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Ruger army sight conversion

Ed

Aluminum
Joined
Jan 28, 2003
Location
Renton, Wa
One of my other hobbies is cowboy action shooting. They have many categories one of which is black powder.
I have a pair of ruger old army pistol that I would like to use for this but mine have modern adjustable sights.
Not allowed in many of the matches. The sass rules say to be used you must remove the adjustable sight, weld up the slot it was in and cut a new groove.
Yes I could buy fixed sight pistols but I have these.
One is blued, one is stainless. Assuming I have stripped all the parts off,
If I tig weld the frame would it need to be heat treated when done?
For the blued frame what type of rod?
For the stainless fram what type of rod?

Thank you ed
 
I don't think you will need to re-heat treat after welding. The HAZ should be small if you use a heat sink and weld in short sessions. Don't count on the blued frame's weld coming out the same color as the frame after bluing. The blued frame is an alloy similar to 4140. The stainless frame is probably 410 or 416 series. Need an expert to select the proper rod bearing in mind that the welds are non-structural.
I don't see why the rules don't allow soft soldering a machined bar in the frame slot. Then it could be removed to restore the original sights when the gun is sold. I guess the gun smith's lobby got the weld-it-up rule inserted into the rule book.

RWO
 
It is a silly rule to me. Some clubs allow the adjustable sights some do not but national rules are clear.
 
It is a silly rule but unless you have an emotional attachment these particular guns, I would sell them and buy new ones that conform to the rules. You will damage the resale value if you weld on these, no matter how well done.
 
I don't think you will need to re-heat treat after welding. The HAZ should be small if you use a heat sink and weld in short sessions. Don't count on the blued frame's weld coming out the same color as the frame after bluing. The blued frame is an alloy similar to 4140. The stainless frame is probably 410 or 416 series. Need an expert to select the proper rod bearing in mind that the welds are non-structural.
I don't see why the rules don't allow soft soldering a machined bar in the frame slot. Then it could be removed to restore the original sights when the gun is sold. I guess the gun smith's lobby got the weld-it-up rule inserted into the rule book.

RWO

Pretty sure Rugers are 17-4 investment castings. If you weld on it it will need to be solution annealed and rehardened. Probably cost more than another pistol.
 
Myself, I wouldn't worry about heat treating since it is a black powder gun. They did and still do make the frames from cast brass and I doubt there is any kind of heat treating on them. If I were you, I wouldn't weld on the Rugers but would buy a couple of Remington 1858 copies/repros. The Rugers fetch good money today.
 
... buy a couple of Remington 1858 copies/repros.

+1. I like the old Lymans but I don't think they are selling them any more.
 








 
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