receiver/slide hardness

**ARman** · December 19th, 2008, 10:48 PM

Does anyone know the average range of hardness these fall in?
All is see mention is Rockwell but no range such as B, C et. I saw an ad in the recent SGN for receiver and slide that are 80% complete and need to be heat treated. I figure for $34 it might be worth having a go at.

**knight0334** · December 19th, 2008, 11:52 PM

Depends on the grade of steel and the heat treating. If you do get one, make sure you have it fully heat treated, not spot treated like old US issue GI models or some of the cheaper units out there.

If you are looking for the hardest and strongest 1911 receiver and slide, they Norinco 1911's. They are made of 5100 steel, stronger than ANY of the others.

**ARman** · December 21st, 2008, 04:55 PM

After pricing all the internals id rather start with a complet 1911 and just change out a few things

**knight0334** · December 21st, 2008, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by ARman

After pricing all the internals id rather start with a complet 1911 and just change out a few things

Thats generally the wiser thing to do if you dont have experience with building them from the ground-up.

One thing people often forget is matching slides to the receivers. Honing rails to get proper tolerances can take time and patience.

There are oodles of inexpensive 1911's to build up to one's liking. Once you do that and get a feel and experience, a full build goes much better.