Case hardening a tikka recoil lug

I am bedding my 300 Win Mag Tikka T3X and noticed that even the mild steel recoil lug has some surface damage from the 50ish rounds it has fired.

anyone ever tried case hardening these recoil lugs in the garage with a torch and some charcoal? seems like it should work fine but interested in getting opinions... once its bedded in the glass it will be a biatch to change if something goes bad.

Mark

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Originally Posted by MGNZ

I am bedding my 300 Win Mag Tikka T3X and noticed that even the mild steel recoil lug has some surface damage from the 50ish rounds it has fired.

anyone ever tried case hardening these recoil lugs in the garage with a torch and some charcoal? seems like it should work fine but interested in getting opinions... once its bedded in the glass it will be a biatch to change if something goes bad.

Mark

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If it gets harder than the action, it will flog that out instead of the lug ???

You can turn it around & end for end before it needs replacing, if it ever does :)

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Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

If it gets harder than the action, it will flog that out instead of the lug ???

You can turn it around & end for end before it needs replacing, if it ever does :)

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good point

I'd imagine with a good bedding job, there would be less movement on the recoil lug and your problem may well be fixed.

Thought about that Greg, but assumed my home case hardening wouldn't be harder than the actions steel - but that is an assumption. Think you are right there guys - will flip it over and use it as-is. Cheers

If it's stainless steel it will likely be work hardening anyway, making case hardening less important.

Anyone who've tried to drill stainless steel with a HSS drill bit will know what I mean: half a millimetre in and you bottom out.

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

Drilling SS is all about correctly sharpened drill bits and selecting the right speed and feed to get under the work hardened layer each time. As with everything, ignorance is bliss but doesn't guarantee results!

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@Mauser308

Thanks. Yes, that makes sense, I was being too hard on the old HSS there. Guilty as charged of blaming my tools.

To finish by bottoming out story, I did not have a fancy cobalt drill to save my day but in the end I got nicely through the work hardened surface with a sharpened TC insert masonry drill bit. I'll go back to HSS in the first instance next time as I've got more of those to ruin.