Ever make your own extractor?

D

dyl

New member
Hypothetically, f you had to make a small pistol extractor in 9mm for an obscure pistol, what would your choice of steel be? I don't need to just now, but based on my limited reading in the knife hobby, what do you think of:

01 Tool steel, purchase a small cube closest to dimensions as possible
Shape/file it
Heat it up with propane torch until non-magnetic (medium to bright orange ~ 1400 degrees)
Quench in olive oil/Vegetable oil/ATF.
let cool to 150 degrees, Temper at 375-400 for 2 hours in preheated toaster oven

Just hypothetically. I've got an obscure pistol (Bernardelli P-018, or p-One) that parts are limited for. All the good stuff from Numrichs is gone.

The extractor still works as of now, but I've held off on firing it too much because no extractors available.
 
If you think the extractor is likely to fail, it's better to make a replacement now than later. Unbroken and complete parts are easier to duplicate.
 
I hear you, it would be a bit harder if an unknown amount of the actual extractor claw ended up in the grass somewhere.

By tempering at 450, it won't make it too soft? My only reference is knife blades so I'm guessing they don't need to be Rockwell hardness of 58 (which is tempered around 375 "ish")
 
"...only reference is knife blades..." Different hardness requirements. A knife has to be resilient and hard to hold an edge. An extractor needs to be more spring like.
"...until non-magnetic..." Steel will always be that. How are you determining the assorted temperatures? Wouldn't count on a toaster oven being even close to accurate either.
 
The last step in the heat treating process is quenching it. 450F for two hours and then quench it. Your part will retain its hardness but lose the brittleness. (it doesn't retain all the hardness but most of it)
 
Most gun parts-including extractors are pretty soft.
Temper at 450-550 degrees after hardening. There is no need to quench when tempering.
Small parts are easily hardened and tempered with a propane torch. To temper use the smallest flame practical, and just gently heat the part until it evenly turns straw colored. Let cool.
 
T. O 'Heir - there is a point in the heating up (usually preparation to forge Steel) steel loses its magnetic property. Whether this is due to alignment or rearrangement of chemical bonds I don't feel like looking it up. I do know that Austenitic and Martensitic are used to describe one or the other states - magnetic or non magnetic. I have read that O-1 tool Steel actually loses its magnetic properties right before it reaches optimal heat for quenching (for peak gain in hardness) something around 50 - 100 degrees below. So a perfectionist could keep heating just a little longer. Toaster ovens - yes I've heard they can be off by 50 degrees sometimes. I've got a cooking thermometer that I can use for 150 degrees but I don't know how happy it would be at 450. Thankfully O-1 tool Steel is considered pretty forgiving. I hope it's *very* forgiving

Bill - Sticking with the propane for tempering would be cheaper than buying a thrift store toaster. I think the knife guys like to let it soak for longer at temp (2 hours a cycle). Perhaps 2 hours is not necessary... whoops I figured out you *are* a knife guy. Any reason why it seems popular to keep at temp for so long?
 
dyl- because those knife guys are looking for the ultimate in edge holding ability.

I make hundreds and hundreds of leaf springs from 1095 (very similar to O-1) with no soak to harden. Actually, I have made thousands now that I think about it! 4 have broken, and they were all from the same piece of steel.

Gun parts are much more forgiving than knife blades. If your extractor is not itself a spring (it has a separate spring,) it probably doesn't need ANY heat treatment.
 
Bill. Gotcha. And just in case you're curious, the extractor is almost Glock-like rather than M&P or 1911 like. It has about the footprint of a middle-fingernail, and more filled in than a Glock extractor. It does have a separate spring embedded in the slide that pushes on an angled rod which pushes on the extractor to provide tension. I don't *think* I can re-shape a Glock extractor as it is bigger, but I'd better check just to make sure. Wouldn't that be something.

I guess I just figured with all the brass rubbing and pulling on a tiny little steel ledge, the claw would have to be hard. I guess not!
 
Mild steel is my first choice. Case hardened if needed. Spring steel will be used if the part needs to be springy.

-TL

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