forend stud repair

[zoner]

i've got a H+R 158 357 mag barrel and about 6 weeks ago at the range the forend fell off . Silver solder would be the proper fix but i didn't have any and i'm not a master solderer so i was reluctant to do it myself so last weekend i got out the JB weld,cleaned up the stud and barrel and gave it a go. First attempt i ended up about a sixteenth too far up the barrel and i just butted the flat bottom of the stud to the curved barrel....the bond was not good. Somebody got impatient and tried the fit too soon....failure. Gave myself a witness mark then contoured the bottom of the stud to match the barrel curve and did it again. Location perfect and a real good bond. I'm gonna try it out like this and see how long it lasts. Anybody else done this with JB weld and if so how long did it last?  Mike

[bikerbeans]

Mike,

I broke the stud off an electroless nickel HandyGunII 357 and it was my friend's gun, not mine.   I never tried to solder it back but tried JB Weld and several other high strength 2 part glues.  All failed, in general I have bad luck trying to bond metal with glues, could just be me.  Anyway, I found a fellow with a TIG welder and that stud is not going to come off now.  FWIW the gun wasn't very accurate before the stud broke off and it still wasn't very accurate afterwards so I don't know if the weld affected the bore.

BB

[gcrank1]

A couple of quick TIG spot welds shouldnt have a bad effect on a thick rifle barrel, 'maybe' not as good on a shotgun, but.....?
Now that it is in the right place, clean any glue off the outside surfaces and go to you local friendly body shop. They have welding stuff, and experience in welding thin materials quickly. One of the guys should be pretty good, see if he's interested in your project (hopefully he's a shooter!). Its is already 'jigged' up so it should be a snap. No need to go all around the stud if you get two good spots front & rear or side to side.

[quickdtoo]

I've epoxied two studs on, one with JB Weld and the other with Superweld, both are still on but I must say I haven't shot one of them much tho, the 6.5x55, so can't say it's been well tested, but the other is my 35 Remington, I carried it hunting one year, not much by sling tho, don't use em much, but it's been to the range a few times since, still holding up.

FWIW, I've epoxied dozens of shims in and never had one let loose, metal prep is mandatory when bonding metal, not only do the surfaces have to be degreased, but they need to be textured or roughed up to give the epoxy lots of micro surfaces to adhere to, course sand paper works well, then the epoxy must be rubbed into all those tiny scratches, a popsicle sticks works extremely well.

Tim

[zoner]

thanks for the replies guys. what prompted me to try the JB was that I installed a front sight ramp a while back with JB. When the time came that i wanted to remove it i found that i needed to heat the ramp with a propane torch to break the bond. I'm gonna shoot it for a while like this just to see how long it lasts....Mike

[knight0334]

You can shorten the stud 1/8" or so on the end that touches the barrel.  Then weld it to a small plate 1/8" thick, drill a hole on each side of the stud, then drill & tap the bottom side of the barrel.   Screw the plate to the barrel.

That above is what I did on a couple of my older H&R/NEF's that the soldered-on stud broke off.   

[Junior1942]

You can shorten the stud 1/8" or so on the end that touches the barrel.  Then weld it to a small plate 1/8" thick, drill a hole on each side of the stud, then drill & tap the bottom side of the barrel.   Screw the plate to the barrel.

That above is what I did on a couple of my older H&R/NEF's that the soldered-on stud broke off.

I wish you'd post a picture of that.

[quickdtoo]

Fred has a pic of his forend stud modification on his website.

Tim

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/ZERMEL/257wp3.html

[zoner]

i never considered the "plate" approach.....it should surely work. I have been thinking about a way to modify a barrel band or half barrel band  like you'd use to attach a front sling swivel. Tomorrow's my birthday so i'mm gonna take that rifle to the range and see if i can get the forend to fall off again .....Mike

[Junior1942]

Fred has a pic of his forend stud modification on his website.

Tim

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/ZERMEL/257wp3.html

Thanks!!!  I've been thinking of doing that to the mag tube hanger slot on an octagon 30-30 barrel.  Hey, tell Fred his photos are 10x too large in file size. 

