Steel for making pins

[winnie_the_pooh]

For the hinge pin/pivot pin for the hammer of a pistol and other pins used in a pistol.

What grade steel would be suitable?

Is it hardened?

[TwoRivers]

Drill rod, as is or hardened, is a good choice.

[skeetshot]

It is better to wear out a pin than the material it is housed in.

The pin should not be a drill rod, too hard.

The pin can be made of any alloy steel such as EN 31 or EN 28 which has not been hardened.

Normally this would be about 25 Rockwell C in hardness (relatively soft) and this is easily available from the thousands of shops that sell steel to industry. Available in rod form and can be turned to size by any machine shop having a simple lathe.

[winnie_the_pooh]

Thanks for the replies.

Skeetshot, I would guess that the surface of the hammer pin would need to be polished to remove any machining marks so would need to be machined a fraction oversized?

[skeetshot]

. . .

Skeetshot, I would guess that the surface of the hammer pin would need to be polished to remove any machining marks so would need to be machined a fraction oversized?

Especially if there is rotation around the pin, superfinishing is recommended. Otherwise it is not critical, but is such a small job, that this attention to detail should not be neglected.

[winnie_the_pooh]

[quote="skeetshot"Especially if there is rotation around the pin, superfinishing is recommended. Otherwise it is not critical, but is such a small job, that this attention to detail should not be neglected.[/quote]

Thank you.