Welding Tips and Tricks

this guy at work wants me to solder a 1/8 s.s. tube to the rail on his shot gun. he is going to machine a grove for the tube to sit in, then put a fiber optic sight in the tube after soldering. he says that the rail is silver soldered to the barrel already. do you know what kind of solder should be used? im worried once i heat up the rail that it might fall off the barrel. any advice would be great.

Hey,

Tell him to take it to a gun smith. Guns are such a personalised item that he wont be happy even its only a little out. Just my opinion.

Mick

While Mick has the best advice,

You can separate the barrel from the receiver (or, better, have the client do it), plug one end, and fill it with light mineral oil to absorb/convect heat. Then, when soldering, keep the heat source primarily on the tube being added.

If you can't separate the barrel, plug the muzzle and fill from the receiver, and do the soldering near vertical, muzzle down.

Good luck,

Steve S.

he has a old barrel that i can try it on first. do you think that silver solder would be the best way to go? if so what kind of flux do you recommend?

I'd have to look at work for the flux we use, but,

Silver solder is expensive, and anyone who sells it will have the appropriate flux.

I'll look tomorrow at what I usually use. (Ususally... Ha. I do it about twice a year.)

Steve S.