Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Firing pin steel

1234567,

Very good information and I appreciate your research. I have used S7 extensively in a prior life as a toolmaker. It has all the qualities and is quite easy to work with.

Some others have suggestted drill rod, not sure what metal they were thinking of, however the project I am working on requires a pin of a design significantly different then the round pin which most often comes to mind.

I have both O1 and S7 here in my shop and my plan is to go ahead and make the first prototype using the O1. Then thru careful heat treating of just sections I will try to achieve the qualities needed to meet the design requirements.

I do appreciate all the input.

It is my understanding that drill rod is either 01 (oil hardening) or W2 (Water hardening).

Of course, it isn't drill rod--drills are made from High Speed Steel. I think the drill rod designation is just a name given to stock that is available in small rounds or squares or flats, for gunsmiths to make small parts from and do their own heat treating. It works very well for that.

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You got me thiinking about why it is called "drill rod".....
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We used to get it in all sizes......drill sizes......number, letter, and fractional, all ground to size..........
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Thanks for jogging my brain!!!

Before the invention of High Speed Steel, drills might have been made from these type steels. At the time, it might have been the best that manufacturers making metal parts had available, and the name stuck when High Speed steel replaced it.

With proper heat treating, you can still make some pretty good wood working tools with it.

I often wonder what the metal cutting tools were made of back in the middle to late 1800s, especially in the gun making business.

It could have been, and probably was, case hardened steel of some type, but the lack of hot hardness would be a problem with either drills or milling cutters and lathe bits.

I grew up with O-1 drill rod.
Just checked, W-1, O-1, and precision ground.........

1234567,

The firing pin I needed to make is now done (short of hardening) but a thread that talks more about the project, with pics, can be found here.
Thanks for you interest and help.
Project
Its a long long thread but paging back a couple of pages will be other pics of the other parts.

Thanks for the link. You do very nice and skilled work. I have always wondered what a French Grey finish consisted of.

I always thought it was a type of plating, something like either nickle or chrome, that was treated someway to form a dull grey finish.

As far as my interest, reading about and studying about steel and it's uses is sort of a hobby of mine. It started many years ago when I got into knifemaking, and I wanted to find out what type steel would make the best knife. And most important, why.

Something I forgot to ask. Did you ever consider Titaium?