I've got an Astra M-600 that came in for refinishing. In examining the pistol, I see a crack in the frame, in the rear of the left frame rail, about 3/4" long.

Have any of you successfully welded a frame rail before?

I'd like to try and TIG the crack after grinding a small groove first. I do not think there would be that much stress as the Astra has the grooves on the outside of the slide and the slide rides inside those grooves.

Thoughts?

Regards,

Eric

depends on how good a welder you are. If you're good it should work just fine. Make sure if you grind in a groove that you have the correct filler rod. It might be a good idea to use a bit on blok heat slongside of the weld to make sure you won't hurt the temper of the steel also. We've done it on all sorts of receivers and never had a failure. but our wleders are AWS nation champs.

After WWII the US Govt had millions of small arms in storage that would have been a drain on the economy if they reached the surplus market. So in order to save us all they proceeded to destroy them. I happened to be in the US Navy stationed at the San Diego "mothball" facility. While there we destroyed thousands of .45 M1911 and 1911AI pistols by cutting them in half with a torch. Now it just so happened that just about every sailor I knew somehow managed to liberate a few of these half pistols and proceeded to weld , and even braze, them back together. They shot just fine. At other nearby facilities the same was being done with M1 Garands, M1 Carbines, Thompson SMGs, S&W 38 revolvers, etc. Many of these scrapped firearms found their way from the scrap yards, were welded back together, and sold on the open market. With todays modern welding methods it should be much easier to do the same.

I would have it magni-fluxed thought. I tig welded a rail frame on a HSC Mauser and it worked ok. vangunsmith