First post here on AR. Watched it for a while, and the Gunsmithing section seems a bit more active, than the forum I have been frequenting.

A couple of questions on banded sight bases, such as those sold by NECG.

Would color casing them cause the thin bands to become brittle? Worried that if they become misshapen in the heat, that they could crack when re-fitting to the barrel?

When installing a banded rear sight, would there be any advantage to turning a very small shoulder on the barrel, for the rear of the band to locate against? I suppose this would also involve feathering the front of the band, so that the front and rear edges are evenly proud of the barrel?

Thanks for any comment.

Jeff

Welcome, no, they will not become brittle.

No advantage that I can think of unless like the swedes, you are using tooling that was setup for making stepped barrels.

Thanks 721.

No stepped barrel here. Just a heavy sporter contour on a Ruger No.1 450 #2.

Jeff

Hi Steve, thanks for chiming in. The color case idea, is strictly cosmetic, just for a little contrast, and certainly not cast in stone. If I do it, I'd have to hold them in place with a set screw, which I'm not wild about. Also a risk of scratching the barrel, trying to install
them post blueing . Soldering them on, would definitely reduce the risk of moisture/rust, espescially up here. Which means no case colors, and rust blue the whole works. Just kicking around some ideas.

Thanks again for commenting, and hope you're doing well.

Jeff