Hello all. I was just contacted by an officer in the peel tactical police department. He has 3 barrels that he was hopping to ship to me to have a couple customs made from. Unfortunately I only do stock removal and am not set up for forging. I also don't know what steel these barrels are made of. I'm curious if this is something someone here would be interested in attempting.
Hi Scott My understanding is that gun steels are typically chosen for machinability so generally lower hardness (Rc 25-30) and might not be good candidates for blades. Having said that though, I'm no expert and maybe somebody else can give you more information. Regards Dave
Hey all. It's me who was asking. Thanks Scott for the post. These barrels are from a Fabrique National in France. Not sure about hardness.
What would be neat would be to do a mosaic pattern using a square canister, and powder steel. Slice it, stack it, and reweld it so that would it would give you multiple rifle barrel cross sections running down the length of your blade. And the powdered steel would be the cutting edge, so it won't matter what the barrels were made of.
I like the canister idea too. Unfortunately, that would require a decent forge (and a press or power hammer). Powdered metal is also a bit hard to get these days -- at least north of the border.
The barrels can be heat treated to withstand 80 ksi on the several rifles I had so searching from 1045 to 1070 may get you in the ball park
Those barrels are most likely crome lined to prevent corrosion. Not sure if that would be an issue or not.
I found someone willing to make a billet for me. Still trying to figure out what the barrels are made from to see if its even feasible. I think the barrels are stainless. This is the rifle in question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM_338
I swear this is not a smart ass reply...but might come off as one since it has probably been thought of already! If we know the make/ model/ manufacturer and each gun comes with a serial number, the manufacturer will have specs on the barrels and materials it/ they were made from? Also ‘Gun-Forums’ dwarf our little corner of the universe of knife enthusiasts haha. You can find some legit collectors on them with encyclopedia like knowledge.
The owner sent me this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM_338 I did find someone in the states who offered to make a san mai billet. I'm trying to find more info on the barrels though. I posted a question on the firearms forum but haven't seen any replies. All I can find is thats its hammer forged and likely stainless but that hasn't been confirmed.
