Stubborn steel pistol trigger guard

[eddillon]

I am having a difficult time making the rear tang of a pistol trigger guard to  conform to the curvature of the pistol grip.  I have annealed and bent, annealed and bent three times now.  Still it isn't right!  Any suggestions?

[L. Akers]

I make my pistol guards from flat stock .070-.080" thick.  It gives the rigidity needed but still fairly easy to form.  You might try filing the rear tang thinner.  Most castings are much thicker than they need to be.  Try making a form of hard wood, ie maple, to bend the tang to (my method) and try, try again.

[David Rase]

My suggestion would be to pile enough charcoal briquettes into a bowl or container that when they turn to ash  they will cover the triggerguard.  Place your triggerguard on top of the briquettes and light the briquettes on fire.  After the briquettes have burned down to ash they should cover the triggerguard.  Let them cool down before removing the triggerguard.  Just make sure you perform this outdoors as CO2 will build up in an enclosed space. 
I have used this method with good success on some hardened David triggers and they turned out soft a butter and filed like there was no tomorrow.
David

[eddillon]

Thank you L. Akers and David.  Today I'll follow through on both suggestions.
Cheers,
Ed

[Mark Elliott]

At a certain point, I would use a torch to heat the bend points red hot.   Other than that, you just have to keep at it.  You won't get it perfect.   You just need it close enough to file the surface flush.   

[Dave B]

I know that I had a heck of a time inletting one of my pistol projects trigger guard. It was a rifle shoppe trigger guard. What I didn't really pay attention to was that the wax that was used to make the guard had gotten bent before they poured the brass so I got a twisted and warped brass guard. I straightened  it as best able and started inletting at the finial first then the back of the trigger bow then the rest of the grip section. The Casting was dead soft and was easy to bend into place by using a Crescent wrench clamped in the vice jaws and a  ford wrench to bend with. The biggest issue you face in bending the extension is that you must make sure your casting is square, not twisted. If you try to bend a twisted casting the jaws of the bending devices must accommodate the twist to keep the bend in the plane of the contour. The importance of the jaws being kept straight is critical when one bends to keep the metal straight and square at the same time. It is very easy to get the jaws out of square and then find that the metal will not lay flat on you wood.  The finial was held in place in its inlet with a clamp while I worked down the long grip section bit by bit. if you don't clamp the trigger guard the tipping of the guard in the inlet makes the bending very tedious because it s never right  each time you try it. Make sure you don't try to cut the inlet complete for the full length of the grip section only progress as the portion of the grip near the trigger bow is fully inlet then follow up the grip to the pommel inletting as you go. I hope that makes  sense.  My day job involves bending metal to make leg braces for folks so its a challenge if your starting point is not square to begin with. good luck with your project.

[eddillon]

Thanks for all the good advice.  Tang filed down.  David's charcoal treatment done and all the rest of the suggestions applied.  I think it is going to be much simpler now.