Attaching Lugs to Octagon Barrel

[JCurtiss]

Should the lugs be staked or soldered to an octagon barrel?

And if soldered is warping the barrel, owing to excessive heat from a propane torch, a concern? Also, what is the technique for soldering the lugs? Do you use acid core solder and heat the barrel and lug together and then “draw” the solder into the joint by touching the solder to the heated parts?

Thanks!

Jason

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Jason,

You are going to get a lot of feedback on this, and there are a lot of methods that members here use.  I have soldered lugs to the barrel if the lug needed to be on the thinnest part of the barrel.  I use the silver solder that you can buy in a tube and just clean the lug and the barrel to make sure there is no oil, clamp the lug down and heat.  It would be next to impossible to get the barrel hot enough to warp it with just a propane torch.  I say next to impossible, because I am not sure it would be completely impossible. 

I have never staked a lug so I cannot speak to that. 

My question is why not dovetail it in??  If you have never done that before, it is not as hard as it seems. And you have to do it for the front and rear sights, so the bottom of the barrel is a good place to practice. 

Coryjoe

[tallbear]

Jason

Heres a pictorial of how I do it. http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=20144.msg190473#msg190473 It has the benefit of not cutting deeply into the barrel,being historically correct and not needing solder.

Mitch

[JCurtiss]

My question is why not dovetail it in??  If you have never done that before, it is not as hard as it seems. And you have to do it for the front and rear sights, so the bottom of the barrel is a good place to practice. 

Coryjoe

I have dovetails cut into my barrel, but my lugs slide into and out of the dovetail grooves with relative ease.  So I was trying to come up with a way to fix the lugs solidly in their grooves.

[tallbear]

Jason

Soft solder will work in that case.It will flow at a temp that won't bother the barrel.

Mitch

[gunmaker]

punch down the ends of the dovetail...tightens 'em right up

[davebozell]

What gunmaker said.  I couple whacks on each side with a punch will tighten them right up.

[Pete G.]

Another way to tighten dovetails is to place a cold chisel across the barrel and next to the dovetail and give if a gentle whack. This will upset enough metal all the way across and tighten the whole thing. You can also do the same thing just aft of a rear sight and call it a decorative molding.

[T*O*F]

I'm not happy with some of the answers you're getting as they are just the "pat" answers everybody gives.

If your lugs easily slide, the barrel dovetail is too wide, or deep.  Raising the lug will tighten it up.  There are a couple of ways to do this:

a.  Soldering is an alternative to fill the gap.  Both pieces must be clean and tinned first.  Assemble them and add flux to the joint.  Then hold a propane torch on the offside of the lug and the solder on the other.  As soon as the correct temp is reached, it will suck the solder into the joint.  Immediately remove the heat.
b.  Depending on how oversize the dovetail is, you can place your underlug in the vise with the base up.  With a center punch, make a series of punches on the base.  The punch marks will displace metal effectively raising the lug in the dovetail, thereby tightening it.

ps  a common mistake by beginners is overheating everything.  It just burns the flux out and results in a bad or non-existent joint.

[JCurtiss]

I'm not happy with some of the answers you're getting as they are just the "pat" answers everybody gives.

If your lugs easily slide, the barrel dovetail is too wide, or deep.  Raising the lug will tighten it up.  There are a couple of ways to do this:

a.  Soldering is an alternative to fill the gap.  Both pieces must be clean and tinned first.  Assemble them and add flux to the joint.  Then hold a propane torch on the offside of the lug and the solder on the other.  As soon as the correct temp is reached, it will suck the solder into the joint.  Immediately remove the heat.
b.  Depending on how oversize the dovetail is, you can place your underlug in the vise with the base up.  With a center punch, make a series of punches on the base.  The punch marks will displace metal effectively raising the lug in the dovetail, thereby tightening it.

ps  a common mistake by beginners is overheating everything.  It just burns the flux out and results in a bad or non-existent joint.

Thank you for the excellent soldering tip there T*O*F!

I think I got a good solid joint!

[Acer Saccharum]

I'm not happy with some of the answers you're getting as they are just the "pat" answers everybody gives.

Dave, most of these answers may be 'pat' to you, but not to someone new to the trade. Everyone here is making a good faith effort.

[oldtravler61]

Well put Acer. I think we all sometimes forget how we started in this, an the lessons or mistakes we kept doing tell we learned what worked. Everyone learns a different way. Some slow some fast. Patients is the key