Hand guard came off when firing the first shot

[strangefire]

I just got my H&R topper 58 12 gauge today that I won on GB (Auction # 277781352) and the first shot I fired the hand guard came off, The hand guard has a screws that holds it onto the barrel. It has a threaded sleeve welded to the barrel and that's what broke off the barrel, the weld failed. My question is; How do I re-weld that sleeve back on the barrel? Do I braze it on using brass/flux rod? Use silver solder or tack it on with my mig welder? I not sure how to tackle a job like this with out warping or ruining the barrel. Thank You, Chris

[trotterlg]

I think on a topper they are silvered on.  Later models have a little plate on the bottom of the sleeve and are spot welded on.  If I were going to fix it, I would put some good high temp flux in the bottom of the sleeve, then clamp the sleeve down to the barrel and heat it up with a small flame tourch, add a little silver and I think life will be good.   Larry

[gunnut69]

I've the exact problem in the shop just now..I will take it to my welder friend (I can't MIG weld at all) and tack it down while clamped in place. This will put the least amount of heat into the barrel of any fix, and that's the best way to go.

[keith44]

The H&R board (rifle) has a couple of posts archived on this failure.  Most are silver soldered back, but welding is a good repair also.  Most of the concern talked about is the weld being a point of brittleness, where soldering will flex more before failure. Purely conjecture as neither repair is reported to have failed.