It would be interesting to put a Luger up in a Rockwell hardness machine and run a few tests.
In my experience barrel steel is usually much softer than the steel that the action is made from.
Soft steel is easier to machine = faster manufacture = greater thoughput = less cost.
Makes sense really when there is no requirement for a really hard steel for the barrel in the first place as it only gets the occassional soft coppper/lead slug fired through it.
Cheers.
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