Results 1 to 9 of 9
-
May 11th, 2010, 07:53 PM #1Grand Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Location
-
SomewhereWestPA,
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County) - Posts
- 4,520
- Rep Power
- 21474857
Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
Hello all,
Anyone familiar with gunsmithing, ie - silver soldering or brazing metal to metal?
Reason I ask is that I have an old Freedom Arms .22LR belt-buckle mini revolver that had the front-sight blade fall right off.
It apparently was never properly secured as it should have been, considering the level of abuse it would be subjected to when using the belt-buckle as the "holster".
Anyway, given that the gun itself is stainless steel, can the sight blade simply be silver-soldered or brazed back on the barrel?
Thanks!All of my guns are lubed with BACON GREASE.
-
May 11th, 2010, 09:12 PM #2
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
May want to check this out : http://www.artmetal.com/brambush/for...sages/149.html
Looks like good advice. I would say it would work well, but would it be overkill? How tight of a fit does the part have now? if it is snug enough, would a drop of some sort of adheasive do a fair job, without worrying about the barrel being heated to the temps you would have to braze at?
-
May 11th, 2010, 10:39 PM #3Grand Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Location
-
SomewhereWestPA,
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County) - Posts
- 4,520
- Rep Power
- 21474857
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
It has to be on the barrel tight, straight and true, and, most of all: secure enough to withstand "belt buckle OC".
Now in practical terms, the little Freedom Arms mini is a novelty act - even moreso when the little "bird's head" belt-buckle-fitting grips are installed.
It's usable (what a stretch...) without the front-sight blade, but I was just thinking of "completeness".
I am thinking the downside to trying to braze or solder is the heat and discoloration to the barrel...Last edited by nfafan; May 11th, 2010 at 10:56 PM.
All of my guns are lubed with BACON GREASE.
-
May 12th, 2010, 12:37 PM #4Grand Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
- Location
-
Chalfont,
Pennsylvania
(Bucks County) - Posts
- 2,418
- Rep Power
- 21474853
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
How about a nice dovetail with a custom front sight?
-
May 12th, 2010, 03:31 PM #5Member
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
-
Pennsylvania
(Mercer County) - Posts
- 88
- Rep Power
- 87
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
I have silver soldered stainless front sights in applications of severe abuse. At minimum it takes 1100 degrees F. I got some discoloration of the barrel(some straw colors came out). Your results might vary.
A silver bearing, low temp solder might be a better choice if you want it to stay pretty. Brownells sells several. I used one called Hi-force 44??? It worked well, nothing broken free yet.
-
May 12th, 2010, 09:07 PM #6Grand Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Location
-
SomewhereWestPA,
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County) - Posts
- 4,520
- Rep Power
- 21474857
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
Doubt that there is enough steel to dovetail, bbl itself is under 2". The sight blade was literally surface-soldered (or epoxy glued??) to the barrel. Attaching a flat surface to a curved surface is never easy, especially in such small dimensions.
Have no idea why Freedom Arms took that approach. Maybe explains why they got out of the mini-revolver business.
I may ask a local jeweler to take a look as I would guess they know how to silver solder and clean up after themselves.All of my guns are lubed with BACON GREASE.
-
May 13th, 2010, 09:49 PM #7Grand Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
- Location
-
Chalfont,
Pennsylvania
(Bucks County) - Posts
- 2,418
- Rep Power
- 21474853
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
I'm working at the retail store (Lowe's Certified Guns) on Sat. I think we have one. I'll measure the bbl. and let you know if there is enough meat for me to cut a dove tail in it.
-
May 13th, 2010, 10:31 PM #8Grand Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Location
-
SomewhereWestPA,
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County) - Posts
- 4,520
- Rep Power
- 21474857
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
All of my guns are lubed with BACON GREASE.
-
June 1st, 2010, 04:08 PM #9
Re: Attach sight-blade to stainless steel barrel; silver solder?
A well-equipped bench jeweler will have a miniature arc welder (tack-arc, pulse-arc) that will do the job for you; they then polish up the bead with a ceramic impregnated buffer-wheel and the sight will 'look like it growed there'.
"...a REPUBLIC, if you can keep it."
Similar Threads
-
44 magnum. S&W Stainless steel...$500
By pred in forum GeneralReplies: 0Last Post: February 7th, 2009, 05:03 PM -
What's a Good steel for a knife blade
By Arch007er in forum GeneralReplies: 7Last Post: December 10th, 2008, 02:01 PM -
WTS: Savage 22-250 Stainless/fluted heavy barrel(barrel only)
By pdog06 in forum GeneralReplies: 1Last Post: May 13th, 2008, 06:34 PM -
Stainless Steel
By Coustain in forum GeneralReplies: 19Last Post: July 6th, 2007, 02:39 AM
Bookmarks