M
Mozella
Guest
There is no reason to go overboard with hardness or material specs. 17-4PH SS at condition 1025 is about RC 38 and machines nicely. 416 SS also machines well and can be heat-treated to similar hardness. There is no reason to use anything else in the SS spectrum. Definitely do not use 316 or 304 SS as they have a tendency to gall and work harden. In a barrel nut at 100 ft-# torque, stress on the nut is low, enough hardness to prevent wrench deformation is really all that is required.
RWO
I'm with you on this. It doesn't seem like rocket surgery. I'm a Savage guy and I use either factory nuts or available after market nuts. I have no idea of the material or hardness other than these nuts appear to be some flavor of SS. Although the nuts are indeed rather thin, the load is quite low. It is claimed by some that the factory torque is 87 ft lbs. Some guys use 30-35 ft lbs, some use "two medium wacks with a claw hammer", some "as tight as possible", and some "medium hand-tight", whatever that is.
Personally, I use 45 foot pounds with lubrication and I've never had a barrel fall off nor have I ever heard of anyone using purchased Savage barrel nuts have problems with galling, or any other kind of failure. Not to say that someone can't ruin a Savage barrel nut, but I've never heard of it being a common problem in spite of the wide variety of opinions about how to properly tighten the Savage style barrel nut.
Apparently a few guys are actually changing Savage barrels at the range without removing the action from the stock by tapping the grooves using a big screwdriver and a small hammer to unlock and re-lock the barrel nut.
Some of my friends are barely qualified to change a light bulb, yet they change their Savage barrels without difficulty.
It seems to me that galling (if you select the worst possible alloy) might be a consideration, but even that strikes me as a minor issue.
Are people, other than us ordinary Savage owners, really having problems with barrel nut failures?