Shot Out Brass Frame

[nkbj]

Can JB Weld be used to save a shot out brass frame?

I've never seen but one brass frame become loose, my brothers old .44. I surely don't know what it would take to pull the center pin, JB it and twist it back in. Was just thinking that the JB Weld is probably stronger than the brass.

 

[Zonie]

JB Weld has a tensile strength (the force required to pull it apart) of 3960 pounds per square inch.

The weakest cast brass I see listed in my materials handbook has a tensile strength of 34,000 psi making the brass a little less than 10 times stronger.

 

[George T.]

Of course I don't know how loose it is. There is a green Lock Tight that migrates into almost any openings. That plus carefully stakeing the brass around the pin might get you tightened up. A welder that really knew what he was doing might be able to braze it or silver solder it.

If you could get it out I would think JB would work if staked a little! Are they pressed in or threaded? Geo. T.

 

[nmdd]

I believe since Cabela's has the brass model on sale it would make a perfect birthday present for you brother....
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Sho...701680&WTz_l=SBC;MM;cat104701680;cat104503680

Hang the old one on the wall.... :hatsoff:

 

[Poor Private]

Personally I think that all the messing around, and still having a beatup brass framed pistol not worth the work. Best bet is to buy a new one(brass if you prefer) at around 200 bucks. Most brass frames get "stretched" due to over loading the chambers(in my opinion). Buy one the same manufacturer as your other one, then use it for parts. Or do what I did. I bought a shadow box, and now have a static display on the living room wall that contains a pistol, cap box, some fake paper cartrdiges, and a nipple wrench. - It's an old one a buddy was goin to toss out.

 

[nkbj]

JB Weld has a tensile strength (the force required to pull it apart) of 3960 pounds per square inch.

The weakest cast brass I see listed in my materials handbook has a tensile strength of 34,000 psi making the brass a little less than 10 times stronger.

I was thinking that if the gaps could be filled that the hardness of the metal filled epoxy would win out, that it would not depend upon tensile or shear. But, I reckon nobody has tried yet.

 

[Zonie]

I was mainly responding to your thought that JB Weld is "probably stronger than brass."

Course, this doesn't prevent you from trying your idea but don't be surprised when it doesn't work out like you planned.

 

[nkbj]

And I was really thinking it's tensile was higher than that too. Wonder if NASA has space age materials suitable for mending 19th century revolvers!

 

[MacRob46]

Buy another gun. What you are planning probably won't work well enough to suit you, might cause a bad malfunction and is simply more trouble than it is worth.

 

[Zonie]

I think everybody ought to have the experiance of seeing their barrel and cylinder arbor go flying downrange at least once in their life. That's the kind of thing that is easily remembered and years from now, others who were at the event will say,

"Say, remember that time when you were shooting your old cap and ball revolver and you blew the barrel clean off of that gun?
I'll never forget the look on your face when that happened!

You just sort of stood there with your eyes bugging out and your mouth hanging open for a good ten seconds before you could move!

Har, harr, harrr, harrrrrr." :rotf:

 

[Poor Private]

I think everybody ought to have the experiance of seeing their barrel and cylinder arbor go flying downrange at least once in their life. That's the kind of thing that is easily remembered and years from now, others who were at the event will say,

"Say, remember that time when you were shooting your old cap and ball revolver and you blew the barrel clean off of that gun?
I'll never forget the look on your face when that happened!

You just sort of stood there with your eyes bugging out and your mouth hanging open for a good ten seconds before you could move!

Har, harr, harrr, harrrrrr." :rotf:

And don't forget the underwear change you will have to go through. :blah:

 

[Leatherbark]

If you are a handy man you could "Tin" the arbor threads with solder and then "Tin" the brass frame threads with solder. Screw the arbor in and mount the barrel and wedge without the cylinder and then fuse the arbor to the frame. In addition where the arbor exits the frame at the rear (usually ground flush) peen the edges of the arbor with a center punch to prevent loosening along with the solder.
Now you have to be good at using solder and "Tinning" with it

Bob

 

[nkbj]

The heat technique could be a booger but someone is bound to have the expertise.
Started making soldering guns in 9th grade electric shop but never tried anything as dependent upon positioning and alignment!
A jig would be needed to get it in position for the freeze. Suppose you would have to get it in the hole, then put the assembly in the jig, then remelt with the assembly in the jig to get the pin positioned.

 

[M. De Land]

Would boring oversize and steel sleeving the brass frame to the original arbor be a viable option? MD

 

[Leatherbark]

Would installing the barrel with the Wedge before fusing the two parts line everything up? There would not be enough room to put a sleeve in the frame I believe because of the hand slot real close to the arbor.

Bob

 

[hawkeye2]

Even if there were room sleeving would only be prolonging the inevitable. The sleeve to frame junction would eventually loosen as the original steel arbor to brass frame joint did. If one was an amateur machinist and could do the work it might be worth doing but it wouldn't be worth what it would cost otherwise specially given the price of new revolvers.

Put a couple of rounds through the ace of spades and mount the card and revolver in a shadow box or: (my preference) Load a ball in each chamber so as to appear loaded and bury it in horse manure for 6 months to a year. Dig it up, hose off without disassembling, oil and put the relic on display. I haven't done a firearm but I have put a patina on a couple of inexpensive carbon steel swords by taking them out in the woods, covering them with leaves and going back with a metal detector after a few years. This was done only to make a decorative item from an otherwise valueless piece and not to represent it as an original.

 

[cynthialee]

turn it into a parts gun, or use it as a display

 

[M. De Land]

What I was wondering about was not threading in the sleeve/bushing to the brass frame but sweating it in with silver solder which has a tensile of 21,000 if I remember right.
I think what is happening with brass is impact elongation against the harder steel threads of the arbor.IF V threaded than it tends to stretch horizontally because of the wedging effect.
The trouble with threads is that they load the first 2-3 threads with 70 percent of the total load which encourages stretching at the front.
A sweated in sleeve/bushing carries all the shear the length of the shank as it is bonded to the brass frame. I think it would work and probably indefinitely if there is room enough.
Just a hunch suggestion from a ole home hobby machinist/gun mechanic
Probably while a person was at it they ought to steel sleeve the bolt window in a brass frame as I would expect that to be stretched as well.
It definitely would not be worth it unless one could do the work themselves.
A brass frame gun with the effective strength of a steel one would be kind of neat.MD

 

[Coot]

A brass frame gun with the effective strength of a steel one would be kind of neat.MD

Why not brass plate a steel frame?

 

[M. De Land]

The idea was to save a brass framed gun and while at it might as well up grade the project to make it last. MD