Ruger #1 in Stainless

[Tira]

Does anyone have any experience with this gun? A couple of test cuts seem quite hard. I called Ruger and all they would tell me was that it was 410 heat treated stainless, but they wouldn't give me any rockwell hardness number or any other information. Any info will be appreciated. I did look on the gun list and one person had done a Number One, but it wasn't clear if it was also stainless or not. Thanks!

 

[FANCYGUN]

Tira

I found out that the best rule of thumb with Ruger stainless is............STAY AWAY FROM IT AND DON'T DO IT. Yeah.it's hard. I have done regulare steel Ruger Number ones and they can be hit or miss.

I'm actually surprised you even got that much information out of Ruger. In the past they have not been very cooperative with angravers or our guild.

 

[silverchip]

Tira, this is doable but heat treated stainless is gonna be harder and tougher. Any time I did stainless, I doubled my rate and still didn't think it was enough. Maybe find an easier project that will pay sooner.

 

[rmgreen]

Tira I am not an engraver but I have built several custom #1, none in SS, that I did extensive remodeling of the action metalwork on. For this work I had the metal parts annealed and then re-hardened. For SS this may or may not work but if you are interested in pursuing this project further then pm me and I will give you the name of the company I use for my heat treating work and you can discuss SS with them. I know this saved me tooling cost and made the project much more enjoyable. I also have these actions annealed when they are to be engraved then re-hardened after engraving. Len Brownell who worked at Ruger did the same thing and I understand that John E. Warren was grateful as he did most of Len's work.

Roger

 

[Dave London]

MTC heat treated 410, ugg, stay away, i did one knife never again.YMMV

 

[Marrinan]

Interesting. At some point in the past I recall that the #1 was the most commonly engraved long gun fallowed by the two sharps reproductions then the Winchester high and low walls. It was my understanding that you were not a long gun engraver until you had engraved this "big five"

 

[JJ Roberts]

Tira,I've engraved Ruger Vaquero's in stainless steel with out any problem are the Ruger#1 any different in hardness? J.J.

 

[Tira]

JJ, I've never engraved a Ruger Vaquero. The test cuts I did were not promising. The cmax carbide cracked on the 3rd tap, the HSS graver cut, but dulled in the first little bit. I was hoping someone would know definitively before I have to decide to take the plunge or not. That's why I called Ruger to try to get an actual informed "hardness" reading/number/scale. Not too much help from them. Thanks all for your replies.

 

[Glenn]

Tira, LISTEN TO FANCY GUN !! I work with 400 stainless series a lot. Heat treated 410 is very hard.

 

[Weldon47]

All Ruger stuff is hard but, some of it's just plain miserable to try & engrave.... Meaning it's difficult to do your best work and.... Even more difficult to make any money on one!
Knowing when to say no..... Sometimes comes a little late in the process!
Though in this case you've done we'll: make test cuts; ask for advice...now... What to do, grasshopper?
My two cents,
Weldon

 

[PAUL LANTUCH]

In my 14 years with Ruger I refuse to engrave all heat treated parts because of dubious result and waist if time. All parts were annelid and heat treated again after engraving. If it contains gold inlay, only 24K can withhold temperature of SS hardening process, 22K melts down.

 

[Tira]

Thanks, guys. Are there parts that are not heat treated? The guy wants a bit of lettering not much else. Maybe there is a place that would be better for this instead of the side.

 

[SamW]

Grip caps and barrels come to mind Tira though the barrel may already have much stuff stamped into it.

 

[monk]

i have done only 2 ss guns. the last one i did-- IS the last one i'll ever do ! i think ruger & others as well, are shy of giving too much info. that way if something goes bad, they are off the hook.

 

[BrianPowley]

What Paul Lantuch said. There's no better authority on this planet.

 

[mtgraver]

Might I suggest a decorative stock inlay with the information/letters the customer wants and save yourself some aggravation. Best wishes.
Mark

 

[Beathard]

Run away! Run away!

 

[Tira]

Thanks for all the help! Here is what I came up with. I used Chris's stainless steel gravers with a 110 parallel heel for the flare type cuts. I also sharpened with a 600 grit, not my usual mirror polish. It was cut with the EnSet Plus on a very slow speed - probably 180 - 240 strokes per minute with the medium brass striker head. It came out well and the customer was very happy. The other gun was similar, but had different initials. Sorry the picture isn't the best, but it's the holiday season and I have a lot to do and only had a few minutes until the customer picked up the guns.

 

[rmgreen]

Nice

Looks like you had no problems. You made someone's Christmas very special. Roger

 

[Roger Bleile]

Are those marks on the side of the top tang where you test cut?