The article presents hot deformation and controlled direct cooling of hardened medium-carbon HSLA steel with micro-additions of alloying elements Ti and/or V. It also contains a study of the effect of thermomechanical-processing conditions on grain refinement and precipitation kinetics in the replacement of the conventional reheating-requiring heat treatment with a cost-effective technology. Controlled cooling with accelerated air and mist adjusted to lower carbon and hardenability-related alloying elements by means of employing experimentally designed heats, varying in the Mo content, was designed to meet the mining-industry requirements for mechanical properties. Besides microstructural-property relations, the vital problem of non-uniformity of the obtained properties is addressed with regard to within-part variances in the cooling rate of the as-forged, undeformed and dynamically recrystallized material. The strength and plasticity versus the microstructure of the produced fine pearlite/bainite structure with grain-boundary ferrite were evaluated. Microstructure-property relations allowed the formulation of the conclusions on the effect of direct-cooling conditions on the microstructure and grain substructure, their mutual synergic effect in controlling the microstructure, as well as guidelines for the transfer of the locally established process parameters into technological conditions. Keywords: thermomechanical processing, drop forging, accelerated cooling, grain refinement, tempered martensitê lanek predstavlja vro~o deformacijo in kontrolirano ohlajanje srednjeoglji~nega HSLA jekla z mikrododatkom legirnih elementov Ti in/ali V. Vsebuje tudi {tudijo vpliva pogojev termomehanske obdelave na udrobnjenje zrn in kinetiko izlo~anja pri nadome{~anju obi~ajnega re`ima ogrevanja za toplotno obdelavo s cenej{o tehnologijo. Da bi dosegli zahteve rudarske industrije in mikrostrukturne lastnosti, je bilo vzpostavljeno kontrolirano ohlajanje s tokom zraka in me{anice zraka ter vode, prilagojeno ni`jemu ogljiku in drugim elementom. Ti vplivajo na prekaljivost z uporabo eksperimentalnih talin, v katerih se je spreminjala vsebnost Mo. Poleg odvisnosti lastnosti od mikrostrukture, je glavni problem neenakost dobljenih lastnosti, kar je delno povezano z razlikami pri ohlajanju v kosu kovanega, nedeformiranega ali dinami~no rekristaliziranega materiala. Ocenjeni sta bili trdnost in plasti~nost v odvisnosti od nastale drobnozrnate perlitno/bainitne mikrostrukture s feritom po mejah zrn. Odvisnost mikrostrukture od lastnosti omogo~a postavitev zaklju~kov o vplivu pogojev pri neposrednem ohlajanju na mikrostrukturo in zrna substrukture ter njihov medsebojni vpliv pri kontroli mikrostrukture, kot tudi navodila za prenos lokalno ugotovljenih procesnih parametrov v tehnolo{ke pogoje. Klju~ne besede: termomehanska obdelava, kovanje s padalnim kladivom, pospe{eno ohlajanje, zmanj{anje zrn, popu{~en martenzit