Posted on 10/03/2005 12:26:13 PM PDT by Osage Orange
I used to frequent a dealer who often purchased police seized guns in large lots.
I usually got to go through them early. While most were similar to what you describe, there would always be a few real gems. The best S&W model 29 I ever had was one of those guns.
I hope the guns destroyed were worthless. I think any gun COULD have a sporting use. Sporting isn't just hunting, it's IDPA, IPSC, GSSF, etc. And here in Kansas, I have several law enforcement officers who are VERY pro-2A.
There is a difference between a Lorcin and a short barreled shotgun... technical firearms laws are bogus all the way and a direct violation of the 2nd Amendment as well as common sense. You do realize that as long as the rifle has a 16 inch barrel and an overall length of 26 inches, it's legal even if the stock is sawed off according to current Federal law.
And let's look at the Jennings, Brycos, etc. I'm sure there are a lot of less fortunate citizens who would love to be able to buy one of those guns for legitimate self defense but instead, the governments keep them disarmed and vulnerable to crime. Nice way of exercising population control and eliminating the "undesirables" at the same time isn't it?
Also bear in mind that "sporting purpose" has a quite shady history in Nazi Germany but there it was called "hunting purpose". Thanks but no thanks, all these gun control laws and "proceedures" are immoral, unconstitutional and not needed.
Mike
Yeah, I should've made that clear. Out of every 500 or so seizures, there might be one or two really cool guns. :)
Most LEOs who still have their "boots on the ground" are very much in favor of the 2nd Amendment. Unfortunately, the higher up you go, the less true that becomes.
"Just because it comes in the hands of the police does not mean it shouldn't be turned back to someone for legitimate use," Cox said.
Gotta love Oklahoma. Not for the gun-melting, of course, but for the sensible attitudes of many toward guns.
What sort of fence posts can you make out of drugs? Let's see, I suppose that you could make fence posts that just lay there and wait for snacks to arrive from marijuana. I suppose that you could make fence posts that actually jump in front of things from speed.
And the fence posts that are made from porn would be soft and pliable until you rub up against them...
Mark
A615 is a common grade of re-bar that generally has no upper-C limit, though it is commonly a medium-C grade (~.45 weight % C). In general, there is nothing too scientific about making rebar as far as chemistry is concerned, so long as it meets tensile strength requirements.
As with all steel making operations, you are essentially melting down many different grades of (scrap) steel and iron with different alloying elements and different C contents, as well as some residual Copper (from wiring). For making higher grades of steel, certain grades of scrap with known chemistries are used (i.e. stamping blanks from a washing machine company) The chemistry is balanced after all the steel has been melted, to meet customer specs.
I would guess that firearms would usually be made from something like a 4130 or a 4140 grade steel due to their improved hardenability (i.e. can be heat treated to attain better properties, mainly toughness and strength). These steels are usually alloyed with Cr, Ni, and Mo (in addition to others), and they slow the diffusion of C at elevated, which means that a wider range of microstructures can be formed and improve the properties.
A gun barrel is probably a tempered-martensite microstructure. Tempered martensite is a two-phase microstructure made of finely dispersed Fe3C carbides, in a ferrite matrix.
Tempered martensite forms when a quenched steel (entirely martensite microstructure) is tempered. Tempering allows Carbon to diffuse from martensite and form an Fe3C (Iron Carbide), which is a more stable phase for carbon. Over time, these carbides will spherodize (form spherical particles) and coarsen somewhat (grow larger as more C diffuses). These carbides are typically very hard, and evenly dispersed. After excess C has diffused and formed Fe3C, the remaining phase is called Ferrite, which is a softer phase. This combination gives you your strength and toughness.
There is more detail than that that goes into making a gun, but that was just a quick run in physical metallurgy. Sorry, had to be a geek!
And yes, there are much better sources of scrap metal than guns!!!!
I was wondering what the hardness of a gun barrel or frame would be. When someone said they heard they were made from 4140, I immediately figured 28-32 Rc, since that's a commonly available "half hard" form which is still machinable. Anything harder, and they'd have a heck of a time gun drilling it. And of course if they machined it soft and then hardened it, it would probably suffer too much distortion.
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