House fire gun

65Whelen

65Whelen

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Considering a S&W project gun that went through a house fire. Cosmetic work a side, my question is about the functioning parts? At minimum, I would think springs would need to be replaced. Would trigger, sear, hammer be affected? Also, is the frame still structurally sound? Just trying to figure out how big this can of worm would be?

Sorry I have no pics.
 
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More folks here with more knowledge but I'd be a little concerned about the firearm losing some integrity through a loss of steel temper. I think it rather depends on how hot it got but imagine that would be a guess at best. I wouldn't rely on guesses for firearm safety.

Bryan
 
House fires can burn from 1100-1500F so the question is actually how does that much heat affect the specific metal of the parts you are concerned about. There's a lot of basic metallurgy info on the web to look at if you are up to it. Of course that particular pistol may or may not have been exposed to that much heat, and you don't really know for how long either so everything would be a worst-case scenario guestimate at best. You don't mention what pistol this is or provide any pictures, so I have nothing to research based on if the main structural parts are all steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, titanium or whatever else.

Frankly if the pistol was just scorched briefly I would say it might be worth your time, but if it got really baked (and depending on what gun it is) then I would start to question if this was a worthwhile project. Good luck with it!
 
I had a friend give me a M1 Garand receiver from a rifle that had been in a house fire. I took it and had a hardness test done and the outcome was that it had not lost it hardness. I built it into a BM59 and it functions just fine with no problems.
SWCA 892
 
If the springs are no longer springs it is toast. Slightly charred stocks are OK, burned of ones are not. Springs are tempered to around 700-750f. If heated higher than that they are no longer springs. Frames and cylinders are actually pretty soft. So they are also tempered pretty high.. Wood smolders at around 500f and ignites around 750f

400-450 would start taking the hardness out of the hammer and trigger sears. The harness on a color case hardened hammer and trigger is pretty shallow, But is a small file was held flat on a surface and skated instead of cut metal it is still hard and never got very hot
 
Housefire heat is way less than if the metal had been in a furnace to affect the temper of the metal. I wouldn't think a house fire would affect the hardness at all, but that is just my opinion as a musician… and not a Gun Smith, or metallurgist., or firefighter
 
Here's a parallel thread - I would never shoot that gun again.

ISCS Yoda

Post in thread 'How to clean a burnt revolver'

Folks, it is NEVER going to be fired again. I thought I made that clear. During that fire, 1000 rounds of 9mm in a cardboard shipping box left on a dining area chair cooked off. It sounded like the 4th of July. Why six .38 Special cartridges located at the heart of the heat did not cook off surprised me then and continues to surprise me. But that's ancient history.

I keep a few guns around as house decoration. Nobody comes here who will touch them, and they're pretty close to useless if stolen. I like the displays, so this charred Model 10 is going to join the display. If you...
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From personal experience (my house burned in 2003), there is a huge difference between a gun that was in a house that burned and a gun that was actually in the fire.

Mine were just in the house. I took several to Nelson Ford to ask his opinion and his first reaction was to point at one with pachmayr grips and ask "Did those melt?" When I said no he told me I had nothing to worry about.

With that said, unless you know for a fact that the gun was just in the house and not actually in the fire, I would pass.
 
I've restored a few guns that were exposed to house fires. The key being they weren't actually burnt up but damaged by smoke and the efforts to put the fire out. A couple cases looked horrible because they had ended up covered with debris on the floor and not found for a while. The closest to being actually burned was a 30-30 that had the butt plate and the first couple inches of butt stock charred as the rack was by a window and the fire had traveled up the curtains near the butt of the gun. The rest of the damage was from the fire hose knocking it off the gun rack and then laying on the floor behind the couch for a couple days. Springs were perfect, the forend wood was untouched but the finish was trashed.

I've had a few guns brought to me that were actually burned in fires. Springs were ruined, an aluminum grip frame on one was melted. I made a couple into cutaways for display, there was no way I was going to chance the metal being okay. Others were simply scrapped.
 
A few general rules For metal exposed to high heat.

Any rainbow coloring in the metal (that wasnt actual case hardening prior to the fire) means its scrap.

If it had wood grips on it that charred, its scrap.

If the internal springs no longer "spring", its scrap.

Plastic or polymer is a bad indicator of heat exposure. Things like grips, or sights can look bad from very little heat exposure. It heats quickly and deforms at much lower temps than steel or even aluminum, which can take more heat for longer periods before it affects the temper.

Pics would help, but if you see any of the above, do not fire it without having a legit smith pull it apart and do some surface testing for hardness in any spots that look bad.
 
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