Hi

I know that epoxy or loctite products have been used for barrel bands (sites and sling swivel bases) but what about load bearing parts like a claw mount base?

I have an older rifle whose blueing is in original condition. The claw mount base is a ring that needs to be attached to the chamber area of the barrel. The usual way would be to sweat or solder the base in place but then the rifle would need reblueing. If base and barrel were prepared as if for soldering, and the base pre blued, would there be any product out there that could be used instead of the solder to fix the base in place? Obviously whatever glue was used would need to be pretty heat and oil resistant.

Any thoughts?

Cheers.

GG

It will depend a lot on how far the base goes around the barrel.

For epoxy look up Meury Enterprises on the Google, they are the main retail outlet for Ciba Geighy.

Edit. Here is link. They will be able to give you technical advice and best epoxy etc. Peter Meury use to be a chemist at Ciba Geighy

http://www.meury.com.au/index.asp

The strongest epoxies are those that require heating to cure. From memory they need close to 200*C for curing. I don't know if that would change bluing colour. Of epoxies that will cure at room temperature but whose strength is greatly increased if heated to 100*C (after room temperature cure) Ciba Geighy K138 is real strong.

Forget stuff like Araldite from the hardware shop and also any filling type epoxies such as Devcon.

Provided it is not a 378 Wby and if the front mount goes a fair way round the barrel, say at least approaching half way and the rear base is the normal screw attachment I think it will be OK.

Even with a room cure (but heat cure at 100*C after room cure) epoxy like K 138 will have no problem with oil or temperature. K 138 will remain hard at 120*C. Of course the epoxies that only cure with heat will have no problem with barrel temperature.

Having said that I feel a gunsmith like De Vries in Melbourne could solder the mount on and you would not see the bluing he removed. If you need the bluing to remain under the base then the epoxies I referred to will be very difficult to remove as the stuff like trichlorethane (spell)won't touch them.

Mike

Thanks Mike

The base is a full 360 degree ring and Bob will be doing the work. Actually I suppose I should give him a call and have a chat - you might be right about the min loss of blueing. Anyway thanks for the insight into the epoxies.

Cheers.

GG

GG

Since the the base full encircles the chamber I would expect the better epoxies to be fine. Good epoxies do not have a good tensile strength but sheer and compression is very high and with the base fully encircling the chamber that is what you would have.

Mike

quote:

From memory they need close to 200*C for curing. I don't know if that would change bluing colour

anyone know what temp the chamber area - barrel and receiver, reaches after five rapid shots with, for a standard, a 30-06?

having palmed one on occasion, my handprint stayed on the rifle.

not to hijack the thread, but to address the temp/bluing question raised.

An epoxy is " Normally " a Plural component mix . Resin and activator !. Devcon most certainly does make a lamination type resin system !. Not all products are " Filling " type putty epoxies !. Two Ton Clear !.

West Systems is another great lamination type epoxy . 3 M scotch weld division ( 1648B/A Green ) ITW (Plexus ) also makes a Very tough adhesive .

In the USA a Company called Cotronics makes specialty adhesives Hi Temp metal adhering types .
You may try an AirCraft supply outfit as they generally carry very tough epoxies . Like for home built or experimental planes .

It is not necessary to use a Heat cure epoxy for maximum strength , as Epoxy some epoxies create their own by means of exotherm ( heat given off by resin and hardener reaction ).

Good Luck Mate .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Sometimes, on really heavy calibers, I drill and tap thru the dovetail (front foot), thru barrel socket and into the barrel..now a bit of red loctie, nothing's gonna break it loose.

I'm surprised. I've soldered sight bases and barrel bands, and not had the bluing affected one bit. The were all older rust blued guns. I used various solder with formulations similar to Brownells' force 44 or whatever they call it but also plain old soft solder all of which had pretty low melting points.

That close to the receiver ring unless you are fairly experienced, it might not be a bad idea to use some sort of expoxy or new wnder adhesive. Mr Wiebe's suggestion is also a good one.