Fowler trigger guard problem

[Maurice]

My pinned trigger guard broke loose from its seated tabs in the stock. This steel trigger guard had some spring to it – it did not fit flush against the stock and needed pressure to seat the tabs in the tab mortices before pinning. (See my post about this nightmare guard on June 18, 2023 “Bending a cast steel trigger guard.”)

The tabs (which are brass) broke loose overnight (pinned 8 hours earlier). My guess is faulty cold soldered tabs based on the visible tab surfaces remaining in the stock. Bending the steel guard any more was too risky based on my research.

Will properly soldered tabs hold? Or should the tabs be brazed on? Any other solutions or suggestions? The gun is 90% complete.

[rich pierce]

If heat and bend that guard till it lies in place with zero spring. Then soldered tabs will be fine.

[Daryl]

As Rich said, as well, then use coil solder, not paste. My only experience with solder paste, was that there wasn't enough actual solder in the paste I bought.
That was back in the 70's - so maybe it is better now?
I would still use a coil of silver bearing soft solder.

[Jim Kibler]

Silver braze would be my go-to for this.  Nothing easier or better.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I'm with Jim...silver solder (red heat).  File away all of the remaining solder and lug material from the guard in both locations, make new tabs out of either brass of steel, and silver solder to the guard.  A little inletting may be required.  When it is all flush and nice, re-drill through the existing holes, and Bob's your father's brother.

[JH Ehlers]

I also agree, silver solder is the way to go. You can make tabs out of mild steel, good luck getting them lined up and soldered to fit the existing holes, there are various things you could do to get that right.

[Eric Krewson]

I almost missed the lug on my fowler trigger guard and decided to add another lug and redrill.

I use solder paste for almost everything and have never had it turn loose. I did bend the trigger guard to be free floating in the correct position with no spring back.

My new lug, I made the gun over 10 years ago, no problem with the lug so far,

[Maurice]

Thanks for the advice on securing the tabs.

I still want to take the springiness out of the guard so it conforms more to the stock.

Rather than risk heating and bending, how about cutting the guard where indicated by the line and then joining the separate pieces. Seems like I have a little more control over the final result doing this.

Doable or Bad Idea? Cut at a different location? Consequences?

How best to join the 2 pieces? Solder or braze? Does it matter?

[Bigmon]

I have had to do some bending on every project I have ever done.  I suppose it's possible, but I have never broken one?
Heat and anneal, and go slow, that's all I've ever done.
Of course there are others far more experienced in this matter that could over rule me??

[Eric Krewson]

I wouldn't cut unless you have a bunch of experience making trigger guards from scratch, joining the pieces back together isn't as simple as it may seem.

Bend it, I cold forged mine but the metal was so hard that a file would barely touch it. My butt plate was made from the same metal, when I couldn't get the toe to fit after weeks of work, I heated the toe of it red hot and smacked it with a hammer, perfect fit.

Worst case scenario, you break something and have to order another trigger guard, I have done that time or two on different gun parts, usually a nose cap.

[P.W.Berkuta]

If it was mine and I did not want to heat and bend that trigger guard, I would braze or silver braze steel tabs on it. Here is a good article on silver brazing <https://www.dodomachine.com/silver-brazing-a-guide-to-joining-metal-parts-with-silver-based-alloys/>

[bama]

Get a MAPP torch and heat the guard to bend it to the shape that is needed so you do not have any spring in the trigger guard. It should fit the bottom of the stock profile without any use of force. You will have to heat it and bend it in a couple of places to make it fit the profile. Steel guards are a little harder to do for this reason, they don't bend like a good brass guard will. I bend these while I have the heat on the piece. I find that this make the bending a lot easier. Make small adjustments. I use a set of vise grips to hold the guard while heating and a heavy set of needle nosed plyers at heat point. You can use a vice to hold the part if needed but most of the time the vice grips works.

[Chunker119]

Thanks for the advice on securing the tabs.

I still want to take the springiness out of the guard so it conforms more to the stock.

Rather than risk heating and bending, how about cutting the guard where indicated by the line and then joining the separate pieces. Seems like I have a little more control over the final result doing this.

Doable or Bad Idea? Cut at a different location? Consequences?

How best to join the 2 pieces? Solder or braze? Does it matter?

Maurice,

I don't really see much risk to heating and bending it to the correct shape. Fair easier than cutting the guard in half and trying to refit it and put it back together.

Heat needed to bend the guard shouldn't be much more that blushing red. Propane torch is all you will need. Then I would silver braze the tabs once bent.

Best of luck!

[foresterdj]

Steel is meant to be heated and bent. That will take less time than reading this thread.

[Maurice]

The problem has been solved – basically by following the heat and bend advice that was offered.

Made a jig (foreground) from a 1/2” thick board that followed the profile of the underside of the stock trigger guard area to prevent over bending. I heated the guard (using propane) at the curve to the right of the blue line to a barely noticeably red and clamped it in the jig to slowly cool. Did this 3 times.

After a day the guard fits very well and I do not see it returning to the problem position (it did when cold bent). I will be soldering the tabs next based on the other advice offered.

Thanks to all who took the time to offer advice.  Thought you should know the end result.

[foresterdj]

nice

[Dphariss]

Heat the entire part to cherry and cool slowly. Bury in a bucket of ashes if you have them. The braze a piec on for the tab. Hard sliver solder is distant second choice. I have a wire welder for such things.

[Dphariss]

Oops. Insert bend to match the stock.

[bama]

Great job, I am glad you listened to all the good advice that was given. Good luck with the rest of your project.