The receiver starts out in a billet 1 3/4 by 1 3/8 by 15 inches of Class C steel. It is cut into two identical pieces at the rate of 70 per hour. The annealing is done before the forgings are removed from the forging shop. Class 3 steel is annealed at 800 degrees Centigrade (1440 degrees F.). Temperature was takeng by an 8 point Leeds & Northrup recording pyrometer. There ws no reading of temperatures by color. This is from the book referred to in my previous post.

Im wondering if the problem was not at Springfield or Rock Island but at the founding which rolled the billets.