Making some rifle sights for a bear defense shotgun

Gatehouse said:
I was going to screw the sight down and use STEEL BED to add some extra insurance. It's like JB- Weld only stronger. I figured the barrel would be okay to drill and tap because bead sites are screwed in and I've seen some other shotgun sights that are screwed on.....But that's a good point, and I've been wondering about that since I started.:confused:

I've never done any soldering on guns, just plumbing, but I guess it's the same procedure? Clean, some flux, clamp parts together and heat up with torch and apply some solder? Be important not to overheat the barrel I think!:D

Maybe a soldering iron is more applicable?
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Well I don't know if it'll work very well in your application but I once had a multi-choke tack welded back onto my muzzle of a shotgun. I blew it off and I think it was silver-soldered in place to begin with. I took it into a buddies shop and he tacked the bottom in place. It didn't distort the metal and held very well.
 
H4831 said:
Best soldering connections are made by fluxing and tinning each piece, the cleaned off barrel and the sight, before hand. The tinning is just a very thin layer of solder, adhering to the piece.
Then get the sight held in place with pressure, and apply heat, I would use a small propane torch. The sight would take more heat, so I would concentrate the heat on the sight. When molten solder oozes from the joint, take away the heat and job is finished.
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H4831 has it right, you will never manage to drill and tap a shotgun barrel, there is just not enough material to hold the sight on and the pressure from shooting will probably just blow the sight straight off on the first shot. Soldering is the way to go and a small propane torch will work very well. Using propane you will have a hard time overheating the barrel. Given the thickness of your sight, tin both pieces as mentioned and then spend most of your time putting heat into the sight, with only a bit of time on the barrel side of the joint. Once the heat works through the sight base, the solder will melt and flow and then you just let it sit and cool without being disturbed.

Mark
 
I'm going to file down the sight some more anyway and make it thinner, then I will either solder or steel bed it on. Never done much soldering so that might get the nod. On the other hand, there are bound to be small gaps between the sight and the barrel do to my impreciseness, so maybe the epoxy would be a better way.:confused:
 
Gatehouse said:
I'm going to file down the sight some more anyway and make it thinner, then I will either solder or steel bed it on. Never done much soldering so that might get the nod. On the other hand, there are bound to be small gaps between the sight and the barrel do to my impreciseness, so maybe the epoxy would be a better way.:confused:
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Solder does rely on a close fit for the capillary action to work properly. If there are some gaps, the epoxy is probably a better choice.

Mark
 
instead of soldering (or i suppose even if you are soldering it) i would just drill a 1/8" deep hole in the bottom of your sight that corresponds to the position and diameter of your existing bead, so it sortof indexes the sight on top of your bead (instead of just replacing it). along with the radius you added to the bottom of the sight, this would help you keep the sight centred perfectly on your barrel where its supposed to go.
i am pretty sure that just JB weld would hold it on over top of your bead - thats all that holds the Wilson Combat tritium front sights and they are on pretty solid.
but even if you soldered, this would help keep the sight from moving when you solder, and keep you from inevitably having to re-solder when you solder it on crooked :D
 
Gatehouse,

I made something similar out of a piece of keystock, the front sight blade on my previously Bubba'd #4 Mk1* was a piece of broken plastic. I looked around but couldn't find anything to fit the base so I set out to make my own. The end result was good, but I'm not sure how much of an impact it would take to bend it. Yours looks wider therefore stronger.

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Sorry for the fuzzy photo, I really need a better camera for closeups!

As H4831 stated, soldering would be a good solution to attach it, as would the plastic steel you suggested. Contour the underside of the base to match your barrel as closely as possible, and if you leave the blade high you can file it down for the proper elevation once it is bonded and you sight it in.

Good luck!
 
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Ardent said:
I love it when people throw off the assumption that everything has to come from a catalog, and take a step back. It's all doable, just need to put in the work like Gate. People seem to have forgotten that saving forty bucks means something if you can do it yourself, and hey, there's a lot to be said about doing it yourself in general. Plus you get just what you want, and get to work on your gun, which usually proves enjoyable. Nice work!
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There is nothing else that compares with starting out with a pile of raw material and ending up with something beautiful or functional. That's why I'm in woodworking.:D
 
Use a small magnet to hold the sight in place for soldering. Do a small tack, then you can take the magnet off.
 
So I got to work on the rear sight


Took the same sort of metal and shaped it to fit the rear. (Taped in place to check fit)

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Then I needed the ghost ring part, so took another chunk of metal and made a cut

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On side of the "peg"

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And the other side...

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Now to make the square peg round!

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ROughed out ghost ring

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Drilling the peep hole

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Threading the round peg

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Threads for the rear site base

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Looks like Fred FLintstone made this thing!

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On the SHOTTY

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I taped the front sight on securely and stepped outside to take a few shots. Remingotn slugs were good for windage, but went too high (I wasn't surprised) So I will file down the rear base to give some lower elevation.

When I can get to the range I will lay into a good supply of slugs and take the slugs and the tools to the range to regulate them.

Once that is done, it's time to sand and polish and make them look half dcent and not so much like they were made in the stone age!:mrgreen:
 
Made by Flintstone....ROFL!:D

Don't quit your day job! :D

I can feel Guntech squirming from here!
 
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