I'm looking at a set of bone stag grips for a S&W 38-44 HD. The
grips are in excellent condition, however, the screw nut on
the right grip is lose and falls out of its little hole. How can this
be re-attached to the bone material? What kind of glue can be
used to attach metal to a porous material like stag horn?

All you need is drop of 2-part epoxy to lock that screw escutcheon in place. Clean the escutcheon and the hole thoroughly w/acetone, smear a tiny amount around the sides of the hole, another tiny amount around the escutcheon, press into place and let cure for 24 hours. Be double-triple sure not to get any epoxy into the threaded hole.
Pictures are required when finished.

Larry

I've had Excellent results using Gorilla Glue, on a number of different items. Both smooth and rough finishes.

The Gorilla Glue I've used expands while curing. There may be other versions that don't but test that stuff before you put it on vintage grips. I second the two part epoxy recommendation. Just BTW, I think bone and stag are two different materials. Bone is often textured to resemble stag. I collect knives. Genuine stag on knife handles is somewhat rare and expensive. Bone is common and used on lots of knives including imports that sell for $10.

Thick CA would work,Home Depot will have it.

WHAT EVER GLUE YOU USE - do NOT use one that has a color to it! The color in glue can "creep" into the porous Stag and ruin your grips. 25 years ago I had a set of Ivory one piece grips that were custom made for me and the maker used an epoxy that was red in color. A few years later my grips started turning a pinkish-red and it kept spreading. Needless to say that was an expensive lesson for me!

Locktite makes an industrial strength super glue that I have had good luck with. I bought it in a machine shop supply store but it might be available in a Home Depot or well stocked Hardware Store too.

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't think of posting a picture
of what I was talking about, but here is a picture of the bone
grips I'm talking about.

Attached Images

S&W 38-44 HD stag grips.jpg (54.6 KB, 145 views)

Hi,
I'd recommend a cyanoacrylate glue (CA). CA was developed in the 1950s with one of it's intended purposes being as a chemical suture. That makes it a good choice for a lot of organic and porous materials. Because it also dries hard and brittle, it bonds well pretty well to hard materials like metal, especially when there are grooves or the like for the glue to bite into. CA is also clear, and stays clear once dry and as it ages. Should you ever wish to reverse it or undo your work, it breaks down with heat. So, you could use the tip of a hot soldering iron on the metal and the bond will break. Epoxy can be a real pain if for some reason it needs to be removed.
I'd also recommend one of the water-thin viscosity CA glues. Apply it with a micro pipette glue dropper. Good brands of CA are Hot Stuff and Stick Fast (from Woodcraft). I'd avoid Crazy glue and Super glue brands, as they often underperform.
By the way, it will wick into very tight cracks so it is a great choice for repairing hairline cracks in bone, stag and ivory grips. Just apply a drop or two and it will be drawn into a crack by capillary action. Wipe off the excess with a clean rag before it dries (10-30 seconds).

Both bone and stag are porous. Stag more so. I use both on knife handles. I would use a high quality 2 part epoxy and not the 5 minute variety. I would clean everything well as mentioned above. Then, but a light coat of oil of light grease on the end of the screw stick it through the stock and thread it in the nut, then put the epoxy on the OD of the nut and use the screw to pull nut into position and keep it in place. The oil on the screw will make sure the screw releases and having the screw in the nut will make sure the nut threads stay open and the nut is in the proper position. Clean any excess on the outside of the stock with a cotton swap and acetone. You don't have to buy a big container of acetone. Many fingernail polish removers are just acetone check some of the wife's. I do not regard any super glue as a long term strong bond and it will wick away into porous material.

I'd caution against looking at this repair as something you want to make "permanent". There are myriad reasons why you may need to remove the escutcheon. Being soft brass, it may possibly strip at some point, for example. Maybe the next guy tries to remove it and ends up damaging the grip because someone epoxied it in place. Ever wonder why for virtually every grip maker, the escutcheon is always a removable press fit??
You could just leave it as is and let the screw keep it in place while the grips are installed. If you do wish to secure it somehow to keep it from getting lost, then I would reiterate my earlier suggestion to use CA glue.
Like dremels, epoxy is one of the most misused tools of the home repairman. It's great stuff for aerospace or marine applications, or to repair your wife's birdhouse in the back yard. Want to ruin an investment grade long gun with a broken stock? Just repair it with epoxy!
From a restoration viewpoint, professionals will rarely use epoxy for anything. As a case in point, consider this story concerning the famous King Tut burial mask:
Beard on King Tut's burial mask damaged after epoxy gluing | Fox News
This priceless treasure was damaged during cleaning. It was hastily repaired with (you guessed it) epoxy. These jokers even glued it back crooked! The result was further damage and and even lengthier process to undo the "repair".

Repair rule: do the most reversible thing first that will likely accomplish the job.

It really helps to run a tap thru the nut when dry. Just cleans it up a bit.

__________________
Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

We are not repairing King Tuts mask. LOL

Thing about epoxy is it starts to soften above 200f and is almost liquid again at 300f, well below temps that will harm wood or Stag. Removing it in the future would be simple. Simply stick a soldering iron on it while press from the back side with the tip of the screw.

Thanks to " 6string" for his common sense approach to the
loose escutcheon nut on these bone grips I'm looking at. The
seller sent me a picture of the grips on a model of 1950 38/44
HD. He got a chance to shoot the HD with these grips. The
grip screw held the grips together and he said they felt solid
when he shot the HD.

As an aside, can someone with more knowledge of bone grips
estimate what they are worth, even with the loose escutcheon
nut?

Bone is bone, and stag is stag, they terms are not interchangeable! Yours are either stag or imitation stag, and unless they have porous backs I would lean to imitation

Either the Cyanoacrylate or Epoxy will work, but be careful not to glue the screw into the stock while doing it! To be sure the escutcheon is square glue it in using the screw to guide it. Be sure to grease or wax the screw so the glue won't stick to the screw.

The back, bottom and top of the grips are porous, so they are
not imitation stag. I think I'll avoid gluing/epoxying the
loose escutcheon nut if I do get them just to keep from screwing
up the repair process. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Could any of you stag or bone grip experts estimate what these
grips would be worth in present condition.

Thanks.

Dental repair kit. Sounds silly but I've done it a few times.

DW

__________________
"NUTS"

My approach has been somewhat different than what is listed above. I had to repair a pair of stag stocks just a couple weeks ago, using what I had on hand. I plugged the hole, from the back side of the stock. Then redrilled for the escutcheion. It was inserted and glued in place. You repair sounds as if does not require as much work. GOOD LUCK!!