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?Gunsmithing? Can soft screws be hardened?


Seldom Seen #16162

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Anyone who has tried to disassemble a Uberti firearm has encountered screws that were overtightened and soft usually resulting in ruining the screw. Is there a at home method to hardened them? Will heating them with a touch and quenching them harden or just make them brittle?

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Anyone who has tried to disassemble a Uberti firearm has encountered screws that were overtightened and soft usually resulting in ruining the screw. Is there a at home method to harden them? Will heating them with a torch and quenching them harden or just make them brittle?

 

Casenit (Brownells) will put surface hardening on them. Have done that for original screws that I have reshaped, but it is only limited value on most screws, as the whole head of a screw needs the hardness, not just a surface layer.

 

Just a quench on a high-carbon steel (like 1040) will make it brittle. Then it has to be drawn at a lower temperature to make it both hard and non-brittle. And, you would need to have a good guess at the alloy in the screws to set the right temps.

 

Overall, just easier to contact VTI and get some good screws. Setting up a heat treating operation may be way more expensive.

 

Good luck, GJ

 

With some skill, even the factory Uberti screws can be taken out a few times without damaging them. Some of the tricks are a properly fit bit, a strong, steady hand, and sometimes an impact driver.

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Call some local shops...alloy will decide. Buy some and send em out. We have a furnace here. Send em to me...will try it. One prob could be that it may change tolerance some, but will try if ya want.

 

GH

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Check with Pioneer Gun works. I believe that they produce a case hardened screw for Italian and Marlin rifles.

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Howdy,

sometime back there was a pard from new zeland or australia who was working

to get case colored screws. He (or she? Mighta been a she?) was heating screws

over a gas stove to a certain color for so many seconds then quenching em in

oil of some kind.

At the time I saved or printed the info but I have no idea where it went.

A move and a computer crash and gone, makes finding that info a joke.

Perhaps that pard will post.

Im pretty sure they were on the other side of the world so have some patience,

Best

CR

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Check with Pioneer Gun works. I believe that they produce a case hardened screw for Italian and Marlin rifles.

 

As Garrison Joe already stated, Case Hardening does not strengthen a screw very much. Case Hardening is a surface treatment and only hardens the surface of the steel. The main body of the steel remains just as soft as when it started.

 

If you want screws that do not deform so easily as stock Uberti screws, save yourself the trouble and order the hardened screws from VTI.

 

For what it's worth, a hardened screw should be less prone to seizing than a soft screw. But do use a hollow ground screw driver bit that fits properly and do use gentle but firm pressure when loosening them.

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