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Millett Dual Crimp repair...pics

2638 Views 15 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  strider
I hope I have not been using too much bandwidth with my recent posts.
The Millett dual-crimp repair has been discussed here several times in the past.
I thought some of you might like to see how I deal with the situation.
This job was done for another 'smith that needed a 'patridge' style cross-dovetailed front sight to which he could add a 'gold bead'.
The slide is a Colt Stainless Steel Delta Elite 10mm.

As I received it:




Pocket machined into the area.




Using a corner radiusing end-mill on the 'dutchman'.



Fluxed and ready for silver-solder.



All cleaned up.



New sight in place.




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Chuck Rogers
Rogers Precision

GOOD-CHEAP-FAST
Pick any two.
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I am amazed at what some of you guys can do...... its totally awesome!
Hi Chuck, nice job, wish I could of done that! Pete
I recently fixed a couple of these myself by a different method. I speak from first hand experience when I say they are a pain in the neck.

Nice work again, Chuck.


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MD Labs/Mad Dog Knives
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If some one were to show me the before and after pics of the bald slide... I wouldnt believe them.

Tremendous work Chuck, I raise my glass to ya!!
What a true craftsman you are !!! I have always wanted to do this kind of work. Did you start out in a machine shop or from the start a gunsmith. Super job
Slick.
I have seen a couple of sloppy dual crimp jobs that needed this repair over the past year.
I'm having a O' Douls n/a in your honor. Why anyone would want to do that to a slide is beyond me. I used to make'em buy a new slide.Stupidity must cost money and lots of it. Dual crimps are for the rankest of amateurs. I am always impressed by what you can do with that Mill and silver soder.
...well I guess that's one approach. Punish the customer for havin' someone work on their pistol...sheesh...


...Beautiful work...as always


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>>>>>>>>>>g2<<<<<<<<<<

I Like The Shade Too!
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I have a slide that was welded to repair the dual crimp holes and it doesn't look nearly as good. Nice work!
What, nobody here likes Millets!?


The Commander pictured below had this same abomination of a front sight on it. You know, actually, the dual crimp attachment method in and of itself should be pretty strong when done right (which I don't believe I've ever seen), it's just that, well, it's rarely done right, usually with a gap under the sight or something, the styling and form of these things is not great, and they are made from melted down conduit or something-- really soft stuff. Anyway-- this nice old 1950 Commander had one on the front and this was my approach to fixing it; I didn't at all mind using a silver-soldered on front sight in this case given the gun's intended use. I posted about this one recently, where Checkmate had kinda botched the refinishing and lost some parts. In their defense, they did a great job of doing it over. Against my better judgement I let them repair the anodizing and the guy (William) did a fantastic job of it.

So, top pic-- not a great one, sorry-- the finished product. When making sights from scratch, I like to recess the tritium insert forward about .100, which makes it visible only to the user or someone directly behind him-- whereas standard-form night sights kinda call attention to your location to anyone in your dark, scary room that's within say a 120 degree cone behind you-- didn't do it to this one per customer's request.



This pic shows the front sight blank ruffed out, made from a piece of 4130, with two integral posts which fit into the old stake holes. This gives the max "soldered" area and lots of shear strength. I expect this sight to stay on for at least the first 100 rounds....





[This message has been edited by Ned Christiansen (edited 07-31-2001).]
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That's pretty tubular, Ned.


Very nice work, I like the rib on the slide top, very clean.


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MD Labs/Mad Dog Knives
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