Grade 8 steel is not Stainless steel. It's a medium carbon steel.You are correct that grade 8 steel is good enough for breech plugs. A grade 8 steel is used for fasteners and bolts on a car wheel for example.

Grade 8 steel and 18-8 Stainless are not the same.

The 18-8 steel that ronlaughlin is using is very cheap low end Stainless.

The yield strength of Grade 8 steel is 130,000 psi.

The yield strength of 18-8 Stainless that Ronlaughlin uses is 80,000 psi. Very cheap imported stainless steel. And yes very soft in comparison as i said before.

The steel that Lehigh uses is also a medium carbon steel. But the yield strength is much greater then the 130,000 psi of the grade 8 steel. I have a call in waiting for that number.

Good Grief, what a bunch of malarky.

18-8 stainless is the most commonly used stainless for making fasteners. The screws i have used, may or may not be imported. I don't know where they were made. The 'yield strength' of these screws is irrelevant when they are used as ventliners. Yield strength refers to how strongly a fastener can hold things together. These screws only have one simple chore; they provide a place to make a small hole. In all the time i have lived on this earth, i have never worked with a 'stainless steel' that anyone would consider 'soft'. These screws in no way can be considered 'soft'. I daresay, you could spend a week trying to drill a hole through one, and you wouldn't get it done.

If these screws can withstand 80,000 psi, that makes them strong enough to contain smokeless magnum cartridges. That makes these screws stronger than the barrel of any muzzle loader.

Now, all of this discussion is a waste of time and silly, because i am not in any way, competition for Lehigh. There is no need for you to try and shoot me down. I am not trying to take any of Lehigh business. No way, am i interested in selling ventliners. I mentioned my ventliners to Sabotloader as a joke, a joke is all.

I thought we were talking about ramrods?

ronlaughlin,
Your mouth is as bad as the threads on MD'S breech plug you sent him. In case you forgot, the thread above that you wrote started this. And i now supplied the facts that anyone can check. You are the liar and posting false information.

The stainless 18-8 ventliners you are using are really soft in comparison to grade 8 steel and also the Lehigh vent-liners.

I dont think Lehigh cares how many ventliners you sale or not. As far as shooting you down???? Well my friend, you just need to learn to listen before you speek.

Then, why are you so worried about what i (sp)speek? Why do you need to write my ventliner are not safe? Don't you get it, the psi of my ventliner are strong enough to withstand smokeless magnum cartridge, and you have written over and over, that they are not safe.

Grouse, i use a lot of 18-8 stainless bolts in my projects. They resist rusting and are very strong. No, i ain't a metallurgist but my son is. Ever wonder why they use stainless steel in some rifle barrels? A stainless steel rifle barrel shows no more wear in the forcing cone area than a non-stainless barrel that has been fired the same number of times.

You can easily cut the breechplug of an Encore with a worn out Swiss file, i just did that.

Grouse, you need to take a chill pill.

No kidding.

They are not a reliable or safe way to make a vent-liner. You have nothing to protect it from heat or fire. And you cant even harden that material. The stock savage vent-liners are a much better way to go.

The reason why i say stuff is because what you do is wrong. As long as the people no and choose to use your stuff i could care less. The information has been provided and people can check and do what they choose.

You clearly don't worry about safety. And i no your not going to change. So don't keep asking why it's not safe. In comparison to others it is not and never will be period.

There are different kinds of stainless steel as your son already knows. 18-8 is at the bottom.