doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Welding lock spring .

Upon removing a lock from a very old Greener hammergun, the spring "jumped" off the lockplate as soon as it was clear of the action recess.
The small nib that fits through the forward part of the lockplate had broken off.
I do not know much about welding springs, but could a new nib be shaped out of a small weld?

TIA

GDU

While, I believe, one could build the missing "nib" with weld, I sincerely doubt it would hold as the forces on it would be too much. However nothing ventured, nothing gained! Best, Dr. BILL

Greg,

I've welded many springs over the years and it is a real crap shoot. The material almost always welds very well but the heat from the welding, in most cases makes the spring brittle. My advice is the same a DR. Bill, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Just be sure that if the spring breaks again it is not going to cause other damage inside the lock. If you do try to weld I would suggest that you use mild steel filler rod and make sure that the welder can get in and out quickly. The less heat, the better you chances of success.

Bill G.

I metallurgical theory, you should be able to do it. I practice, I don't know. I'd be inclined to have the spring re-heat treated after the welding. Again, in theory, taking the spring to hardening temperature will cause it to pass through annealing temperature, where it will forget about all past stress. If you were going to re-heat treat, you might want to make the nib from the same material as the base spring, say 1095 plain carbon steel.

I hope some of the welders will jump in on this.

I welded an Elsie fore-end retainer spring that was broken in the middle(there was a inclusion in the metal at the break)) I used TIG with music wire as the filler. After grinding and polishing, I heat-treated as if it had been annealed. A few stress cycles in a vise proved the weld was sound so I reinstalled it. That was several years ago and as far as I know it is still in sevice.

OB

I wouldn't hessitate to weld it. However, I wouldn't even bother trying to see how it works without re heat treating it first. It's not a big deal to do, easier that the welding and shaping of the nib. Since the material is unknown, I would bring it up to critical (non magnetic) then quench in room temp water with 1/4" of ATF floating on top then temper in molten lead. Put the sping on top of the lead then apply the heat. Once the lead melts, hold the spring under the surface for a few minutes then remove the heat. Lead melts @ 620degF and 620 to perhaps 650 is a good temp for tempering many spring steels, the lead, of course CAN get alot hotter if allowed. So, remove the heat and let it solidify with the spring under the surface. Then reapply the heat and when the spring pops to the top take it out and your done. I like to smoke the spring over a kerosene lamp before putting it into the lead. This prevents the lead from sticking to the spring. Best case scenario, you have a spring as good as the original with very little effort. Worst case scenario, the spring fails and you have to make a new one from scratch. Not a big deal either.

I did it once with MIG-welding. MIG welding is cold welding and doing such a thing as nib you don't need futher heat-treated things to do. And the welder was magician.