A friend brought several guns over to ask me if they can be salvaged.
His house burned down due to some electrical fault, made worse by his oxygen tanks for his breathing apparatus feeding the flames. The house burned like a railroad flare.
His gunsafe wasn't as fire resistant as expected.
The worst burned was a 1911 series 70.
It got hot enough that the springs lost all tension so I expect the heat treatment is compromised.
The rounds in the magazine cooked off blasting trapdoors of metal through the openings in the grip frame.
I think rather than the steel being simply annealed that some exterior areas quenched by the fire hoses are brittle.
Is it possible to re heat treat the frame and slide?
Not sure if the barrel got as hot but it may need replacing anyway due to rusting for days in the rubble.
I figure its best to simply replace the smaller parts such as hammer and trigger linkage etc. Springs also of course.
If we take it to a machine shop to check hardness what would be the figures within safe limits for frame and slide?
Since his insurance won't cover this sort of loss he won't want to put much into rebuilding it. Probably cheaper to buy a new one or another used one.