Posted by David Williamson on December 11, 2016, 9:04 pm, in reply to "side plate material"
Gary, interesting prints. Hunter Arms of Fulton, N.Y. did use SAE 1020 for many parts and I would believe they were forged into billets. Marlin most likely did use castings on their line of guns. I do know from reading that when Marlin decided to make the side lock again in 1968 they had a lot of problems with the heat treating of parts. By this time most of the "old time" workers had passed and their secrets went with them.
I cannot say for sure if locks from the L.C. Smith Gun Company were forged or cast. I would think that cast anything has a lot of porosity in it compared to forged.