My dad had some firearms that dated back to the early 19 and 1800s. They are in great shape
but does gun metal fatigue over the years? Someone told me the broom Broom handle and the
Lugers would and the metal becomes very brittle. Is there any truth to that?
Also the two Colt SAA's are one first gen. and the other is a 2nd.
If this is true are American built firearms just as bad about this as the German ones are?
To me steel is steel but I thought it better if I ask. Thank you I knew some of you would know.
With few exceptions, 'modern' carbon steel gun parts made 150 years ago (if left alone and not damaged in some way) will today have the same properties they had the day they left the factory. Their properties will not change (become more brittle or softer) over time by themselves.
That said, there are a few things that can change a steel part's original properties:
Fatigue (due to repeated mechanical stress)
Certain acids used in plating/refinishing can cause hydrogen embrittlement in some steels
Two steel parts rubbing one another can cause either surface 'work hardening' (can result in cracks at some point), or loss of mass
Corrosion reduces the mass of a part and can change its surface in critical areas, allowing cracks to form under mechanical stress
Heating a part to its critical temperature will change steel's grain structure, making it either harder or softer, mainly dependent upon its carbon content and the time to heat/cool
It's very rare that the above will cause a
catastrophic failure if a particular firearm's parts appear visually to be in reasonable condition. One exception where a serious failure
might occur is if the gun was involved a fire, destroying the original heat treatment of critical parts. Even that is very rare though.
