muzzle cap

[yip]

  i'm making a two piece muzzle cap and was wondering what the best way two hold the two pieces to silver solder

[HSmithTX]

I'd probably wire them together using some bailing wire.  Soft wire will bend well enough to hold the end piece in the cap where you want it.

[rich pierce]

I get it to stand up on a brick with the end down on the brick. Friction fit.

[satwel]

I get it to stand up on a brick with the end down on the brick. Friction fit.

I made a two piece muzzle cap recently using this technique. It worked well.

[Stoner creek]

My simple method is to bend your end material at a 90 degree angle and apply a liberal amount of solder.

 After that set your muzzle cap on top of the soldered area and re-melt the solder.
Trim the excess off and file to fit around the barrel flats.


 Don’t forget to flux everything.
W

[Hungry Horse]

 My method is to solder the band to the end cap before it is trimmed, with lead solder, and then fit it and trim and file it to shape. No need to silver solder it. 

Hungry  Horse

[Steeltrap]

Just an option, but you could extend the length of the brass sheet cut and just peen the front into shape. It's not that difficult to do.

[davec2]

 This is the process I have used several times.  Here I was making a pair of miniature muzzle caps I needed for little rifles.   Part of this thread....

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=61759.0



First step, cut out a piece of 0.032" thick brass sheet and anneal



Second, do an initial form around a piece of EMT tubing





Next, refine the curvature as the cap rolls in to contact the barrel sides.  This is done with a nylon hammer and a steel mandrel.....



The lips of the cap were left intentionally a little long, so here they are trimmed to proper height



The height is checked on the barrel (upside down from where it will be installed, but a good place to check at this stage in the fabrication process)



After cutting a small piece of brass for the front of the cap, both pieces are cleaned of oxide and surface dirt, fluxed, and set up for silver brazing



Here I have cut a couple of small pieces of silver braze alloy and will melt them into a ball and pick them up while still molten on my soldering point



The parts are heated to brazing temperature from the outside and then I have placed the solder on the inside of the joint.  It runs immediately and the second piece of solder insures that the entire joint is complete.



After brazing, a quick pickle in dilute hydrochloric acid to remove scale and flux residue



A quick inspection of the joint shows it to be tight and completely brazed





Most of the excess brass on the face piece is clipped of with tin snips



A few file strokes and the face piece is brought to near final contour



Now I smoked the end of the barrel and put the cap in place so I can tap on the face piece with the nylon hammer





The result is a smoke print of the muzzle on the inside of the cap.  The barrel flats are beveled slightly at the muzzle so the print is a little undersized but it will allow me to get very close before the final fitting.



Most of the face piece brass is cut away with files and some back and forth check to get a tight final fit



Final check on fit and the completed tiny cap

[flatsguide]

Nice work Dave and great write up. The tip on transferring the muzzle profile is priceless, Thanks
Cheers Richard

[silky]

I have made only one muzzle cap so far, but found that repurposing an old hacksaw blade for some pressure on the cap worked well.

(I used way too much silver solder in this one but it cleaned up nicely).

- Tom

[yip]

 after experimenting and a lot of new swear words i think i finally got it.

[Stoner creek]

Yep! Bad words are part of the process.

[Daryl]

Really good tutorial on marking g the muzzlecsp for filing to fit the barrel, Dave.
Good work Terry.

[Jim Kibler]

Super nice description of the process by Dave C.  His work is always so professional.