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.
