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.
