Front sight advice PLEASE

[andy52]

I can't see a reason you would have to re-brown the whole barrel, get the area back down to bare metal solder a new sight in place a touch up the area.

 

[Whiteoak15]

A Gunsmith who is known for good work is worth his weight in gold. Find one and pay what he asks and you will be happy with the result and never worry again. You are honest enough to admit you haven't developed the skills. There are people on here who have the skills and spent years developing them. "Practicing" on a fine weapon is NOT a good idea!

 

[No Answers]

I didn't read that anybody has suggested to hire a smith to do a dovetail installation.

 

[The Appalachian]

I didn't read that anybody has suggested to hire a smith to do a dovetail installation.

Because that wasn't the question. The OP wants to reattach the same sight.

 

[wiscoaster]

A Gunsmith who is known for good work is worth his weight in gold. Find one and pay what he asks and you will be happy with the result and never worry again. ....

Yes, but frankly, they're few and far between and hard to find, then you have to wait months for the backlog. I know one and I'm not telling.

 

[The Appalachian]

There is a good reason to "tin" the mating surfaces of the two parts. It's an old plumber's trick. Look in any plumber's box of copper fittings and the ones he's using that day are already lightly tinned.

What it does is in this case, 1) ensures there's a good adhesion of solder to the base metals while it can be seen, 2) it provides solder already in the joint so very little is applied in the next step, 3) it requires less heat to make the joint, and 4) there is FAR less chance of burning your flux which will kill the joint forcing you to start over.

You are basically just melting two surfaces of solder together into one and in many cases that's enough to make the joint without adding any more solder and hoping it flowed all the way into the joint.

 

[No Answers]

Because that wasn't the question. The OP wants to reattach the same sight.

OK, just suggesting consider an alternative method.

 

[The Appalachian]

OK, just suggesting consider an alternative method.

Honestly, given the choice, that's what I would do too.

 

[PathfinderNC]

If you’re as bad at soldering as I am, practice a lot first. A sloppy soldering job on a front sight would be “unsightly”.

 

[andy52]

If you’re as bad at soldering as I am, practice a lot first. A sloppy soldering job on a front sight would be “unsightly”.

You are correct, if you allow the solder to migrate past the edge of the sight it gets pretty ugly.
Here's the trick, clean the barrel metal very well, and place the sight where you want it to be located.
Lightly clamp the sight in place use a #2 pencil to scribe around the edges, clean, flux, and tin the bottom of the sight put it back in place, and heat. The graphite will prevent the solder from crossing that line you place around the sight.

 

[PathfinderNC]

You are correct, if you allow the solder to migrate past the edge of the sight it gets pretty ugly.
Here's the trick, clean the barrel metal very well, and place the sight where you want it to be located.
Lightly clamp the sight in place use a #2 pencil to scribe around the edges, clean, flux, and tin the bottom of the sight put it back in place, and heat. The graphite will prevent the solder from crossing that line you place around the sight.

That’s a cool trick

 

[user 34300]

Loctite has a myriad of product to stick metal together. Some are retaining compounds, they act like solder. I keep 680 around the shop for permanent bonding of slip fits. If these surfaces were prepared well, clean and roughed up, JB Weld would likely work OK. I rough up with an electro pencil and stipple the surfaces.

This is a gun, use solder. Real soldering is easy. Clean the surfaces and tin them real lead/tin solder and rosin flux. Move the solder around with a little ball of steel wool that has rosin on it, held in needle nose pliers. Rub the solder in until it is evenly silver. IN this case I would leave the sight with a thickness of solder I could see, like fresh paint. Let the parts cool. Paint with liquid rosin or rising and alcohol, same thing. Jig the parts. Heat the parts. When the solder melts let cool.

I wrote nothing about acid flux from the hardware store. Nothing about solder and flux mixtures. This is because acid flux will cause rust in the joint. IN this case it would also ruin the brown finish. I also use rosin core electronics solder. I find the silver bearing tin solders harder to work with.

 

[Wncman]

So it seems my ex was right and whenever I try to fix something I make it worse.
I partially knocked my front sight off over the weekend, it was hanging on by a thread of solder. I read on here superglue might do the job and voila. I now have two areas on my browned Colerain barrel.
Any idea how to remove without damaging the browning?
Also now the front sight is COMPLETELY off so suggestions on a simple fix for that also welcome.
Many thanks
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Clean the area down to bare metal. Tin the bottom of the site and the barrel. Then heat the barrel, place the site and clamp.
Look on YouTube for the “Grumpy gunsmith of Williamsburg “ aka: Clay Smith. He show how to and how to align. The touch up browning etc. . Just a suggestion