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Barrel Steel - 4150, 4140, Chrome Moly, Chrome Moly Vanadium - Page 1
Barrel Steel - 4150, 4140, Chrome Moly, Chrome Moly Vanadium - Page 1
Barrel Steel - 4150, 4140, Chrome Moly, Chrome Moly Vanadium - Page 1
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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Barrel Steel: 4150, 4140, Chrome Moly, Chrome Moly Vanadium (/forums/topic.html? ARCHIVED
b=3&f=118&t=258045)
Posted: 11/21/2005 11:19:20 AM EDT [Last Edit: 12/6/2005 3:43:23 PM EDT by BravoCompanyUSA]
BravoCompanyUSA
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11595 Barrel Steel ?
id=48674)
4150 Barrel Steel ?
BRD Enabler Chrome Moly Vanadium ?
4140 Barrel Steel ?
There has been a lot of discussions about some of the differences and some of the not-so-differences between these descriptions. This post is
in an effort to help clarify some issues as it relates to barrel steel.
Joined JanWI, USA
2004
Posts 6444 4140 grade of steel – The “40” in 4140 is specific to the amount of carbon in the alloy. Generally it is near .40%.
EE Offline
Likewise the “50” in 4150 steel is an indicator that the barrel steel has a carbon content near .50%
An 11595 barrel steel (Mil-Spec) gets its additional strengthening properties over the common commercial 4140 by one of two ways;
more carbon in the steel
-or -
more carbon with the addition of Vanadium.
The specific chemical composition of all Mil-Spec barrel steel is listed below in MIL-B-11595E. This specification outlines the use of barrel steel
under 2 inches in diameter for manufacturing barrels for small arms. That encompasses a lot of different small arm weapons.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/bravocompanyusa/steelnet-photo.jpg)
When purchasing steel from a mill the certification paperwork and other relevant paperwork usually lists a “Grade” of steel and then adds further
details under the heading of “Specifications”. For a Mil-Spec barrel steel; that specification would be listed as MIL-B-11595E. This is to say that
not all 4150 steels are considered Mil-Spec. In order for it to be Mil-Spec it would need to be a 4150 grade AND it would have to comply with the
specifications listed in 11595.
Table One (listed above) shows three types of chemical compositions and ranges for Mil-Spec 4150 barrel steel as defined by 11595.
ORD4150, ORD4150-Resulferized, and Chrome-Moly-Vanadium (CMV) should not be confused with the generic term of a Chrome Moly barrel. My
opinion and the opinion of the US Government (as defined by the Mil-Spec) is that one of the three is not better than the others. They are all they
same and are all 11595 (Mil-Spec) barrel steel. In some descriptions used by steel companies I have seen the Grade of CMV further listed as
41V45, which is a bit more descriptive, but probably just add confusion in this context.
While doing some research on a project we are putting together in house, I was told by several reputable folks in the barrel business that Colt
uses CMV. I was under the general impression that Colt specifically used ORD4150. Maybe I was programmed to think that way because it is all
generally listed under the “Grade” of 4150. So in order to have accurate data to work with, I submitted a Colt 14.5” M4 SOCOM barrel for
destructive testing chemical analysis. I received the results recently and that barrel that was made in November 2000 was determined to
specifically be CMV.
(Results DT and chemical analysis document listed below)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/bravocompanyusa/ColtBarrelLabAnalysisTableGIF.jpg)
(As a side note, all weighted percentages were within the Mil-Spec range.) This also matches the results of DT done previously on a FNMI barrel.
I acknowledge this evidence is anecdotal when applied to looking at all M16/M4 barrels, but it is interesting non the less.
So in describing a USGI (Colt) M16/M4 barrel it is generally done this way on spec sheets:
Barrel Steel
Grade: 4150
Specification: Mil-B-11595E
And then as part of the Certification documents (certs) would be the chemical analysis to list CMV.
Oh, tagged.
Posted: 11/21/2005 12:19:09 PM EDT [Last Edit: 11/21/2005 12:20:16 PM EDT by gvidon212]
gvidon212
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What then is used in Bushmaster's 4150 barrels?
Joined Sep 2002 PA, USA
Posts 1652
EE Offline p.s. I do not want to hijack this or turn it into a what is better than what thread. I am just curious to know if 11595 is the standard of
all barrel manufacturers advertising 4150.
p.s. I do not want to hijack this or turn it into a what is better than what thread. I am just curious to know if 11595 is the
standard of all barrel manufacturers advertising 4150.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/bravocompanyusa/barrelpieces.jpg)
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Joined Feb 2001 ARG <BR>great post none the less. thanks
Posts 893
EE Offline
ya, when they say Destructive Testing (DT) they aren't kidding
img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/bravocompanyusa/barrelpieces.jpg
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/bravocompanyusa/barrelpieces.jpg)
LMAO!
Great thread man, very good info.
Thank you for sharing is all i got to say.
HUNTER.
