Depending on the type of steel used to make the firearm, the service life of the weapon may vary greatly. Of course, this is still dependent on how the individual owner stores their firearm. Mild steel with low carbon content may be more prone to rust and make a fine finish harder to achieve. Mild steel is often softer than steel made with other alloys included. This softer steel is more malleable and makes creating things like the receiver on a rifle easier to machine. Today we have all types of alloy elements in steel to harden or soften the steel and depending on the part and its function multiple types of steel may be used on one firearm. Alloys added to steel today include Chromium, Cobalt, Manganese, Vanadium, Tungsten, Titanium, Silicon, Phosphorus, Nickel, and Molybdenum. Each serves a different purpose and gives that steel new traits like better density or it may help resist softening at high temperatures. It helps to know the alloy in the steel you are using because Cobalt decreases the steel’s ability to harden while Vanadium increases the steel’s ability to harden. This is important if you want to try case hardening because if the steel has that decreased ability to harden then it may not harden or may take a lot longer to get the desired result. Another reason you may want to know what kind of steel you are working with is if you are going to engrave the metal. It may help to have a mild steel when doing this to make the process a little easier.
Manufacturing processes today have enabled gun makers to produce consistent quality firearms through the use of things like the CNC machining process. With this computer program type of machining every piece of metal comes out the same way every time. Making todays gunmakers worry a little less about overworking a part and wasting materials. This newer process means gun makers can produce a lot more product to meet the customers demand but quality control is still really important. Back in the day when a gun maker would undergo heat treatment of the metal parts, they had hands on every piece but when going from one- or two-guns parts to 1,000 guns parts a day, things can get missed and your quality control begins to slip. It should go without saying that a quality handmade firearm with no stress cracks in the steel is going to last a lot longer than one or poor quality that get abused more.
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