Case hardening

[gunnut14]

I am thinking of buying a Gahendra Rifle!
That said I am not wanting one to hang on the wall.
I want one to use for a winter project and from most of what I read there are problems with the metals. Is it possible to color case harden one of the receivers and harden its internals?
Enough to be able to reliably handle a load similar to a 45/70 gov. load? Or maybe a 43 Mauser load?

I am not wanting to restore one to its original looks and configuration ,and I guess I will only use the action and internals.

Comments and Ideas needed.


gunnut14

[Frank46]

I've seen some of the posts on gunboards in the martini forum and from what I have seen and read i would not want to shoot one. If you want to get a martini then go for the later MKIV versions with the long lever. That one I would if I had the bucks rebarrel to 45/70 with prudent handloads. Not the class of lets say a 1895 marlin or ruger #1. Frank

[waksupi]

There are companies that will properly heat treat an action for about $100. I know one of them is here in Kalispell, but I don't know the name of the place.

[loiner1965]

i have 2 gahendras and the only issue with them are the early ones had lap welded barrels and some according to record burst....
only reason some did this was the ammo at the time was for the martini which have a much bigger bore than the average gahendra ( .457)
i shoot mine with a lee 405gn hb bullet sized at .457 with 15 gn trailboss and no issues at all apart from a heavy trigger and shoots high and left.
both will be sorted asap.
even checked my barrel out and its solid and not lap welded

[gnoahhh]

If you go the route of having the receiver case hardened make sure that whoever does it has the fixtures to clamp it solidly while going through the heating/quenching cycles. Warpage of thin-walled parts is a very real concern. Personally I would choose a different platform for a large Martini project, but what the heck, as a fun exercise why not.

[Molly]

I am thinking of buying a Gahendra Rifle!
... from most of what I read there are problems with the metals. Is it possible to color case harden one of the receivers and harden its internals? ... gunnut14

Ummm, FWIW, I'd consider this a VERY questionable project, especially from a safety concern. In the first place, the metals used in many of them were of questionable quality, and heat treatment was a foreign concept to most of the makers.

In the second place, even the best metalurgists of the day didn't know how to make alloys featuring both hardness and toughness in the same piece. Hard was usually another term for brittle. This is exactly why case hardening was popular. Case hardening gives a very hard, wear resistant SURFACE while leaving the metal underneath soft and harder to break. Case hardening was exactly that: It hardens the case (outside) only. It will not harden the internal metal or strenghten it in any way.

What you will have is an aged action of highly suspect alloy composition. IIRC, These rifles were generally made of most anything that was ferrous in nature. As I understand it, some were made of railroad rails literally ripped off the train line. Others might have been made of rusty horseshoes heated and pounded into a solid mass to be ground and filed into an action. There is no easy way to tell them apart. And I would not consider even the best of these old junkers safe to use today, even with Black Powder, much less with modern smokeless powder loads. If you get one made from scrap iron ... well, increase your hospitalization and life insurance policies if you really love your wife and kids.

[gunnut14]

Thanks Waksupi and Molly,
After Waksupi told the price to get it case hardened and considering the price I have to pay to get the junk I think I would be money ahead to try and find a Martini MKIV action to build on.

The only reason I was thinking the Gahendra is they are readly available and Martini actions are rather scarce (or it seems to me).
Think I will look for something else to build this winter.

gunnut14

[Molly]

Thanks Waksupi and Molly,
After Waksupi told the price to get it case hardened and considering the price I have to pay to get the junk I think I would be money ahead to try and find a Martini MKIV action to build on.

The only reason I was thinking the Gahendra is they are readly available and Martini actions are rather scarce (or it seems to me).

Think I will look for something else to build this winter.
gunnut14

If you're looking for an action to build a 45-70 on, let me suggest a Remington Rolling Block, particularly if you can find one of the smokeless actions. They were made of excellent steels for the day, and absolutely could not be blown up with any BP load. I recall one report where a salesman loaded one with several charges of service powder and filled the rest of the barrel with bullets packed down tight against one another. It was fired from a remote position (I suspect with a string) and was found to be still in perfect condition afterward. And this was with a BP action. I've had a 45-70 RP on a black powder action, and it was faultless in both strength and accuracy, even with some smokeless loads that approached 458 Win power levels with 500g bullets. (Being reasonably cognizant of liability laws, I won't be any more specific than that.)

And the really nice thing is that they are not all that expensive, or hard to find. There are scads of RBs already converted to 45-70 and 444 Marlin by the old Numrich kits, and you may find one of these to work over to your taste.

Try it, I think you'll like it. I loved mine, but finally grew discouraged and sold it when it looked as if the season on Tyrannosaurs probably won't be reopened any time soon, and it was a bit much for squirrels.