JBWeld Repair

I’ll try to show a couple pics. I bought this perfect, to me, Ruger Security Six, dates back to the 1st ones at ‘72-73. Bought it here on the Forum. Everything was disclosed. He bought it from Bubba who tried to make it a round butt…ground off the heel of the handle. Otherwise a perfect gun…love it.
Okay, so I took it to LGS, he said it would be too expensive to weld it up. So I bought some JB Weld. I’ve been throwing on another layer daily. Has anyone ever done something like this with JBWeld? Also, I mix a tad of black nail polish. That’s why the tad extra hardener. I didn’t use the hypodermic type.

I have not, but I like your moxie!

I am a big fan of JB Weld although I've never used it in a gun. I'm curious how it stands up so please let us know after you have fired a few hundred rounds. Hope it works out for you.

Do you have the cut off piece? If you have both pieces I can’t see why it would cost that much with you doing the finishing work. If not I would just use round to square conversion grips

DEFINITION OF THE WORD “IRONY”:
Doing something like this while referring to a previous owner with the term “Bubba”.

Is it OK to say that if I add, “just kidding”?

At least the JB Weld is reversible.

(I second the plainly obvious “round to square” conversion grip recommendation.)

I don't know why It wouldn't work. Especially If you Prepared the frame and roughed it up enough to make sure the JB weld had a place to adhere to. Its a none stressed area. I've also seen where people have whittled a wooden insert where the frame was removed and glued it to one grip and when installed it fills the spot where the frame was modified. When I worked in automotive repair you would be amazed at the repairs we did with JB Weld.
SWCA 892

Just wrap some duct tape over the epoxy and put the grips back on

On a more serious note, from what I see it should be fine, and more importantly, as long as the muzzle is down range when loaded and the hammer back or moving in that direction, not dangerous if it fails

Tu_S said:

On a more serious note, from what I see it should be fine, and more importantly, as long as the muzzle is down range when loaded and the hammer back or moving in that direction, not dangerous if it fails

Click to expand...

How could a modification of a grip frame, (square to round, round to square,) make it so very dangerous that it that it need’s to be treated like an experiment? What is going to “fail”? Any mod to the frame is still covered by the stocks anyway correct?

Jim

Good for you, Jeff.

I've used JBWeld to reattach a Marlin Model 60 barrel to a "wallered-out" receiver.

I've also used it to make repairs on engine casings.

JBWeld is good stuff, but it can only handle so much load.

I think yours is an excellent and creative way to use the product.

John

I bought an old Colt new service in 38-40 and the little bump that is suppose to hold the cylinder in place while you push out the empties was worn enough so the cylinder would try to come off the crane. I decided to try some JB weld to build up the bump about .075" and dabbed a little paint on it. 500 rounds later and its working fine. If you didn't see me do it you could not tell it had been done.

I've used JB Weld to make broken Rochester Quadrajet castings functional again, and never had a fuel leak as a result...Your experience may vary......Ben

JBWeld is a two part epoxy, yes? What is it that makes it different from other 2P glues?

Kevin

StrawHat said:

JBWeld is a two part epoxy, yes? What is it that makes it different from other 2P glues?

Kevin

Click to expand...

Metallic powder compound would be my guess......Ben

30 or so years ago my late father was driving through Nevada on his way home from a SC-California-SC round trip when the support bracket for the air conditioning compressor in his pickup broke. He couldn't go on in the desert heat and it was late in the day, so in the next town he came to that had a motel and a Walmart he stopped for the night. The Walmart had JB Weld in stock, so he bought some along with some assorted pipe clamps and under a streetlight after dark he rigged up a repair. He intended to visit a junkyard for a replacement bracket when he got home, but ended up selling the pickup truck he had been driving 8 years later -- with the JB Weld repair still as solid as the day he made it.

I think your repair will hold up...

I tried it once on a muffler but it burned off and smelled bad.

I’ve used it several times with varying degrees of success. Sometimes I think this is an easy fix and it doesn’t work. Other times you think no way this will work and it does.

I can't tell from the pictures, is the butt just rounded, or was a piece actually missing?

If you are just building out the square, I see no reason the JB wouldn't work. I might prefer Accra Glass gel with the powdered steel mixed in, but that's just me. If you are regluing a missing piece, it probably would still work, maybe need a little creative reinforcing, but as others said it's a low stress area.

Bald1 said:

I’ve used it several times with varying degrees of success. Sometimes I think this is an easy fix and it doesn’t work. Other times you think no way this will work and it does.

Click to expand...

I agree, this has been my experience with JB Weld as well. Old time mechanics used to rave about the stuff & how this stuff would save the day. My takeaway from this is like anything else is that a good equal portion mix, and good surface preparation is paramount to the success of a JB Weld repair.

I too am a graduate of the "Rochester 4bbl with stripped threads" school of JB Weld use. To me this sounds like an excellent application of JB Weld....in this case it's really just a space filler.

A couple of suggestions from the Wile E. Coyote School of Gunsmithing:

Be careful of your mixing ratios to ensure that your layers have similar properties.

The addition of the nail polish and extra hardener may change the properties of the final product. Now that you have a good amount on the gun, try to push it around and pull it off. If it's not going to stay in place it would be better to find out now.

Use a bit of sandpaper every once in a while to rough up the surface between coats.

If you end up needing a large blob at the heel, drill one or two very small holes into the blob when it is about halfway formed and fill those holes with the subsequent layers. This forms a peg or pin between the layers.

Don't use a dremel for the final shaping. Surface inconsistencies and differences in hardness can cause the dremel bit to slip and dip, leaving you with the need to add more layers. A large smooth cut file and a light hand are needed. Card the file frequently.

IIRC, there is a bit of a whoop-tee-do in the grip frame between the middle hump and the final flare at the heel. A round file, a light touch, and frequent test fits of your grips will get you through that.

The idea of round to square conversion grips would be a good one if this were a Smith and if the grinding on the frame actually made it the correct dimensions. It appears that the OP is working on a 150 series low-back frame. Finding any grips at all for that frame is a challenge and I have never seen round to square conversions for that one. Speed Six grips might work but again that depends on how well the frame modifications follow the factory dimensions.

An alternate idea if this doesn't work would be to create your own round to square conversion grips that are custom fit to the frame. Coat the frame well with wax or another release agent, lay the frame into one side of the grips and fill in the gap with acraglas or another bedding compound. File smooth, dremel to provide a bit of removal/installation clearance, and do one side at a time.

Perseverance and patience will get you there. All you have to do is fill a gap.....

Pisgah said:

selling the pickup truck he had been driving 8 years later -- with the JB Weld repair still as solid as the day he made it.

Click to expand...

Sometimes a temporary repair isn't temporary.

In a similar vein, about fifteen years ago I had a drain pipe that was leaking into my garage. I called a plumber but he couldn't come for a couple weeks. So I patched it with something like "FlexSeal" tape. Never called the plumber back and it hasn't dripped since.