Threaded Hole in Steel

Loyer

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Is there an accepted or best way to permanently fix a couple of threaded holes in a pistol slide?
I have an old WW2 pistol that had a Bomar sight rib mounted onto the top of the slide with screws. The bomar sight will be removed and I wanted to hide the holes for aesthetic reasons.
Would a gunsmith maybe silver solder a portion of a screw in the hole ?
 
A portion of a screw in a hole does not hide all of the thread. The easiest is to simply fill the hole with a flat top plug screw... but it does not hide the hole... it makes it presentable though.

Holes can be drilled out and plugged and filed and polished and the slide re blued ... that hides the holes the best.
 
Is there an accepted or best way to permanently fix a couple of threaded holes in a pistol slide?
I have an old WW2 pistol that had a Bomar sight rib mounted onto the top of the slide with screws. The bomar sight will be removed and I wanted to hide the holes for aesthetic reasons.
Would a gunsmith maybe silver solder a portion of a screw in the hole ?

I agree with guntech.

I also think there are a lot of variables to be accounted for, for example are the holes perfectly aligned, are they perfectly done?

If they are perfectly done, personally I would plug them with removable screws held by locktite or something so the holes can be used later if you deem necessary.

Too many times there are examples of poor work/precision however, much to our chagrin.
 
Agreed, you'd really need to refinish the entire slide after filling the holes to make them disappear.

I have a Husqvarna 9,3x57 that was d&t'd for a side mount. I put screws through from the opposite side, then polished up the other ends.
HVA%20plug%20screwsboth%20sides.jpg

Not a perfect job, but acceptable. If I'd wanted to do more finishing, I could have done a better job of the ends and blended them into the surface better.



:) Stuart
 
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If you're after a home remedy then here's a couple of options that I would suggest.

A- use some plug screws from below so you don't see the slot and then file off the ends that stick out down flush with the slide's surface. Some tape or pop can side metal can act as a shield to aid in avoiding damage to the slide. Then remove the screws, blue or Park the ends as required to match the slide and re-insert them with some red or yellow Loctite.

B- Similar to the above but this will be more permanent and look a little better. Insert the same sort of plug screws from below. Cut them off and file until slightly proud. Like about 0.15 to .020 high. Make up a hard rod or grade 8 bolt "anvil" that you can securely clamp i a bench vise and shape the end of this anvil so it fits up into the slide and rests against the end of the plug scrrews. From the top use multiple LIGHT taps of a mid weight ball peen hammer to mush down and spread the screw. The technique is the same as you would do for a riveting operation. THis will spread out and lock the metal of the screw to the slide. It also swages the metal to fully fill the threading. Once mashed down nicely dress off the slight humps of metal, polish and re-blue or re-park or whatever sort of finish is on the slide.

The threading won't go away completely with option B but it'll be FAR less visible than option A. It'll basically look like a couple of small wear or impact marks instead of an obvious threaded hole.

The nice thing is that doing it this way avoids the risks of welding that may upset any heat treatment in the slide metal or result in warping due to the shrinkage stress of welding up the holes.
 
Josquin, it's not too late. As long as you can remove the existing screws you could redo the project using the riveted screw trick.

Oh, it SHOULD be obvious to all reading in that the last thing you want to use for this rivet/swaging trick is Grade 8 set screws. Get the soft cheap regular slot screws. Or even make your own by cutting off softer grade screws and cutting a slot in one side to allow treading in to place with a regular slot screw driver.
 
Josquin, it's not too late. As long as you can remove the existing screws you could redo the project using the riveted screw trick.

It's not a priority at this point, but yes, the screws can be removed. This was done several years ago. The other side of the screws are hex head, so they may be set screws. (I"ve updated the pic I posted.) As I recall they were 8-40, although I'd have to take 'em out and check. But yes, to do as you suggest you want to use soft steel so they can be peened!

:) Stuart
 
there are YouTube videos of "Larry" doing the screw plug to a .22.

he heated them red hot to to soften them.

I, one day, am going to try this on a piece of old barrel to practice my filing and polishing
 
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