Gun vs fire

[tink77]

Can a gun that when through a fire be brought back to life? I don't have just wondering.

 

[243winxb]

Depends on heat & time in the fire. I was offered one that had a 90% finished stock replacement. I passed on it.

 

[Walt622]

Not worth the risk, heat will change the structure of the metal. It may kaboom on the first shot, or several rounds later, there is no way to know.

 

[Jim Watson]

The rule of thumb is that if the springs are collapsed, then the structural strength of the action was likely affected. Maybe annealed and softened, maybe quenched by fire hose water and left hard and brittle.

I had a number of guns with finish damage from smoke and water in my house fire but not hit by flame. Insurance paid for them to be refinished and they shoot fine.

P.S. Modern ammo is not as waterproof as you think. A dunk in the dishpan, ok. Heavily wetted and left for a while, don't count on it.

 

[entropy]

Probably not a Glock, but I have a WW-II era vintage Win. Model 94 that went through a house fire. I replaced all the springs, put new stocks on it, (it had none when I got it; it was a parts gun at the shop I worked at.) and it works fine. The blue looks a little funny, but it is all there.

 

[Ed Ames]

Safe answer: no.

Realistic answer: if the gun gets hot enough it will ruin the heat treatment. It may be possible to shoot them after that, but it isn't necessarily safe. It will need to be thoroughly checked over.

I know someone who had a Swedish Mauser that had been near a fire. As a result the receiver was dead soft, as he demonstrated by bending it 90 degrees in a vice, and bending it back straight. It is at the bottom of a lake somewhere.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Heating to high temperature and then slow cooling would "probably" result in annealing the steel. Not good but that condition would at least result in splitting upon failure rather than fracturing into fragments due to brittle fracture. Heating to high temperature that cooks out the carbon in steel results in iron; Relatively strong but brittle. Heating to high temperature and quenching in water such as may happen in a house fire may result in hardening that in a normal commercial process would then be drawn by further heat treating to a normal strength vs brittleness appropriate to the task at hand.
Heat control processes is what brings us the current state of firearms manufacture. A firearm exposed to unknown temperatures for unknown time provides none of the safety inherent in modern manufacture.

 

[Longhorn 76]

Maybe if it was a .22.

 

[ljnowell]

I know a guy who has an AK that went through a truck fire. He replaced the wood and spray painted it and still shoots it.

I wouldn't shoot it however.

 

[M-Cameron]

it really depends.....cant really say one way or the other without some more info.....

if it was me, if the stock looked to be sound, chances are the metal is unaffected.....and ide have no problem shooting it

guns get up to a few hundred degrees while firing.....so if the fire wasnt too intense, or wasnt in it for very long, chances are the gun didnt see anything out of the norm.

 

[jmr40]

I've seen video of guns fired until they got hot enough to set wood or plastic stocks on fire. The barrels were probably shot out, but the guns were fine.

I think guns can take a lot more heat than we give them credit for. But I'd still be leery of any gun that had been in a fire. You don't really have any idea exactly how hot they got.

 

[longknife12]

I have several friends that went through house fires....their departments
replaced the weapons and mashed them.
Dan

 

[Sunray]

Gun vs fire, fire usually wins. As mentioned, it does depend on too many thing for a general yes or no. Stock burned off is one of the factors that says no. Charred stock is a maybe, likely an "It's ok."
"...guns fired until they got hot enough to set wood on fire..." Two 20 rounds mags, rapid, out of a C1A1 had the wooden forestock smouldering every time.

 

[herrwalther]

A friend of mine recovered an AK from a house fire. The wood needed to be replaced and have a serious cleaning inside. 5000+ rounds later it still shoots. He did say it was inside a hard side case, no idea the brand. He is a cheapskate so I doubt it was high quality like a Pelican or the like. Safes and cases, even cheap ones can go a long way of keeping a firearm salvageable. Another friend of mine lost a gorgeous .303 from WWII that wasn't in a case to a house fire.

 

[tink77]

Thanks I don't have any guns that was in a fire, I was just wondering.

 

[CaptTripps]

I worked with a guy that had a bunch of guns in a house fire, there was no flame damage, lots of smoke/soot damage tho, the stocks stunk of smoke and it took several cleanings to minimize it. They seemed fine mechanically after we inspected and cleaned/oiled them. A gun with visible charring or flame damage, Idk if I would trust.