filling pits?

[Kittu]

Hi friends
i have one mauser W.T.P 1 model chambered for .25 acp.It have some pits on frame and slide.Can anyone suggest how to fill them thanks

[James_Bond]

its nice mauser. Hope our experienced IFG members answer for it

[Kittu]

i think no one knowa it

[marksman]

There was a guy in Mumbai who after X-raying the metal would fill it with appropriate metal and was pretty successful at it. But, the fire arm had to be reblued for even colouring later. My strong advice would be to leave it as is. The pits add character to the pistol that befits the year and era it was made in..in my humble opinion.
Cheers!!!
Marksman

[skeetshot]

Filling pits is regularly done by good gunsmiths in India especially for restoring old fine guns.

The technique involves melting a thin wire of wrought iron using a fine flame, followed by finishing the steel by filing, sanding and buffing followed by re-bluing - either hot or cold.

[TC]

Ashok,
My advice would be to leave the pistol as it is. If you are really concerned about the cosmetic change then try to procure a safety lever and replace the old one.
Welding and soldering (many gunsmiths in India use brass to hide pits and use deep paint to cover it up) will only damage the originality of the weapon.



TC

[Kittu]

thans a lot
marksman,skeetshot and TC for your valuble advivese.i have a gas welder who can fill pits with wrought iron.i will take safety lever first and grind it and polish then toss it in hot bluing solutin.which i made a year early and successfully blued a pistol at home.if it shows diffrent shades then i will leave as it is thanks again guys

[TC]

thans a lot
marksman,skeetshot and TC for your valuble advivese.i have a gas welder who can fill pits with wrought iron.i will take safety lever first and grind it and polish then toss it in hot bluing solutin.which i made a year early and successfully blued a pistol at home.if it shows diffrent shades then i will leave as it is thanks again guys

Well, since I have try out all kinds of things myself I will eagerly wait for the final results on this one. My best wishes.

TC

[herb]

Suggest you leave it alone.

It can be done. A good gunsmith can weld the pits and file it down. Here is an example from the work that my gunsmith did on an LC Smith SxS. The firing pin and everything around was badly rusted and pitted.












this kind of work is not cheap and it may be better to buy another gun, justified only if it is a very high end or rare gun, also in case of sentimental value.

Herb

[BowMan]

Well, since I have try out all kinds of things myself...

TC

That reminds me TC. We are still waitin...

[TC]

Well, since I have try out all kinds of things myself...

TC

That reminds me TC. We are still waitin...

Bowman, I am working on it... and not at snail's pace...

BTW... there was a typo again (damn eyes). That would be "Well, since I have tried out...."

Herb, thanks for posting the pics. Lovely job. But there are very few gunsmiths in India who can deliver that even though it is no rocket science

TC

[najeeb_khan]

Hello Ashok,

I will advise to keep your pistol as it is, as it will change the originality of your weapon.

But if you still want to fill the pits, then have your pistol pits filled by carbide welding as there no air bubble are developed while welding.

Many times air bubble are developed in gas welding while using oxygen and LPG.

Air bubbles are seen during filing and later in polishing, that will make the surface of metal more uneven.

Welding can be done by using a black iron welding wire.

Regards
Najeeb

[Mark]

Since this thread has been resurrected after a couple of months, I will make a suggestion on another way to make the gun more cosmetic-

Fill the pits in with a hard epoxy putty, sand them down smooth, and then spray paint the parts with a black lacquer aerosol. When they are dry, put them in a 200 degree oven, turn the heat off and leave it overnight. You will have a pretty durable finish the next morning. Not nearly as durable as any of the specific spray on finishes such as Gunkote, Ceracoat, Durabake, etc. but not too bad for the time and minimal money spent. If you have the extra budget and can afford/get any of the actual products made for finishing that would be my strong suggestion since the labor will be the same but I refinished a shotgun with plain lacquer a few decades ago and it still does not look too bad for what it is.

[Kittu]

Hello Ashok,

I will advise to keep your pistol as it is, as it will change the originality of your weapon.

But if you still want to fill the pits, then have your pistol pits filled by carbide welding as there no air bubble are developed while welding.

Many times air bubble are developed in gas welding while using oxygen and LPG.

Air bubbles are seen during filing and later in polishing, that will make the surface of metal more uneven.

Welding can be done by using a black iron welding wire.

Regards
Najeeb

Thanks bro
for your kind advice but pistol was sold away two days later of post.herb posted pics here is tig weilding which is not possible here.you can fill pits in rich carburing flames without use of lpg and then ground to surface.but these filled sots will show up in bluieng thanks

[Mark]

I have not done it, but I have heard the only way to weld in pits and not have them show is to take a sliver of metal from a usually concealed spot on the same gun (like from the underside of the tang) and use that as the fill metal but I have never been that ambitious nor had guns valuable enough to require such service, LOL.