Best method to attach a site

Disclaimer: I am inquiring for friend of mine who has Brown Bess smooth bore, it is an ~30 year old good reproduction. My knowledge of firearms is quiet lacking so I am appealing here. He uses it in re-enactments and the gun the will not be sold and he will be doing the work himself, so we need not get into the legal aspect of working on firearms.

The problem is that the site on the front of the barrel has become detached. It looks as if it was brazed on originally, it is about 1\4 x 1\4 x 1/8. What method would be suitable to re-attach it? From the little I know of firearms I don't think putting a lot of heat into a barrel is the best idea (unless auditioning for a Darwin Award) however being at the very tip of the barrel I would think heat would not be as big a concern as opposed to being near the breach where the explosive force is more concentrated. There is no detente or hole for it, appears to sit on top surface of the barrel. Aside form brazing TIG is the only other option that comes to mind.

Placement according to him is not extremely critical cause it is more of an aim in general vicinity of the target and fire. Plus in re-enactments they are only firing powder loads with NO projectile.

Any suggestions or question, please just ask, I apologize for my lack of detail.

Thank you for your input it is appreciated.

D

The only permanent way is silver solder and its best left to some one that's done it a few times. Redneck/Hillbilly methods may differ, but das da way we does it inna big city. LOL

It can be silver soldered or brazed again, but clean all traces of old braze off. For target shooters, we used to put sight on with Brownells "Force 44" solder, so that we could change hights easily. The Brown Bess front sight takes a beating due to the bayonet attaching to it.

Silver Solder is how it's done, no question on that one
As to the legal side, its a front stuffer, so the federal stuff does not apply.
Anyone can do the work

The big tricks are getting the parts clean, fixturing them properly and then not globing it all up with excess material.
Like they say above, experiance helps. Liquid solder tends to lubricate the joint and the barrel is round.
With a bayonet, the joint needs to be in the right place, and well done.
Practice with some scraps on pipe before doing the real deal.
Bring in pro if your not comfortable doing it.

Thanks guys, much appreciated is there any special flux I should buy? I silver soldered in school once and was.......well let us say a while ago so my knowledge is limited. I most likely will have a friend with MUCH more experience than I do it . But I feel it is a skill that I need to add to arsenal; so I'm gonna due some practicing, hell if I'm good enough I might give a whack.

You can get sheet silver solder from Brownell's. Cut to size, and put in place with a clamp setup then heat. Similar to "tinning" parts with soft solder. This helps to stop the excess from coming out.

1-800-741-0015 Brownell. Call'em and they'll hook you up with what you need and explain it. It's what they do.

If you use silver strip and a clamp make sure you give the sight a solid tap with a hammer and aluminum punch after everything has cooled. Quite often the sight will get hot and it will look like the joint has flowed and formed, but in reality only the sight has gotten to temperature and the barrel has formed a cold joint to the solder. That's probably what happened in the first place. Only a tiny area the size of a pin has actually been holding all these years and it finally let go. A good silver joint will be almost as strong as the parent material.

speerchucker30x3 said:

If you use silver strip and a clamp make sure you give the sight a solid tap with a hammer and aluminum punch after everything has cooled. Quite often the sight will get hot and it will look like the joint has flowed and formed, but in reality only the sight has gotten to temperature and the barrel has formed a cold joint to the solder. That's probably what happened in the first place. Only a tiny area the size of a pin has actually been holding all these years and it finally let go. A good silver joint will be almost as strong as the parent material.

Click to expand...

I generally use propene for silver soldering most of the time, and not acetylene. Don't confuse propene and propane. Propene is in the yellow bottle and propane is in the blue bottle. Propene will just get hot enough to silver solder where propane will not. The logic behind propene is that you can seldom get the steel hot enough to scale the bore unless you work at it a long time. One slip up with acetylene and you have a problem.

Propene is sold as MAPP gas here in the states.

Very helpful thank you

The only purpose the front SIGHT (the correct spelling) on a Brown Bess is for holding the bayonet on. You cannot get your eye low enough on that musket to actually sight it. It was designed that way. In the 18th.C., soldiers were considered too stupid to learn to shoot. The standard load was a 75 caliber ball and 3 buckshot. The object was to line up the troops at each other and throw thousands of bullets and buck shot at each other.

The musket's primary use was as a pole to mount the bayonet on.

So,yes,you do need to silver solder the sight back on. Make sure its width matches the groove in the bayonet with a sliding fit.

You can make a replacement rear tang screw with a thicker head and align the screw slot with the barrel, then use the slot as a rear sight. This was common practice with the International Muzzleloading program.

Repeat: YOU CANNOT get your head low enough on a Brown Bess to sight it properly. The stock hasn't enough drop in it. It was designed that way. In Williamsburg,we have the World's largest collection of original Brown Bess muskets on display.

I have fired decent repros. You can't sight them. An experienced shooter can learn to point them pretty well,though,just as an archer can learn to shoot with reasonable accuracy,but not much more accuracy than with a bow and arrow.

Read my first post.

Later muskets can be sighted,not Brown Besses.

MilGunsmith said:

You can get sheet silver solder from Brownell's. Cut to size, and put in place with a clamp setup then heat. Similar to "tinning" parts with soft solder. This helps to stop the excess from coming out.

Click to expand...

+1

Strip is easier to use for sight attachment that conventional wire silver solder but Brownells is awfully proud of theirs ... $55 for 1/2 oz Silvaloy 355 & that doesn't include the flux or the shipping.

Harris Welco Safety Silv 56 is the same stuff in wire form & can be found on eBay for $17 with free shipping Harris Safety Silv 56 Brazing Wire 1 16" 1 2 Troy oz Bag 7 Silver Solder | eBay Safety-Silv 56 is easy to work with & flows like warm buttah. Pound it flat with a ball pein hammer & you end up with small strips. Safety-Silv® 56 | The Harris Products Group