Curious about underlugs

[brokenhand]

I just got some solder and flux from Brownell's and have been playing around with it and got to wondering why more folks don't solder their barrel underlugs on rather than dovetailing them in. I was always kind of leery about putting much heat on a barrel, but this solder I got really seems to work well and it is easy. I have been practicing by soldering a small steel loop on to the back of a domed and hammered penny and creating a copper button. Anyway, back to the underlugs, the solder seems to hold real well and is easy and could even be re-located or taken off if need arose. Seems like it would be a good thing. Any negatives to this line of thinking?

[Lucky R A]

     I have been soldering underlugs on barrels for fifteen years on probably over 200 guns, and have only ever had problems with two that came loose, and that was my fault.   I solder them on lead free solder and immediately cut the excess off the edges with a cold chisel and the don't move.  You can also make nice underlugs for keys  by cutting out the slot from the bottom of the underlug and then solder both ends into place.  This allows the key to ride as close to the bottom of the barrel as possible.   It is quick, easy and reliable---and no worries about cutting or drilling too deeply with other methods.
Ron

[jerrywh]

 Where have I heard some of this before?

[B.Habermehl]

Just remember to clean and oil the interior of the barrel immediately after your done with your soldering operations. BJH

[flehto]

Because of the thin webs {1/16" at the breech} and  the very slender 46" bbls  on the Bucks County LR builds, 3 ways of attaching underlugs are used.

The lug at the breech is as Lucky RA describes, the lug at the small waist is soldered on and the other 2 lugs are dovetailed.  Shown is the lug at the breech....although I use a 1/16 dia. pin.

 
 

[Gaeckle]

I will on occasion solder on lugs, but I prefer to dovetail. The heat needed to apply solder isn't enough to hurt the barrel. I use regular old stuff I've had for years....clean the work area, flux the bejabbers out of it, bring it up to temperature, flow on the solder, tin the lug and atatch.

[Jim Kibler]

Soldering will work fine.  Remember that from a historical perspective, dovetailing was pretty much universal.  It takes only a very shallow dovetail to hold, especially if the dovetail ends are raised with a chisel.

Jim

[Don Stith]

Might just be me, but I have seen way more staples than dovetails for underlugs on originals

[Jim Kibler]

Yes, staples.   These of course are different than those often used today.  All the original ones I've seen were rectangular in cross section and had a foot facing outward staked in place.

I think I've seen staples on some 17th century European work, but I wonder if it's not more of a 19th century feature when considering American work.  Seems like the handful of good early Rev war or earlier guns I've seen apart were dovetailed.  Not a huge sample size, though...

Jim

[Micah2]

I used staples made from finish nails on my rifle, and for practice I installed one on the side of my three pound hammer.  If I used a screwdriver to try and pull it out, it would only be with determination and ruin.  I trust these staples because the holes drilled into the barrel even under great stress would then only resemble my vent.  The integrity of the barrel is in tact because a flat is not altered.  In truth, all three methods are ample strong and utilized on particular projects for various reasons.  I.e- thin barrels, round barrels, etc.

[Dave B]

Here is an original trade gun/ fowler barrel that has a brazed set of under lugs. The metal was bumped up just enough for a flap of metal to hold the under lug in place while the brazing was done. The raised portion of the dovetail looks more like a cut you would give yourself after slipping with your pocket knife. The actual depth being around .060

[vulture]

I use the dovetail method simply to get the lug as close to the barrel as possible, and still have a good solid barrel to lug mating base.  If I were using a round barrel then I would revisit my choice as it would be easier, for me, to install the lug with solder than to file the dovetail in the barrel.  I don't have a milling machine so all my metal work has to be done with hacksaw and files, which is just fine, I've installed a goodly number of under lugs and sights using nothing by these hand tools, it just takes time.  The one time I had a dovetail cut into the barrel by machine it was done by a good fiend of mine using his lathe, yup it can be done that way, he chucked the dovetail mill up in the chuck and then put the barrel in a vice attachment and moved the barrel across the cutting tool, the problem came about when the chuck let the cutting tool move outward and the dovetail configuration of the tool caused it to dig deeper than we wanted into the barrel, almost too deep, much more and it would have come through into the bore necessitating cutting the barrel off back behind that dovetail, using the shortened barrel in another project and purchasing a brand new barrel and starting over.  After that little experience I went back to my hacksaw and files, much more controllable.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

A good many of our modern made rifle barrels are considerably thinner walled and lighter overall than the average historical barrel.  I've only resorted to solder on the muzzle end of smoothbored fowling pieces.  Otherwise the lugs get dovetails.