Si alguna vez las armas estan fuera de la ley, solo los que esten fuera de la ley tendran armas
Posted: 11/21/2005
fight4yourrights (/member/user.html?id=141)
IF you aren't Angry, you aren't paying attention 12:43:36 PM EDT
Thanks
Posted: 11/21/2005 12:56:08 PM EDT [Last Edit: 11/21/2005 12:56:19 PM EDT by gvidon212]
gvidon212 (/member/user.html?id=25800)
Joined Sep 2002 PA, USA Paul your contributions here are just as good as the products and service you offer. Thanks!
Posts 1653
EE Offline
ya, when they say Destructive Testing (DT) they aren't kidding
img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/bravocompanyusa/barrelpieces.jpg
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/bravocompanyusa/barrelpieces.jpg)
I also get the feeling that some people believe a barrel has to follow this specification to be "mil-spec". That is not the case. The MIL standards
contain many specifications for steels, this is just one of them. MIL-S-46047, for example, also contains specs for bars for making of small arms
barrels. It describes another CrMoV steel very similar to the one we see here, but with higher chromium and molybdenum contents. There may
well be more such standards. What these specs mean is that if your drawings call for 4150 for ordnance applications, you must buy 4150 that
follows MIL-B-11595. It does not mean that if you are designing a barrel, you are forced to choose from one of these three steels.
3.2Materialsandconstruction.Riflesandpartsshall
conform to the materials and construction requirements specified
herein, on Drawing 9349000 and drawings applicable thereto, and
be in accordance with the applicable materials and construction
provisions of MIL-w-13855.
In other words, the barrels are to be made out of what the blueprints say, and the whole library of MILSPECS don't mean squat.
Joined Jan 2005 ID, USA If I can touch it, I can destroy it. If it's imaginable to some degree, I can become it.
Posts 1026
EE Offline Why do people go out of their way to lose their rights as Americans?
Posted: 11/21/2005 6:46:16 PM
myitinaw (/member/user.html?id=65625)
TeamMember EDT
Thanks for the education!
Posted: 11/21/2005 7:19:31 PM EDT [Last Edit: 11/21/2005 7:23:56 PM EDT by BravoCompanyUSA]
BravoCompanyUSA
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id=48674)
BRD Enabler
Originally Posted By BattleRife:
Interesting. I use a Leco Glow Discharge Spectrometer at work. They are normally used by foundries and other secondary metal
manufacturers, I have never heard of an independent lab using one.
I am trying to see how the people here are equating the CrMoV steel we see in the barrel to 4150? AISI 4150 specs make no allowance for
intentional vanadium additions. To me, we have just learned that the AR-15 TDP probably does not, despite years of believing the contrary,
Joined JanWI, USA
2004 call out 4150 steel. It apparently calls for a specified CrMoV. Just because that steel appears in the spec beside 4150 doesn't make it related
Posts 6449 to 4150.
EE Offline
We could have also opted for the test done with an ICP instead, but for this purpose the GDS will yield the differential information we were
interested in. This independent lab has the capabilities and facility to perform a variety of analyses.
I don't think folks are equating CMV and ORD 4150 in the absolute sense. They are equal in the "eyes" of 11595. In reference to mills and their
distributors the term 4150 under the title of "Grade" describes a broader class of steel to include CMV. I do understand what you’re saying,
because ORD 4150 is not identical to CMV, especially in the AISI context. Like I mentioned in the first post, I have seen CMV listed under a
"Grade" of 41V45, but the more certs I page through that seems to be more of the exception and not the more popular the rule. (Although it does
seem more descriptive) I do not know specifically why the barrel industry chose the terms it did. Actually when you want the "good stuff" it is
referred to directly as 11595 material.
Posted: 11/21/2005
uberdog (/member/user.html?id=50619)
West Coast Member 7:22:14 PM EDT
tagged for ref.
Joined Mar 2004 WA, USA
Posts 284
EE Offline
I am trying to see how the people here are equating the CrMoV steel we see in the barrel to 4150? AISI 4150 specs make no allowance for
intentional vanadium additions. To me, we have just learned that the AR-15 TDP probably does not, despite years of believing the contrary,
call out 4150 steel. It apparently calls for a specified CrMoV. Just because that steel appears in the spec beside 4150 doesn't make it related
to 4150.
I also get the feeling that some people believe a barrel has to follow this specification to be "mil-spec". That is not the case. The MIL
standards contain many specifications for steels, this is just one of them. MIL-S-46047, for example, also contains specs for bars for making
of small arms barrels. It describes another CrMoV steel very similar to the one we see here, but with higher chromium and molybdenum
contents. There may well be more such standards. What these specs mean is that if your drawings call for 4150 for ordnance applications,
you must buy 4150 that follows MIL-B-11595. It does not mean that if you are designing a barrel, you are forced to choose from one of these
three steels.
3.2Materialsandconstruction.Riflesandpartsshall
conform to the materials and construction requirements specified
herein, on Drawing 9349000 and drawings applicable thereto, and
be in accordance with the applicable materials and construction
provisions of MIL-w-13855.
In other words, the barrels are to be made out of what the blueprints say, and the whole library of MILSPECS don't mean squat.
Thank you... I have tried to get this across before, the 11595 spec can be one of several steels that meet a range of specifcations and are in 2" or
less dia bar stock.
