I have a shotgun that has been converted to straight grip. The trigger guard was apparently heated and bent and now seems very soft and easy to bend. How does one go about restoring hardness and tempering assuming that is what is needed? Since it isn't critical I am supposing that an amateur can do that with proper instructions. Thanks in advance.

I don't think that the trigger guards are heat treated. THey can be usually bent easily. However, I might be wrong in certain cases.

I'm with Sliver. No reason for trigger guards to be hard or tempered.

Some were factory case hardened,...Lefever comes to mind, it definitely helped to protect the integrity of the engraving

CJ

This one seems exceptionally easy to bend. Others I've seen would spring out when the screw(s) were removed. This one seems to have no spring to it at all. If you move it with your fingers it bends.

If the gun was converted to straight grip as you say was it also lengthened? If it was who knows what material was used. The welding could have had an annealing effect on the parent material. Does the guard show any case colors? I don't know that any of this matters except to explain why the material is so soft. It won't matter in the tang area of the guard when it is screwed into the wood. I can't imagine that heat treating will effect the strength of the guard around the trigger itself. So unless you are restoring the case colors I don't think I would worry about it.

Bill G.

Thanks Bill. There was no extension welded on. The guard itself is not soft - just the tang. I'm guessing they heated it to a pretty high temp prior to straigtening.