[kimark]

Hey, Ain't it great the kind of quality H&R putting out these days.  I just got my Ultra-varminter in 223(HA-HA) back for the 3rd, and final time.  Sent it back for a pitted barrel and got it back with a new barrel that had a misaligned chamber.  Sent it back and they said they were replacing the entire rifle so I made the mistake of telling them to mount a 357 mag barrel on it.  Got it back and they only replaced the receiver and neither barrel shot worth a hoot.  Called CS and they said send it back. I did and told them I wanted a return credit on the 357 mag barrel.  Got it back this week and the answer for the problem was to rechamfer barrel and they sent the 357 mag barrel after Pam had assured me I was getting a return credit.  I sight in the 223 at 25 and can't find paper at 100.  Get to looking at the gun in the rest and it looks like the scope is misalignedwith the barrel.  Not trusting my 57 year old eyes I ask my wife to take a look and she agrees(something that rarely happens,right guys?) Anyways I take the barrel off and flip it upside down on the bench and with square and shim stock determine that at the end of the scope base and the barrel it is .045 out of alignment.  Dusting off my old practical shop math book, I'm in the electrical trade, I determined it would be 34" out of line at 100yds.  Hey no wonder I"m not on paper!!!!  The stud problem doesn't surprise me.  Both barrel studs look like they are bent back on these 2 barrels, like they whacked them with a dead blow to get them to line up with the forearm.  I've files a dispute with my cc company over the 357 return and the riflesgoing to that banned gunsmith.  Why was he banned anyway, for calling these things what they are ?  For all the   time and money I've put in this thing so far I'd be 2/3 of the way to having one of his custom built guns.  This addiction may not kill 'ya but it's sure hard on your wallet!!

[zoner]

well,i can't blame CS for my stud problem. My barrel is a h+r 158, probably 30 yrs old that i bought used. I wanted it specifically cuz it's a much lighter contour than present day 357 mag barrels....them suckers are heavy

[Spanky]

Hey, Ain't it great the kind of quality H&R putting out these days.  I just got my Ultra-varminter in 223(HA-HA) back for the 3rd, and final time.  Sent it back for a pitted barrel and got it back with a new barrel that had a misaligned chamber.  Sent it back and they said they were replacing the entire rifle so I made the mistake of telling them to mount a 357 mag barrel on it.  Got it back and they only replaced the receiver and neither barrel shot worth a hoot.  Called CS and they said send it back. I did and told them I wanted a return credit on the 357 mag barrel.  Got it back this week and the answer for the problem was to rechamfer barrel and they sent the 357 mag barrel after Pam had assured me I was getting a return credit.  I sight in the 223 at 25 and can't find paper at 100.  Get to looking at the gun in the rest and it looks like the scope is misalignedwith the barrel.  Not trusting my 57 year old eyes I ask my wife to take a look and she agrees(something that rarely happens,right guys?) Anyways I take the barrel off and flip it upside down on the bench and with square and shim stock determine that at the end of the scope base and the barrel it is .045 out of alignment.  Dusting off my old practical shop math book, I'm in the electrical trade, I determined it would be 34" out of line at 100yds.  Hey no wonder I"m not on paper!!!!  The stud problem doesn't surprise me.  Both barrel studs look like they are bent back on these 2 barrels, like they whacked them with a dead blow to get them to line up with the forearm.  I've files a dispute with my cc company over the 357 return and the riflesgoing to that banned gunsmith.  Why was he banned anyway, for calling these things what they are ?  For all the   time and money I've put in this thing so far I'd be 2/3 of the way to having one of his custom built guns.  This addiction may not kill 'ya but it's sure hard on your wallet!!

I'm having problems with my 357 and 223 Handi's too. No matter how hard I try I can't get either of them to shoot bad... I mean seriously... I try to get 'em to shoot big ugly groups and they flat refuse to do it. both of 'em insist on shooting to the same spot every time I pull the trigger. I've even tried different kinds of ammo to get 'em to shoot bad and they won't do it. I think they're just stubborn.



Spanky

[kimark]

I sure hope that my experience isn't the norm these days 'cause I wouldn't wish it on anybody.  I did a lot of research before I bought this gun on this forum and others.  I've got a custom made smokeless muzzleloader barrel that shot great on the previous frame but it won't lockup consistently on this new one.  Luckily I have a 20GA NEF frame that I had picked up at a gun show that it works on.  Guess it's like allot of things. Can be a love or hate relationship depending on the luck of the draw.