Welding info needed

[Fast14riot]

I have a funky bolt handle on a 788, its been welded to the bolt body nicely from what I can tell, but I want to cut it about 1/2"-3/4" away from the body, straighten the handle and weld it back on. I only have a small 120amp gasless mig welder, would that be sufficient to weld the middle of a bolt handle together?

Pic of bolt for reference

 

[565tinfitter]

Possibly if you bevel the pieces to get enough penetration and enough heat to make a clean weld. GTAW would be a better process, but you should be able to make do.

 

[Fast14riot]

Possibly if you bevel the pieces to get enough penetration and enough heat to make a clean weld. GTAW would be a better process, but you should be able to make do.

Yeah, I would bevel each piece to be sure. Just looking at my options to keep a cheap gun, well, cheap.

 

[426nut]

Looks like someone was a lefty.

 

[Fast14riot]

I assume I'd have to crank up the power all the way to be sure of proper penetration.

 

[okie]

might be easier to straighten it a little, cut it off and thread it...?

if you are careful it can be done while in water/heat sink

 

[okie]

Looks like someone was a lefty.

yep

 

[Fast14riot]

might be easier to straighten it a little, cut it off and thread it...?

if you are careful it can be done while in water/heat sink

Thats another option I was considering, but thats a lot of heat to get steel soft enough and pretty close to the cocking cam.

I was also thinking of cutting, D&T for a hardened pin and same with new piece, red locktite and call it good.

 

[akajun]

Easy button is buy whatever bolt handle you want
Mail it and the action to Dan Armstrong with a check
Then get it back and build your gun

 

[Fast14riot]

Easy button is buy whatever bolt handle you want
Mail it and the action to Dan Armstrong with a check
Then get it back and build your gun

You would think, but he wouldn't give me the time of day once I told him it was a 788 bolt.

 

[jds holler]

My advise from a welder who doesn't weld often enough -- mock it up with some similar scrap material and practice. jd

 

[Fast14riot]

My advise from a welder who doesn't weld often enough -- mock it up with some similar scrap material and practice. jd

Thats the plan, for sure.

 

[Carl S]

V,prep the joint to get full penertration and your welder should be fine.Tig weld would be better..preperation is key.

 

[Sniperhandle]

You need to put a heat sink inside the bolt to keep the buttress threads inside from deforming. And also, Since this a rear locking lug action, The locking lugs need to be kept cool to preserve the heat treating of the lugs and also the cocking cam hardness.

I would send it to someone who knows what they are doing rather than take a chance on ruining the bolt. Many a Mauser bolt has been ruined by home hobbyists.

 

[Fast14riot]

Yeah, heat mitigation is the primary concern, I would cut the handle as long as I could to help keep heat to the bolt body low and I will make a heat sink plug for it.

 

[Twdmar]

A 120v mig welder will work fine. Flux core wire makes kinda ugly welds but penetrates well. As said earlier, good prep is important. Minimize the gap between the pieces and grind a decent vee groove to allow for penetration.
Since it's Flux core, you'll have to drag the weld. A wet rag wrapped around the bolt should keep heat from effecting the rest of the bolt. Drywall mud can work as heat stop past too.
Get it solidly tacked, brushing between any welds to remove slag. Then weld it up. Try to minimize the size of you weld so you don't have to grind a lot. Use enough amps to get good penetration. Also, cover the bolt body so no slag BBs land on it, that would be lame.

 

[ebb]

Midway used to sell heat sinks (at least for Mauser) and a paste that would keep the heat away from the critical parts. Being that you will be welding on the rear where the lugs are I would very careful.

 

[Fast14riot]

A 120v mig welder will work fine. Flux core wire makes kinda ugly welds but penetrates well. As said earlier, good prep is important. Minimize the gap between the pieces and grind a decent vee groove to allow for penetration.
Since it's Flux core, you'll have to drag the weld. A wet rag wrapped around the bolt should keep heat from effecting the rest of the bolt. Drywall mud can work as heat stop past too.
Get it solidly tacked, brushing between any welds to remove slag. Then weld it up. Try to minimize the size of you weld so you don't have to grind a lot. Use enough amps to get good penetration. Also, cover the bolt body so no slag BBs land on it, that would be lame.

A great welder I am not, but I can grind anything to exactly how I want, lol! I'm going to have to refine the shape of it after I'm done, anyway. Square to round with a weld right in the middle would be fugly.

You have confirmed nearly my exact plan of attack. I just dont weld enough to be very confident in my plan, especially for gun stuff or anything critical. Pulling the weld shouldn't be too bad if I take my time in set up and fixturing.

I will be running several practice passes on scraps first, but many of you have reassured my mind that it is doable for a reasonable, safe and functional result. I do feel better about this plan.

Now, any experts willing to help if I really screw things up?

 

[Twdmar]

A great welder I am not, but I can grind anything to exactly how I want, lol! I'm going to have to refine the shape of it after I'm done, anyway. Square to round with a weld right in the middle would be fugly.

You have confirmed nearly my exact plan of attack. I just dont weld enough to be very confident in my plan, especially for gun stuff or anything critical. Pulling the weld shouldn't be too bad if I take my time in set up and fixturing.

I will be running several practice passes on scraps first, but many of you have reassured my mind that it is doable for a reasonable, safe and functional result. I do feel better about this plan.

Now, any experts willing to help if I really screw things up?

Keep your wire length consistent, learn to move the puddle without the arc becoming disconnected. Don't focus your eyes on the arc but on the puddle around the arc. There are many ways to move your puddle, making c or e shapes or just moving back and forth. You can even pull in a straight line like you're putting easy cheese from a can onto a cracker.

 

[Fast14riot]

As a self admitted "wire to long" welder, I'm absolutely going to make several practice welds to figure out my ipm for this project.