"I suppose heat treatment is generally thought of as hardening, but I guess steel might be treated with heat for results other than hardening.
craigd, heat can also be used to anneal (soften until re-heat treated) heat treated steel alloys.
"I'm still not sure though what process or goal of 'heat treating' the core of a low carbon steel receiver would be."
There would be no purpose of heating the core of a low carbon receiver. It is "along for the ride" when the receiver is being carburized and hardened.
Thanks, Chuck. I'll have a look at these. I agree with you that Chromox probably was a low carbon steel alloy. Thus, it would have worked fine for barrels which were heated sufficiently for tinning in the ribs and ?brazing? for joining and the lumps (I don't remember Fox barrels as being chopper lumps - could be wrong about that one). I also agree that it would have added some strength to the action, whether cased or not.
DDA
