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Johnny Peppers · 09-24-2001, 04:13 PM

Marvin,

410 stainless steel is the more commonly used stainless steel which can be hardened. Surgical instruments are normally made of 420, and 440C is commonly used in custom knives where high hardness is needed. The steel can be machined or ground in the soft annealed state, but tempered to an extreme hardness. These fall into the martensitic family of stainless steels which have a high chromium content along with a high carbon content. I have never seen the family of stainless steels used in making handguns and rifles, but I would think that it came from this family.

The family of austenitic stainless steel is commonly used where high corrosion resistence is needed. If I remember correctly from my construction days, industrial pipe fittings normally came in LC (low carbon) or ELC (extra low carbon) with the ELC being the most corrosive resistant.

09-24-2001, 04:13 PM	#4
Johnny Peppers User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Calion, Arkansas Posts: 1,042 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: OT: Taurus PT-145 Slides Marvin, 410 stainless steel is the more commonly used stainless steel which can be hardened. Surgical instruments are normally made of 420, and 440C is commonly used in custom knives where high hardness is needed. The steel can be machined or ground in the soft annealed state, but tempered to an extreme hardness. These fall into the martensitic family of stainless steels which have a high chromium content along with a high carbon content. I have never seen the family of stainless steels used in making handguns and rifles, but I would think that it came from this family. The family of austenitic stainless steel is commonly used where high corrosion resistence is needed. If I remember correctly from my construction days, industrial pipe fittings normally came in LC (low carbon) or ELC (extra low carbon) with the ELC being the most corrosive resistant.