Stainless Steel American Eagle

[HisSoldier]

I've always wanted one of those, possibly the nicest looking handgun ever made, a total shame about all the bad press which I assume is well deserved.
Does anyone know what alloy they are using? I make gun parts of 416 stainless, which is a hardenable alloy. The alloy is one of the nicest machining steels I've ever worked with, much nicer than 303 stainless and much better suited to gun parts. If the guns are made of 416 it may be possible to have certain parts hardened, it's been mentioned that the area that cams the toggle up gets peened pretty badly.

That sounds like the barrel extension is too soft. The question then becomes would hardening after machining cause warpage that couldn't be straightened. If it worked it would be worthwhile, but it's hard to believe they would use annealed 416 when the prehardened alloy is so easy to machine. Prehardened comes in at about 28-32 RC, maybe too soft still?