Yes indeed it will be more brittle but also many times stronger so it'll take much more force to fracture. Anything you can do to the stock pegs to make them harder is a plus, they flex quite easily and are expensive as hell. I bent one of mine back at a 45deg angle on a stump last summer. The heelguard got wasted as well, so I got a new one of each and painted the heelguards yellow.