doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com suggestions for fixing a forend loop?

These pictures are of my Thomas Newton hammer gun. The metal in the loop gave out and this caused the loop to dislodge when I opened the gun. What would be the preferred way to fix this and who could do the work?

I would TIG weld the loop and resolder the part to the barrels. You will have to clean, tin both areas and then soft wire every thing in the heat affected area down. I use cut nails as wedges under the soft wire. With care itr should not require reblueing. If you are not a DIY person Keith Karcher could handle it with out any problem.
bill

After tiging the top strap...use High force 44 low temp solder from Brownells as sweat solder...lightly scrape the the surface of the old solder, use flux, read the instructions..,pound a 1/4" bit of solder into foil, repeat for both sides of the loop...place the foil (with flux) between the sweat faces,leave a little sticking out so that you can read the solder as soon as it melts...apply a little pressure to the loop...heat only the loop with a pencil torch (or a larger torch via a heat sink) until the sweat solder melts on both sides...remove heat...when it cools, clean off the excess flux residue and remove excess solder with a small wood chisel...high force 44 has a critical temperature much lower than the solder used on the ribs

Robert, the HF44 having a lower melting point than the rib solder is great info!

I had the same thing happen, both the lug and the barrels were still tinned so I just cleaned very well, fluxed with pure rosin and put the torch to it with the barrels plugged on one end, tilted and filled with water past the lug area.

I was VERY nervous about loosening the surrounding solder though.

One thing I noticed, both John's and my example seemed to have very little of the available mating surfaces actually bound by the solder, led me to think it was a poor repair come undone?

Nice tip.

Mark

One thing of note also is the High Force 44 solder Robert recommended is a lead free solder. now I realize we are not really concerned with the enviromental impact on a job like this, but it has a much higher tensile strength than ordinary tin/lead solder, thus is a particularly good candidate for this purpose. After getting it fixed you may want to take note if this gun has a bbl check mechanism or not. Many hammer guns did not & the older thay are the less likely they will have one. In such cases the bbls are stopped by the forend iron contacting the frame bottom. Hard opening can put tremendous stress upon the forend lug. Another reason I do not recommend "Carte Blanche" the carrying of hammerguns afield with the actions open.
Also note most solders have a slightly higher "Re-Melt" temp than the original melt temp. Another reason for following the method Robert recommended of heating "Just Enough" to flow the solder. Excellent advise all the way through Robert.

I noted that it was mentioned that HiForce 44 had a lower "critical" temp than what the barrel ribs were originally soldered with. I would think the barrels would have been soldered with 60/40 Tin/Lead solder? That would have a 360F melting temp. My recollection of the HiForce solder I used on my project was that it melted at 475F.

ChuckH is absolutely correct. HiForce solder flows at around 500 degrees Fahrenheit, considerably above the flow temp of the 60/40 lead/tin solder used on these old guns. There's really no need to use anything but 60/40 if all surfaces are scrupulously clean and properly fluxed.

Maybe...but I thought HF 44 was specifically marketed for use on double shotguns...perhaps no one called them on it...I've repaired loose ribs on a Superposed, 2 L C Smiths, a Parker, a Baker, re-attached the fore end lugs and replaced European swivel bases to the under rib...and more with the HF 44...and now you tell me...I just accepted Brownells description as having the lowest possible critical temp..bought it...tried it...and it worked...so I stuck with it

SWIF 95 self-fluxing paste is the same temp. range: 464 degrees F. melting pt. according to the data sheet. But it worked well for battening down aft end of Superposed rib; minimal cleanup. "Scrupulously clean and properly fluxed" a tuf one when the rib will only lift 1/32".

jack

Did anyone suggest letting a professional repair it ?