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Are US made A307 bolts hard to get? 2

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dozer

Structural
Apr 9, 2001
503
I spec'd A307 bolts for a lightly loaded non-critical connection thinking I was going to save a few bucks only to have our supplier tell us he couldn't find A307 bolts made in the USA. We have country of origin requirements for the project just to let you know. These are 5/8" dia. x 1-1/2" long. Anybody know what the deal is? Are these only made in China? There are countries other than the US that our client will accept but China is not one of them.
 
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5/8 dia by 1-1/2 long sounds more like a coupling bolt ...

I have spec'ed A307 bolts, but have not checked or required country of origin.

Tried Fastenal, MSC, Grainger, Threads of the South, etc and just told them you need not-Chinese?
 
For less-than-truckload quantities, look at TechnicalThreads.com. That's where I get my domestic/1st-world A-307's from [typically for API manways]. Should be somebody in your area that will sell Domestic/1st-world stuff. Most of us avoid made-in-China stuff for good reasons. There are numerous threads discussing our {horror] stories.
 
I would not be surprised that there are a lot of small machine shops in the US that could such bolts. Make sure that you get Certs. when receiving your order. Contact a few of them in your area. I would not trust Chinese steel even if they provide Certs. On one of our DOT jobs, the State of Ct. would not even accept bolts made in Canada, they had to be made in the States.
 
Thanks for the input. Portland requires a much larger minimum order than we need. Technical Threads look like they may work but I had already made the decision to just go with A325 by the time I saw the post. Maybe next time, that is, if I can get our purchasing people to try someone new.
 
We used to use both A307 and A325 bolts in our projects and decided ultimately that the cost differential between the two was not large enough to justify stocking both varieties. Other than a speciality thin head bolt that is A307-type material we use strictly A325 bolts these days. In many cases you might find an SAE J429 Grade 1 bolt to be the equivalent of the A307. That reference seems to have more US availability than the A307 labeled bolt.
 
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