Chuck, thanks for the complement, and referral.
Brent, don’t know what happened with your Marlin without looking at it, but it sounds like too deep of a case, and possibly the steel cooled too quickly.
About a year ago, I ran across something akin to what you described; customer had sent an 1886 to get CCH, when he got the parts back, the frame had warped, and the buttplate cracked when he tried to install it. He then sent it to me “to fix”.
Looking at the frame and parts, I could tell that they had been quenched at too high a temperature, and more than likely quenched in a brine solution. A brine solution makes “water wetter” meaning it cools more rapidly than plain water.
There was also no post case hardening heat treatment.
Lots of folks doing case hardening now, I’m not sure all understand what is actually going on besides pretty colors.
Respectfully
Mike
