....I always anneal and feel it is a very necessary part of the process.
This I fully believe. Aside from some machining/engraving, I was just wondering, why.
You had an earlier crucible question, I thought I'd pass along comments on a short tv demo that Connecticut Shotgun did on their case coloring process. They used a round crucible that looked to be 5" inner diameter by about 6 to 7" deep. Pretty heavy gauge with formed raised rings around the outside so that a non clamping 'U' fork style holder wouldn't slide up or down on the crucible.
It had a slip fit, but fairly close looking fitting cover. They put a quick, medium tan colored, refractory cement coating around the seam of the cover. The base of the crucible had legs on it, at least a 1/2" maybe a bit more, probably so it would heat up more evenly.
Separately from the crucible, their process was, a claimed wood, cow and chicken bone, and leather charcoal. The camera man zoomed in on a 1332* kiln setting with the temp reading 1331* when the pack went in the oven. It stayed in a claimed 2 1/2 hrs. It seemed to take about 10 seconds before the part was quenched. When everything was inverted over the quench tank, the cover stayed on and took a couple light taps with a small hammer, standing by, to release the cover and everything else into the quench. They wired the receiver to a tab on the inside of the crucible, so it couldn't drop down into the container, but it dangled probably a couple of inches in the quench. There was no comment about the quench or how it was prepped.
It appeared to be a credible demonstration on a real A10 receiver, that they made it appear like the same receiver was shown on a finished gun. I've used a welded up pipe crucible with cobbled up similar to the above, but quite a bit smaller. I just thought there might be some interest in a technique that was shown, but maybe not widely known.
I also appreciate that you commented about the true hardness of safe, sound, real world gun receivers. And, the preference for hardened wear surfaces, but the reality that it may not always be so.
