I agree with Miller. Barrel steels are relatively soft in the scheme of steels. I've never encountered a barrel that had much hardness in our doubles. That's why they can be engraved without annealing and then not crack even though we've made stress risers by engraving right over the chambers, and dents come out easily.
Our later Fox, LC, Parker, and Ithaca barrels seem to be of moderate carbon content, enough that hardening can take place if heat treated. However, I don't know of any that were harder than normalized.
Last edited by Chuck H; 02/26/12 02:35 AM.
