Tikka Nitriding

[ACHILLES]

Yes I believe they are all some type of 416 stainless. Could be the difference between the stainless/chrome moly lug abutments in the action supporting the lugs but I’m just guessing. I have no worries if I ever send in any of my tikkas in for nitriding since they are all CM. Might give h&m a call later to have a discussion with them on the subject.

 

[ACHILLES]

Okay spoke with an h&m rep. First I asked about cerakote. He said they will blast it off for free but you have to make a specific note for them to do so. Then asked him specifically about tikka actions CM&SS. He said there is no issue with either but to place cm&SS parts in separate bags and label them. I then asked if they needed to know the exact type of stainless they were working with to treat it properly. He stated the process for stainless is pretty much the same for all stainless types but it does change somewhat for different types of CM steels. I asked if he knew what type of CM steel blued tikkas were made of? He said no and acted like that would be a question for one of the shop guys. In the end he said the more specific info you can give them about the specific steels you’re sending in the better they can identify how to nitride them. The guys in the shop probably already know all this stuff but now it has me wanting to contact beretta/tikka to see if I can get the exact metallurgy of the steels used in tikkas. He also stated with the stainless bolt and cm action it may wear more as when the stainless is nitrided it’s harder than the nitrided cm. Although I’m sure wear through cycling the action is near to nothing even over thousands of rounds. Teeth or parts on a rock saw or something yea there will be significant wear over time.

 

[Sundodger]

Okay spoke with an h&m rep. First I asked about cerakote. He said they will blast it off for free but you have to make a specific note for them to do so. Then asked him specifically about tikka actions CM&SS. He said there is no issue with either but to place cm&SS parts in separate bags and label them. I then asked if they needed to know the exact type of stainless they were working with to treat it properly. He stated the process for stainless is pretty much the same for all stainless types but it does change somewhat for different types of CM steels. I asked if he knew what type of CM steel blued tikkas were made of? He said no and acted like that would be a question for one of the shop guys. In the end he said the more specific info you can give them about the specific steels you’re sending in the better they can identify how to nitride them. The guys in the shop probably already know all this stuff but now it has me wanting to contact beretta/tikka to see if I can get the exact metallurgy of the steels used in tikkas. He also stated with the stainless bolt and cm action it may wear more as when the stainless is nitrided it’s harder than the nitrided cm. Although I’m sure wear through cycling the action is near to nothing even over thousands of rounds. Teeth or parts on a rock saw or something yea there will be significant wear over time.

I can’t imagine Tikka/Beretta would ever tell us the metallurgy, I know no where I have worked would give out such info.

If you really are curious, you could send some OEM parts out to a lab and have hardness, grain structure, and chemical composition checked. That would get you the alloy and give you a pretty good idea of any heat treatment they do… but they could change their process at anytime and you wouldn’t know.

 

[ACHILLES]

Yea I’d probably have better luck winning the lottery than getting a response from beretta.

Really don’t want to tear up one of my actions. But maybe I can get hired on as a janitor at UM and sweep up some of those mill cuttings from the lightening cuts.

As much as I’d I like to know the fine details of tikkas metallurgy. If I do decide to nitride one Il probably just send it in and not worry about. But for the hell of it I’m going to send out a few emails inquiring, just to see if I can get a response.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

So if you build a tikka and want it nitrided would you use a blued or stainless or does it really matter.
Would you do the barrel or stick with cerakote on it.

Who does UM use for nitriding?

 

[NSI]

So if you build a tikka and want it nitrided would you use a blued or stainless or does it really matter.
Would you do the barrel or stick with cerakote on it.

Who does UM use for nitriding?

Our process is to buy blued rifles and nitride the action and barrel (after threading) but DLC the bolt instead of nitriding it. We use H&M West for the nitride and DNA for the DLC. Not sure who UM uses but good chance it’s also H&M.

-J

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Don’t see any reason to pay 200 more for a stainless if there getting nitrited anyway.
Thanks

 

[BBob]

I can’t imagine Tikka/Beretta would ever tell us the metallurgy

As much as I’d I like to know the fine details of tikkas metallurgy.

Take your clean bare metal action to one of your local recyclers that has a PMI/XRF gun and get the results. Some will do it for free, some a small charge. Once you have the results you can compare them to common alloys and see what fits. We have a local that does it for us to help ID parts we need to duplicate.

 

[Sundodger]

Take your clean bare metal action to one of your local recyclers that has a PMI/XRF gun and get the results. Some will do it for free, some a small charge. Once you have the results you can compare them to common alloys and see what fits. We have a local that does it for us to help ID parts we need to duplicate.

Chemical composition is just one piece of the pie. You need to analyze grain structure and test hardness to be able to make an educated guess on heat treatment and such.

 

[BBob]

Hardness is readily identifiable with a hardness tester. I have a Wilson. Most actions aren’t very hard and the hardening isn’t anything special with the typical alloys used. Modern plain steel are most likely a chromoly and most stainless will likely be a 416 though some have used others over the years.