How It's Made

D

Doc Hoy

New member
Was watching the "How It's Made" show last night and, sure enough, they had a segment of Uberti building a Cattleman.

Lot of hand to product interface.
 
There were a few little errors, but it wasn't that bad. For a five minute overview geared toward the layman, I thought that it was OK.
 
Yup!

It could have been an hour and they could have paid a little closer attention to terminology.

We now have confirmation that what they call case hardening, isn't what I think of as case hardening.
 
True, Doc, that was one of the most glaring errors. That and the installation of the "cartridge ejector", which looked suspiciously like the arbor to me.

I kind of suspect that most of the vignettes on that program have similar errors - there's only so much that you can pack into a general interest show like that. They did one on how integrated circuits are made and I noticed that it hit the high points and missed on some details, just like in the Uberti piece, but got the general idea across pretty well.
 
Cyanide case hardening is not just cosmetic.

There were a few little errors, ...
Click to expand...

:eek:A few? Little?!

1. They start off the show by showcasing a toy gun.
2. Cylinder flutes are "slots for the ammunition"?
3. Bolt stop slots are "notches for rotating the cylinder"?
4. A trigger guard is a "grip and trigger guard"?
5. The stock is a "grip casing"?
6. They check chamber/bore alignment with no bolt installed? (WTH?!)
7. The cylinder pin becomes a "rod for ejecting spent ammunition"?
8. "...screws the spring into the side of the hammer"?
9. A main spring "transfers energy from the trigger to the hammer"?

I guess a bunch of terms got confused in the translation from Italian:D
 
Good video. The narrator was obviously a narrator, not a firearms person. The gaffs are not serious.
Looks like a lot of handwork on the Ubertis. I believe Ruger is far more automated with only handfitting at the final steps.
 
Model-P

To people like us, those gaffs are serious errors. To the rest of the TV viewing public..they could care less! :rolleyes:
 
How it's made is a fantastic program, all things considered, that gives insight into industrial products. Accuracy of process is excellent, production is good, trange of topics is amazing. It is in general the most informative television program made today.

There is, however, a problem. The guy is just a narrator, and he has no knowledge of what is being done. neither do any other staff. They go to the factory, hear the tour guide, and shoot pictures and take notes.

There are a lot of errors in the final narrative, but the purpose is achieved. people have a little more appreciation for what goes into making things, and maybe, they can appreciate the value of them a little more.

I gotta find this one online.
 
For me....

....It is not so much the accuracy, or thoroughness of the program. I was very surprised since I had just bought a Cattleman (although it is the black powder model) just this week.


Tnx,
 
BTW guys

The Youtube link in the post above is of the edition of "How It's Made" to which I am refering.

I have watched other articles on this show and have wondered about accuracy in those too. In this article, I could handle the lack of accuracy. To me they cut too many corners in describing the process.

Many times they seem to work hard to hide the identity of the manufacturer. In others they show the logo at critical points. In this article on the Cattleman I picked up the Uberti logo on the revolver at the beginning of the article and on the technician's coveralls.
 
Last edited:
Cyanide case hardening is not just cosmetic.
Click to expand...

Real color case hardening is indeed hardened, but the process they are showing is dunking the frames into a quench at a very low temperature, that would be done at a red temperature for true color case hardening, so my guess is that this is indeed some fake cosmetic CCH.
I could be wrong, have been many times, but I have done a lot of heat treating in my shop, quenching for hardening is done at a much higher range, but maybe there is something I'm missing there. Treatises I've read on CCH state the same thing, the parts are brought to 1400 degrees, then dropped to 1100 and quenched, those parts didn't look like they were 1100 degrees to me.
 
We're talking a 'Cattleman'. It's a replica made so that the average Joe who wants a play gun can afford this gun. If you want real case hardening, hand fitting and a better fit then get a new Colt. I have 2 Colt's to mess with when I want to and 2 replica's for more play and rough handling.
The basic 'Cattleman' is, out of the box, a decent gun especially for the price.
 
Real color case hardening is indeed hardened, but the process they are showing is dunking the frames into a quench at a very low temperature, that would be done at a red temperature for true color case hardening, so my guess is that this is indeed some fake cosmetic CCH.
Click to expand...

The cyanide salt bath is upward of 1700 degrees fahrenheit and it produces a true case. However, it may be that the process shown is something other. Too bad they couldn't elaborate.
 
Last edited:
Doc, I guarantee you, they make more screw ups on those programs than i ever imagined. Just little errors that happen because of inattention and lack of expertise. Pronunciations are bungled all the time. I can't give an example off the top of my head. you know, if I went into a surfboard shop, I'm pretty sure I'd make a complete fool out of myself when I turned in the report.

Thanks for the links, folks.
 
I think it is worthwhile to remember....

....That these people are not interested in educating anyone. They just want you to keep watching. Kind of like watching the fireplace.

Same with the news entertainment media. It is difficult to get real, accurate, truthful news any more. Even the format for morning weather has changed so as to keep you watching.

I once did a little checking on the various rating services. It used to be Nielsen only. Now there are others of course. When Nielsen was in its early years, they captured viewing behaviors once per hour. And that data was not reported until the end of a twenty four hour period.

Now viewing behaviors are captured every 15 seconds and the data are available instantly. So the producers know how the viewing audience is reacting to something Joe Scarborough said 15 to 30 seconds ago. And of course, the most important thing to Joe and more importantly to his advertisers, is that he say something now, that will keep folks watching for another 15 seconds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top