Mike, Sam, Victor, are you there?

T

Tim Whittaker

New member
Maybe someone here will know, I realize that stainless revolvers aren't as strong, overall, as their blued counterparts are. With that said, I had one of my 686's Hard Chromed, will that help strengthen the gun at all? I had it chromed to improve rust resistance but the question of strength is merely an afterthought. As always your wisdom is appreciated.......Whit
 
Two cents. Hard chrome should increase wear resistance at points of rub, slide, rotate etc. Probably do nothing for points requiring tensile and yeild strength.

I have no idea of the hydrogen embrittlement situation re hard chrome and 4xx stainless but would look into it before having one of mine hard chromed. May or may not be a factor but i would want to know.

Sam
 
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I think Sam pretty much has it covered. The chrome dramatically increases the surface hardness, not that of the base metal under it. IIRC, you had your gun Metalifed? They are well on top of the H.E. problem that Sam mentioned. However, he may have a point about the stainless steel part of the equation. Perhaps you could e-mail Mrs. Mahovsky for some extra clarification?:)
 
Sam and Victor,

I just got off the phone with Mahovsky's and the gentleman (Ron?) I talked to explained it to me and apparently there is no heat transfer to deal with because the process is fairly quick. Thanks to Sam and Victor for bringing up great points. I never even thought of H.E. as an issue. One other thing Sam, I know you've had issues with a 686 going out of time, do you think the HC will help at all with that. Or is that a totally different issue all together? Thanks again........Whit
 
Whit.....I am completely out of my boat when it comes to hard chrome and stainless steels.

The fastest way to blow the timing of any of the Smiths with stainless lockwork is extremely rapid firing. The hand pivot pin will bend in a heartbeat. Different models to different degrees. The larger the mass of the cylinder, the more load on the pin.

Your plating should reduce the wear rate on the recoil plate, cylinder latches, hand window in frame and cylinder stop window.

If you are lucky enough to have carbon steel lockwork, I would think the longevity of your gun has been enhanced quite a bit.

I want to know more about the H E issue. Electrolytic action more influence than heat. In fact, when plating 4xxx medium carbon steels, baking within a short time after plating negates a large portion of the embrittlement. Not enough tho that chrome plating can be used in high stress componants.

Like to know how it is doin after 25, 50 thousand rounds.

Sam
 
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