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Posted: 2/11/2015 5:51:02 PM EDT
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Fro anyone who is in the welding or gunsmithing trade, This is an M16 A1 upper that has a crack in it below & front of the ejection port. Is this fixable by tig welding or is it toast? I have a friend that's a great tigger, but he's not in town and he's not a gun guy. I wonder what kind of stresses this area gets and if it would be safe to shoot after the repair?
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd250/magalops_2007/pix189178424_zps2233de3a.jpg http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd250/magalops_2007/pix342110242_zpsb999f44c.jpg |
| That's what I thought also, from 40 year old stuck on barrels being removed with a giant breaker bar, without taking much care. RTI has them on Gunbroker starting at $19.95 buy it now is $39. Kinda concerns me though because that's where I got my M16 kit from! Though my upper is in real nice shape. The .22 thing kinda sounds cool though. |
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Here's my 2 cents for what its' worth. There have been many discussions on the feasibility of welding uppers and lowers, here in retro. Generally, it is said that 7075 aluminum is not weldable. That is said as it pertains to structual strength. Cosmetically, it's a different story. With 7075 you would want to use a 5XXX series filler rod if you intend to anodize after welding. 4XXX series filler rod will turn black during anodizing and will not dye the same color as the rest of the part. I've got an 80% lower receiver that I messed up during a machining operation. Last operation to do and I screwed it up....after I had all the engraving completed. Long story short.........I had the very accomplished welder here at work do some Tig'ing on another 80%er I had, just to see how things went. I think I am going to risk the lower and let him attempt to fix it. It is more of a cosmetic blem/screw-up than it is structual, so we'll see.
What you need to determine is if that break is an area that is important to the structual integrity of the upper. I'm not sure how you determine that. I wouldn't hesitate to use it as a dedicated .22lr upper. Would I use it for a 5.56?.......It's entirely up to you. It's a hundred and fifty dollar upper at most. Are you a gambler? What I might do for MYSELF and what you do (or what you are asking us to tell you what to do) are two entirely different things. I'll add that there were several SOT/07's (I think that's what they're called) that routinely welded demilled lower receiver back together. Humpty dumpty style. Is a lower subjected to the same forces as an upper? I dunno. They do make plastic lowers, but are there plastic uppers? |
| I have a C7 that looks exactly like the photos. A guy asked me to build an upper on it. I didn't notice the crack until I was about to install the barrel. He bought another upper, leaving me the cracked one. I've been contemplating weld repair, as well. Keep us posted. |
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