Further to the paper by Staron, Jamnig, Leitner, Ebner & Clemens [J. Appl. Cryst. (2003), 36, 415±419], the following points are made. Characterization of the precipitation process in maraging steels is dif®cult, primarily because the precipitates formed are on the nanometre scale. Identi®cation of the precipitate type is complicated by the fact that its composition evolves during ageing, even ...