On their website they say it's hardened.
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Brass Henry
- Thread starter Bailey71
- Start date
Their site also says it is "specially formulated", so this isn't regular brass. There are a number of alloys of bronze that are as strong as mild steel. This may be a copper, tin, zinc alloy with brass color and mild steel strength. But I am just speculating. Not knowing the actual alloy, it's pretty impossible to guess how it hardens. Hammer forging would harden regular brass or copper. But we don't have enough information to tell what's happening in this instance.
This is a can of worms and I'm going to be sorry I spoke up, but I have a few leads in the form of websites that might be useful.
First, for an understanding of quench-and-temper hardening of steels, search the web for "nbs monograph 88" you will come up with a .pdf that is the very best short treatment of Heat treatment and properties of iron and steel I've ever seen - at https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/MONO/nbsmonograph88.pdf
Most coppers, brasses, and bronzes - "red metals" - are not hardenable by heat treatment. They are strengthened by cold work, and do not soften until they are heated to temperatures much higher than a rifle receiver would ever see except in a house fire. And those temperatures would screw up the heat treatment of a steel receiver too.
There are, however, a few red metals that do respond to heat treatment, especially precipitation hardening. C17000 through C17200 - the beryllium copper alloys - can achieve very high strengths. They are commonly used for non-sparking tools for use in areas where flammable vapors or energetic materials are present but strengths comparable to those of steel tools are required. These days people are nervous about beryllium (beryllium dust can be toxic) like they are about lead, so speak quietly lest karen get hysterical. The aluminum bronzes and nickel-aluminum bronzes can respond to heat treatment but not the same magnitude gain.
Try https://www.totalmateria.com/Article71.htm
https://www.copper.org/resources/properties/703_5/
https://www.copper.org/applications/industrial/DesignGuide/selection/highalloy02.html
Next go to everyspec.com and search for mmpds-01 (or MIL-HDBK-5J - same thing) - and look at Chapter 7. You can buy later versions of MMPDS if you have $800 or so to spend, but the old "outdated" one is free and was "up to date" as of 2003 or so.
Economics preclude using C17200 for a rifle receiver, but back in school I was tempted to make a fake bronze short sword of of it - you can get it to around 44 HRC - but it seemed like an expensive toy with no real-world application. Old files make fine daggers and they are free, and some tool steels are air-hardening, especially in thin sections.
First, for an understanding of quench-and-temper hardening of steels, search the web for "nbs monograph 88" you will come up with a .pdf that is the very best short treatment of Heat treatment and properties of iron and steel I've ever seen - at https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/MONO/nbsmonograph88.pdf
Most coppers, brasses, and bronzes - "red metals" - are not hardenable by heat treatment. They are strengthened by cold work, and do not soften until they are heated to temperatures much higher than a rifle receiver would ever see except in a house fire. And those temperatures would screw up the heat treatment of a steel receiver too.
There are, however, a few red metals that do respond to heat treatment, especially precipitation hardening. C17000 through C17200 - the beryllium copper alloys - can achieve very high strengths. They are commonly used for non-sparking tools for use in areas where flammable vapors or energetic materials are present but strengths comparable to those of steel tools are required. These days people are nervous about beryllium (beryllium dust can be toxic) like they are about lead, so speak quietly lest karen get hysterical. The aluminum bronzes and nickel-aluminum bronzes can respond to heat treatment but not the same magnitude gain.
Try https://www.totalmateria.com/Article71.htm
https://www.copper.org/resources/properties/703_5/
https://www.copper.org/applications/industrial/DesignGuide/selection/highalloy02.html
Next go to everyspec.com and search for mmpds-01 (or MIL-HDBK-5J - same thing) - and look at Chapter 7. You can buy later versions of MMPDS if you have $800 or so to spend, but the old "outdated" one is free and was "up to date" as of 2003 or so.
Economics preclude using C17200 for a rifle receiver, but back in school I was tempted to make a fake bronze short sword of of it - you can get it to around 44 HRC - but it seemed like an expensive toy with no real-world application. Old files make fine daggers and they are free, and some tool steels are air-hardening, especially in thin sections.