I have a .416 Ruger build on a NH M70 in the works. Would like to install a forward recoil lug on the #5 Shilen SS barrel. What's the best method to accomplish this - TIG, dovetail?

IIRC, every one I've seen has been welded..

Sure.





This is a .585 NYATI that was having problems keeping barrel mounted recoil lugs in place. The person who installed the original lug used solder and screws. The customer wanted something more permanent.

Mine is just dovetailed but is on a 404 Jeffery so not such a violent need as on some of the larger cartridges.

Von Gruff.

I'm not convinced you need a forward lug on a 416Ruger, especially with the large recoil lug bearing surface of an M70 reciever. I'm of the opinion that proper bedding in a good stock would be more than ample without the second lug.

Best

The best method is to start with an oversize barrel and have it machined integral with the barrel.

What I did on my first 458 lott was to bore a piece of cr-mo tubing to the od of the barrel, then I sliced a section of the tubing ~2" long and ~1/3 the circumfrence of the tubing. I welded on a 3/8" thick piece of steel as the recoil lug, then silver soldered it in place.

I just don't like the idea of welding anything on a barrel, so long as you have enough surface area, soldering is fine.

Another slick option is a barrel band sight base with a lug welded to the bottom, and soldered in place.

I share your concern with welding on the barrel. I would wonder however, why you would silver solder and not weld. You can get less heat sink, better heat control, with a tig weld than with silver solder.

Way beyond anything I'm capable of or equipped to do so maybe a stupid question. How do you protect the bore from scale when you get the barrel that hot?

That is one of the problems with heat. One way is to flood te barrel with an inert gas like Argon or you could use the paste that Brownell's sells but it is a mess to clean up. One other consideration for not doing it is what will the added heat do to the barrel when it is applied to only one location and not evenly heating the whole thing.

Yup, a person can use a low temp solder like Force 44, and high strength silver solder, a super high strength joint using a TIG torch, or something as simple as LocTite. Knowing when and how to choose which process to use, and then being able to pull it off in a clean, profession manner is what separates us from the monkeys.

Gary, given the circumstances of your 416 RM build using the EW stock with aluminum bedding block/skeleton, I would agree. However, I'm looking at using the original, wood, cross-bolted, Safari Express stock - at least until budget allows me something different. The secondary recoil lug would ease the anxiety of "when's it gonna split".