I have posted barrel info on here that was read directly from the TDP and still have been told that I was wrong? BTW: The TDP specifies a
specific barrel material for the M4.
Posted: 11/23/2005 4:11:18 AM
BravoCompanyUSA (/member/user.html?id=48674)
BRD Enabler EDT
There are tons of different Mil-Specs.
I am speaking directly to 11595.
Joined Jan 2004 WI, USA Toll Free: 1 - 877 - BRAVO CO (1 -877 - 272 - 8626)
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EE Offline CAGE Code: 342X6
Good stuff Paul! What steel will be used in your line of barrels?
C4
It way have been, maybe not... what BattleRifle is trying to say is that a milspec like 11595 does not specify a specific steel, it gives a range of
criteria that a steel must fall within to be "Mil-Spec", the 11595 is a generic ordnance steel for gun barrels -- is is not the only one however.
The bottom line is that Tech Data Package (TDP) is the drawings, blueprints and detailed specifications for a particular piece of equipment, like
the M4 and the TDP often states very secific requirements for what materials are used and how they are machined, tested and finished. A piece
of equipment is milspec only if it made to the exact specifications of the TDP.
I have the TDP for the M4 and can tell you that a great deal of the speculation people post of here is not accurate... but then, is that really a
surprise? Here's the deal, nearly all of the barrels that are made by any of the names you have ever heard of are fine for what anyone on this
board is going to do with it. If your need is greater, than someone that has the ability to, will buy and issue you the real deal.
C4
Joined Jan 2004 WI, USA
Posts 6458
EE Offline
DT showed us that FNMI and recently the Colt (shown in first post) was specific to CMV.
We will be using the same.
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Posted: 11/23/2005 9:39:17 AM EDT [Last Edit: 11/23/2005 9:39:58 AM EDT by BravoCompanyUSA]
BravoCompanyUSA
(/member/user.html?
id=48674)
BRD Enabler
Originally Posted By Gunzilla:
It way have been, maybe not... what BattleRifle is trying to say is that a milspec like 11595 does not specify a specific steel, it gives a range of
criteria that a steel must fall within to be "Mil-Spec", the 11595 is a generic ordnance steel for gun barrels -- is is not the only one however.
The bottom line is that Tech Data Package (TDP) is the drawings, blueprints and detailed specifications for a particular piece of equipment,
like the M4 and the TDP often states very secific requirements for what materials are used and how they are machined, tested and finished. A
piece of equipment is milspec only if it made to the exact specifications of the TDP.
I have the TDP for the M4 and can tell you that a great deal of the speculation people post of here is not accurate... but then, is that really a
surprise? Here's the deal, nearly all of the barrels that are made by any of the names you have ever heard of are fine for what anyone on this
board is going to do with it. If your need is greater, than someone that has the ability to, will buy and issue you the real deal.
Gunzilla
I have always enjoyed your posts . . . don't be stingy . . .keep 'em comin'
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Joined May 2004 AZ, USA "A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government."
Posts 2517
EE Offline --Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Posted: 11/23/2005 7:06:26 PM EDT
BattleRife
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id=1099)
CAN
Joined Jan 2001 Originally Posted By pun:
Posts 196 I read somewhere 4150 steel was used for M14 barrels way back..is this true?just trying to get a reference point when they started requireing
EE Offline this steel.
I was unable to find anything in the Collector Grade book, US Rifle M14, concerning what, exactly, the M14 barrel is made of. But, in his time-hon‐
oured work, The Book Of The Garand, J.S. Hatcher states:
"The material used in the barrels of the M1 rifle is WD Steel No. 4150 Modified." He then prints a chart that gives a composition that very
significantly overlaps the chemistry for ORD 4150 resulphurized shown at the very start of this thread. The Garand, for those that do not know,
entered mass production in 1937.
I found some more interesting clues on the evolution of barrel materials in the pages of The Black Rifle. In the section on the AR-10, a Lt.Col.
Rayle is quoted extensively on the Aberdeen tests of this rifle, including the incidence of the AR-10 bursting its composite barrel in January,
1957. He mentions that after the barrel burst, Springfield Armory referred Stoner to Dave Mathewson, a machinist who was often subcontracted
by the Armory to do prototype work. Mathewson worked over a weekend to make replacement barrels for the AR-10s out of T44 barrel blanks
(the T44 was the design that was eventually adopted as the M14 about a month later). Rayle also points out that by this time the Armory "had
developed through extensive research, a good military barrel steel of a chromium-molybdenum-vanadium alloy type, which withstood rather high
barrel tempertures without rupturing."
So M14 barrels may have been made of 4150, like the Garand it was derived from, or they may have been made of CrMoV steel, which sounds
like it was the Armory's darling at the time.
It also sounds like Stoner was introduced to CrMoV barrel steel because of the incidence of the AR10 barrel burst, and he likely stuck with it from
that point on. He was probably understandably shy about the topic of barrels bursting in heavy use, and wanted to avoid it all costs.
Posted: 11/23/2005 8:20:59 PM EDT
Raptor22 (/member/user.html?id=21422)
Northern Redneck
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