the loading lever fell out of my 1858 pietta last night. almost looks like it broke off? there is a slight circular indentation that it fits back into but not very deep? maby 1/16th" deep. I cleaned it with brake cleaner last night and JB welded it on. It fell off with my second shot this morning after about 18hrs cure time. How hard is it to silver solder something like this?
1858 loading lever catch
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rodwha
58 Cal.
That I don’t know much about that but did brazing. It takes a min to ge the hang of it with the biggest concern overheating and melting the metal. I doubt silver solder gets that hot. What I’ve read of is dovetailing the barrel and using Uberti latches and sights. I’m surprised JB didn’t hold up though.
No adhesive will hold up there and I have no idea how Pietta secures their latch and front sight except the sight is not subject to any strain or shock so it will stay in place. True silver soldering requires the same temps as brazing which can distort the barrel, silver bearing solder won't have that problem but it may or may not hold. My solution was to dovetail a Uberti latch in place.
Your heat source (hardware store propane torch) will be good for most SOFT SOLDER jobs. I would pick Stay-Brite and it's paste flux. Clean and abrade both surfaces well. Apply the flux to both surfaces and I would "tin" both surfaces then tap the latch in place apply a small amount of flux - heat the barrel but do not overheat it so as to burn the flux - touch the solder to the joint and when it flows touch some more solder to flow into the joint then remove the heat - let cool and clean up the area. This soldering will most likely remove the bluing in the area so you will have to touch it up with a cold blue solution (use Brownell's OXPHO-BLUE CREME GUN BLUE)) or do rust blue job.
rodwha
58 Cal.
I recall long ago reading they are press fit. Makes me think chilled latch tapped into a hot orifice.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1973292517?pid=883599
Mine popped out as well and after a bunch of floundering around I went with this and a loading press.
I use the press on all our pistols as I like it much better than on the gun.
Mine popped out as well and after a bunch of floundering around I went with this and a loading press.
I use the press on all our pistols as I like it much better than on the gun.
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Brownells has a solder called Force 44. It's 96% tin and 4% silver .It melts at just under 500F. It's strong at 15,00 to 26,00 .Three times better than Staybrite.. It' absolutely needs the proper flux that they also sell. Anything else will boil off before the parts get hot enough. Any tourch will do for this. You need to be careful to not overheat this solder .Just barely enough to melt is the right amt. Unless you are a master the flux will get to the blueing.
n.h.schmidt
n.h.schmidt
Not as far as I know but its made by Harris (Haris?). I don't know what its silver content is. Used to be called Staybright 8 but that was dropped. All it meant was 1/8 inch diameter.
Once I found it I used it exclusively for piping work. It had far better gap filling than standard solder (lost count of the gaps I found in leaking pipe joints over the years).
Per above, there are others, I used Starybright on the new front sight for the 47 Walker and its solid.
Jim in Wisconsin
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I had the catch on my 1960's Navy Arms Remington fall off a long time ago. I hard soldered it back on but don't remember what I used. The flux ran down and around the barrel and messed up the bluing bad. Tried touching it up with cold blue, and after all these years it still looks like crap.
Luckily by now the rest of the gun is pretty ugly so it blends in.
Luckily by now the rest of the gun is pretty ugly so it blends in.
Yea I discolored an area around the front sight but it does not look too bad. Black marker and only I know its there, granted I have yet to see anyone shooting BP revolvers at any of my sessions
CaptainKirk
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I have read about dovetailing jigs. Can't recall where but you might start with Brownell's? Supposedly the soft iron barrel stock is easily cut with a small triangular file. I'll see if I can't dig up the info in my archives and post it here.
I am going to try to solder it. The guns that I use regularly get well broken in so looks are not as important as function. I am used to the weight of the loading lever and it dosent feel right shooting without it. additionally I do want the option to load it on the gun in an emergency even though I almost never do.
Jim in Wisconsin
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As long as you use something better than plain old soft solder it should be ok. Make sure every bit of oil or dirt is cleaned off.
I could not find the harris stay bright so ended up using oatey safe flow silver solder. cleaned it with electronics cleaner and the bench wheel wire brush. I also bought their flux so I had the matching stuff. not super pretty joint but seems to work. Fired 18 rnds without falling off. as you can see I am well on my way to defarbing this girl. The squiggly thing you see is not a scratch. It's cat hair.
I only know of one type - Google it -- I've used the stuff for years and I have not had an issue when I want to solder with a soft solder - just don't burn the flux or you will have to start over from the beginning. I've done under ribs to barrels, brass parts to brass parts, steel to steel, steel to brass etc.
Learn the proper way to solder and join two pieces of metal - get a book, look on YouYube, practice - and use the heat source correctly so the solder will be sucked into the joint not just puddle up on the outside which is a BAD joint - AND DON'T BURN THE FLUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good Luck
I know it looks amature but seems to be solid. Its defintaly sucked in there but also not smooth.. I actually have done a fair bit of plumbing and tin work but the not wanting to get the barrel too hot was obviously on my mind.
While I could wipe a joint with a rag and get a nice clean look, that was to impress people with my skill level (good to build legends at work).
Nothing wrong with that joint. Worst case you can dremel the outflow back a bit, but you are not dealing with pipe that is slipped together, a free fit solder job is not an easy one. As long as it holds that is what counts. Pretty that does not work is useless.
A bit of work with a hot soldering iron tip would melt that surface off, take a bit of fiddling but it won't heat the under metal with a light touch.
And all you can say is, darn cats, hair gets everywhere and don't wear white.
Nothing wrong with that joint. Worst case you can dremel the outflow back a bit, but you are not dealing with pipe that is slipped together, a free fit solder job is not an easy one. As long as it holds that is what counts. Pretty that does not work is useless.
A bit of work with a hot soldering iron tip would melt that surface off, take a bit of fiddling but it won't heat the under metal with a light touch.
And all you can say is, darn cats, hair gets everywhere and don't wear white.
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