it re-hardened, and is it worth it?
thanks, ken

284 Fan

If the fire was hot enough to burn all the wood off, the receiver has no carbon left for the crystal to be realign with. In other words the crystals will be very short and have very little surface to bind with. Most rifle receivers are not real hard to begin with as to allow for the forging. Most receivers cot easily with a file and if steel is very hard there is cutting resistance from a shsrp file. Best to pass on reusing the Sako.

v35

Depending on the amount of time the gun was exposed to high temperatures, the steel may or may not be "burnt". Burnt steel cannot be used.
You don't know what the SAE/AISI steel equivalent grade or the hardness of either bolt or receiver is so you don't know the heat treatment. Also the springs, striker,extractor, trigger and sear will have different hardening and tempering procedures.
Likely, the bare bolt and bare receiver are air hardening grades to minimize distortion and stress cracking. They would have to be done in an oxygen free furnace to preclude scale.
It's possible both bolt and receiver were locally hardened in the receiver ring and bolt face and lugs.
Even if you had more information you would stand a good probability of
warpage and distortion.
Were you successful, you'd have to develop some Blue Pill loads and proof test it.
It doesn't sound cost effective.

shooterone

I'v known a few guys who had guns burnt in house fires. Going by there experience I say, dont spend a dime on it. Get another gun.

butcher41mag

thanks for the input, sounds like a nice piece to throw on the shelf and look at. oh well.