Soldering on a front sight question.

Fatstrat

I have an old Savage .22 that used a smaller than 3/8" dovetail front sight. The old sight was worn (or ground) down so much that it was unuseable and I wanted to replace it. Couldn't find a corect size Savage replacement,so opted for an old similiar size Remington sight.
The Remington sight fit/shot well, but was not tight. Would drift side to side, but not fall out.
Decided try to solder it in place. My father is a retired AC/Heating Tech, and has all types of soldering eqiup. From cheap guns and wire, to torches and expensive silver solder.
Try as we might, we couldn't get ANY of it to stick to the steel. Just rolled off in balls.
I went inside to use the BR, and returned to find Dad HEATING MY BARREL w/a torch! Still didn't work. The rifle is an old beater that had virtually 0 remaining orig. finish. But now the barrel end he heated has turned black.
2 questions:
Could the heating of this barrel cause a safety problem or effect accuracy. Even in poor cosmetic condition, this rifle "was" very accurate.
And how does one solder a sight on?
I finally dabbed alittle JB Weld in the dovetail and it appears to have worked. But I'd still like to know. Should've asked FIRST!

PA Shootist

It is necessary to raise the temperature of both the barrel and the sight to the correct temperature, that is the melting point of the solder and the active temperature of the flux, in order to achieve a solder bond. Low temperature soft solders should not harm either the rifle barrel or the sight, or the blue finish. I use a low-temperature (430 degrees Farenheit) soft solder with a little bit of silver in it, which flows thinly and forms a strong bond. This can be obtained at many welding supply stores, one brand I am familiar with is All-State 430. There are many other brands, and a store clerk should be able to cross-reference to other manufacturers, e.g. J.W. Harris, and others. It comes in an inexpensive small kit with wire and proper flux. Note the flux must be chemically active in the melting temperature range of the solder. And the flux burns out by direct heating, you should not play a flame directly onto the flux. The flux is also active only once, on the way up as the temperature rises.

Other soft solders, eg. 50/50 tin/lead should also work adequately. Clean the metal completely, cleanliness is everything. You must carefully remove the blueing in the area where the sight and solder will be. Perhaps scribe mark the barrel around the perimeter of the sight. And you might "tin" the sight first, then reflux and heat until the solder melts and bonds to the barrel.

dcs shooters

I would find a sight that has a bigger dovetail than yours and file the sight down a little at a time to fit your gun. Then just use some cold blue to touch it up.
If the heat got it too hot there could be a warp problem. Check it with a known stright edge. Check the bore very good. Then shoot it and see if it still is the same.

Fatstrat

Thanks!

OleDuk

Another thing you can do is take a sharp punch and dimple the bottom of the sight pretty deep in several spots which will tighten the sight when you re-install it.
The deal with soft solder is good too. Some of the gun books (Dunlap) recommends Allstate 44.

Good luck,
OleDuk.[:)][:)]

Bill DeShivs

Solder will not stick to old surfaces. You need a clean, bright surface-in addition to heating both surfaces equally and proper flux.
Dovetailed sights can be shimmed with thin metal to tighten them, or you can tap the barrel to tighten the dovetail.
If the barrel is blackened from heat, check the rifling in that spot. Make sure you clean it thoroughly. The heat should not create a safety issue.
Bill

charliemeyer007

Brownells low temp silver and the liquid flux for it are great, but can eat blue. Staking the bottom of the sight, the center of dovetail and peaning down the lips of the dove tail works. Most dove tails have a taper. Usual as looking down the barrel as shooting the wider side is on the right.