Repair this barrel lug?

[Eric Krewson]

I was drilling for a pin hole on my fowler's lug, the bit caught and broke off in the lug deep in the wood, I couldn't get it out. Somone here suggested putting a 1/16 carbide bit in the pin hole and let it eat with only the weight of the drill motor to put pressure on it.

I didn't think this would work but gave it a try, I had to get the trigger guard off, I had a temporary Phillips head screw in the trigger plate and you know how that would look on a finished gun.

I put the bit in the hole and let the drill motor run on slow speed. After about 10 minutes I started to see metal come out of the hole then POP, I drilled through the stuck bit and my trigger guard fell off.

Of course, this obliterated the lug on the trigger guard so I made a new lug and stuck it on with solder paste. Ten years later the lug is still in place and doing just fine.

 

[FlinterNick]

I drilled the hole for this barrel lug pretty darn close to the edge. The picture makes it look a litle thicker than it is, but the thickness of the steel is no more than the thickness of a fingernail on the outter edge, and I'm concerned that over time this could break, rust away, etc. This is the first lug near the muzzle so it can be seen from the ramrod channel, and my chief concern is that if it ever does degrade, it will become an eyesore. Otherwise it presently holds the pin just fine. Would you repair this, or leave it be? Is there a good way to repair it, or would I be better off just replacing it?

I would replace it, or have it replaced by someone who can do it efficiently.

 

[FlinterNick]

My first kit I drilled the pin hole and cut the bottom of the tenon. My teacher simply brazed the hole and added a small amount of brass below the tenon. I drilled the hole again, and deepened the notch in the forearm a bit. Still holding after 43 years.

Brass tenon’s work great, the brass can be peened, easily brazed or soldered. Aluminum works good too, very easy to cast. While aluminum isn’t authentic, it works very well.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Naw ... Remove it and solder on a new lug ... Easier anyway ....

Agreed. Trying to fill the void with solder will like result in detachment anyway.

 

[satwel]

Brass tenon’s work great, the brass can be peened, easily brazed or soldered. Aluminum works good too, very easy to cast. While aluminum isn’t authentic, it works very well.

But can you solder aluminum to a steel barrel? I thought aluminum would not adhere to solder. Am I mistaken?

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

But can you solder aluminum to a steel barrel? I thought aluminum would not adhere to solder. Am I mistaken?

I always thought you didn’t want to have steel contact aluminum. Think Ford truck. Ford has a barrier between all aluminum/steel contact points.

 

[FlinterNick]

But can you solder aluminum to a steel barrel? I thought aluminum would not adhere to solder. Am I mistaken?

Aluminimum for dovetails, the aluminum is softer, and keys into a dovetail nicely. But you sure can solder aluminum to steel, I’ve never tried, it on steel barrels, only brass parts like trigger guards and butt plates.

for example, I repaired a torn up brown Bess wrist plate screw boss with an aluminum bushing, threaded it and soldered it into the boss, then drilled and retapped, works excellent. Aluminum does bond very well with a low temp solder, it just needs to be very clean. I’ve also made aluminium ferrels for rammer thimbles and trigger guard thimbles.

 

[FlinterNick]

I always thought you didn’t want to have steel contact aluminum. Think Ford truck. Ford has a barrier between all aluminum/steel contact points.

If your’e thinking of moving parts, yes that is correct. You don’t want an aluminum axel and steel gears, the axel will wither to nothing. Same concept with brass on steel, steel and iron tend to be much harder than softer non ferrous metals.

I wouldn’t want an aluminum tumbler in a lock, it will eventually wear away to nothing.

Non moving things its fine.