I need to swap out the front sight and add a barrel band for a sling swivel to a rifle, if at all possible I’d to take it off and prepare the new sight myself, then I can take it to get soldered by a pro.

I’ve been warned about damaging the barrel with excessive heat, but two things come to mind;
1. it can’t possibly take more heat to get it off that was required to put it on.
2. I can submerge the barrel in water with just the end exposed, saving the rest from damage.
Maybe plug it with heat dissipating paste too?

Turning the old sight away would mean it might be difficult to determine where old (banded) sight stopped and the barrel material started, and I want to keep as much of the barrel thickness as possible for aesthetic reasons.

So how difficult can removing the old banded front sight be?

quote:

Originally posted by EXPRESS:
So how difficult can removing the old banded front sight be?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worse, it can be a nightmare, or, it can be relatively easy. Depends on how lucky you are.

Coat the bore with a good heat control paste. Clamp the barrel in a vise. With one hand on the torch and the other on a pair of pliers, work the torch around and over the sight in an even steady pattern, keeping the heat "ON THE SIGHT".

Watch the joint and when you see it begin to weep, start applying rotational pressure with the pliers while continuing to play the flame around the sight. When it breaks loose, continue twisting the sight while pulling it forward and off the barrel. Let the barrel cool on it's own. Resist the temptation to quench it.

FWIW, I usually heat the sight and knock them sideways and off with a hammer.

Almost forgot. If it's a Shaw barrel, make the cut as close as possible to the ramp so as not to waste too much barrel. And use 271 loc-tite to hold the new sights in place.

Rather than removing the front sight, why not just add a sling swivel base that is just soldered on. I would use Brownell's Force 44 for that.

Jim I might be missing your point; I plan to add a banded sling swivel as well, but I canot see what it might have to do with removing the front sight?

I want to replace it with a NECG Masterpiece with the flip up night site.

If you use a non banded sling swivel it can be soldered to the barrel w/o removing the existing front sight.

If you're talented and patient, and I'm not saying you aren't, you can cut the banded swivel in half, and reassemble it with weld on the backside of the sight and then solder it in place. It sure would save a whole lot of hassel.

I tried to take the fore sight from my ZG. Got the solder to weep but no movement with the means I was willing to use.

3 years later still no movement - it will probably move when I've broken my scope and am on a high dollar hunt....