cylinder material?

[frankenfab]

I would like to make new cylinders for a few guns. You see alot in the books about line boring, etc., but very little about material selection and heat treat.

I know that stainless cylinders are made from 17-4, but is it 17-4 PH, or are they the same thing?

4140 for blued cylinders?

Is any further heat treating required after machineing?

Thanks for any help!

I would also appreciate any reading recommendations. I have Kuhnhausen's book and Bowen's book already.

 

[WOB]

"PH" means precipitation hardening. Look it up if you want a tech explanation. 17-4 SS is a PH alloy. People get lazy when writing on line.
Cylinders are also made from 400 series SS because it is cheaper than 17-4PH. However, 17-4PH is easier to heat treat.

4140 hardened to RC 35-40 is also good cylinder material. It is soft enough to machine at this hardness but tool wear is high unless carbide tooling is used. Blued Ruger cylinders are pretty easy to machine. I suspect they are a bit softer than RC 40.

WOB