Garrett Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Last summer I made a post about my Para open gun frame with cracks in the dustcover. The old thread is here. I've been out of the game since then, but want to start getting my gun back together, and am trying to figure my best (most cost effective) option. The frame is probably not worth trying to fix. The top end and internals are still good, though. I was going to mount a Docter sight on the slide, but they are no longer available. I'm half thinking of bastardizing my Limited Para, and fitting my open top end to that gun. It's not a simple swap though. The Open gun has a Clark / Nowling feedramp. The other Para frame would have to be machined to accept the C/N barrel. Aside from the barrel and fitting the new slide to the frame, I'm thinking everything else would be a relatively simple swap. I know the standard response will be to just get an STI/SV frame and be done with it, and I am considering this. But I want to evaluate my options. The advantage to staying with a Para is that I already have the frame, as well as mags and holsters. All of that would be an additional expense if I were to go with an STI/SV frame. This would kill my Limited gun, but I have other guns to shoot in Limited. Thoughts? Suggestions on who to ask about milling on my frame? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdragon Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Depending on where the dustcover is cracked, It can be tigged. That will save your frame. As far as the cmore screws coming loose, Don't over oil the slide. The oil decomposes the locktite. Use slide glide. Ivan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted April 12, 2006 Author Share Posted April 12, 2006 Take a look at the old thread.. It has pictures and an explanation. I originally looked into having the frame welded up, but it is hard chromed. The chrome would have to be stripped, and by the time that was done, there would be little or no metal left on the dust cover to weld to. Welding isn't really a very good option at this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdragon Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 You can run blind screws into it. At any rate you will need to rechrome it. Ivan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Take a look at the old thread.. It has pictures and an explanation. I originally looked into having the frame welded up, but it is hard chromed. The chrome would have to be stripped, and by the time that was done, there would be little or no metal left on the dust cover to weld to. Welding isn't really a very good option at this time. Seeing that the hardchrome is only a couple tenths thick (.0002) or so, stripping it doesn't remove any appreciable metal. Stripping should be done by a plater at this point, not by bead blasting. Someone that is GOOD with a TIG welder can weld it with no problem. Have the holes filled too. The weld will be visible, regardless of the type of finish. But, you still have a lower end without the cost of building another one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted April 13, 2006 Author Share Posted April 13, 2006 Stripping should be done by a plater at this point, not by bead blasting.Okay, anyone you can recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Stripping should be done by a plater at this point, not by bead blasting.Okay, anyone you can recommend? If you check some of the platers web sites ie Tripp, Metaloy, they usually have a fee for stripping plating. Obviously you want a plater that works on guns. Tripp has an excellent reputation, you might start there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul B Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 This is a rather common problem with Para's and heavy one sided scope mounts. The dust cover was never meant to hold that much weight - it's a dust cover. All 3 of my Para open guns had this problem. Did not bother to try to reweld them, just put an extra steel pad on each side of the gun. My gunsmith brazed a pad of steel approx 1/16" thick to either side of the gun and re-cut the scope holes. This bridged the cracks and has been a permanent repair. You will have to modify your scope mount base (needs to be thinner) or the parallax will be way off. For me it was just a matter of buying a scope mount for an SVI/STI gun. As a side benefit the screws no longer strip out easy. If you would like a picture of what I mean, e-mail me with your personal e-mail address and I will send - still don't understand how to post on this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric nielsen Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 (edited) Add-on steel pads were popular for a while in the early 90's so that guys could use the George Huening carbon-fiber mount. Should be someone out there capable of doing that. If you do it at the right thickness it will match the STI frame width as Paul said. To me [could be wrong] it looks like with an intact right side, you could use a blank 2-sided mount or a Serendipity and just match the holes on the left side. I'd be careful about using a blast shield though, because comp gasses put a lot of leverage on the shield and into the entire sight. It's a nice gun, time to wake it up and put it to work. Edited April 13, 2006 by eric nielsen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbadaboom Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Muriatic acid will strip hard chrome. You can get it at swimming pool supply places. It's used to clean masonry and lower the Ph in swimming pools. Place the acid in a plastic container large enough to submerge the frame in. Tie a wire or something to the frame and submerge it completely into the acid. Get a cheap paint brush and brush the frame while it is submereged. When the frame turns a dull grey color remove it and rinse it with water. Immediately apply WD-40 after drying the frame off. Make sure you wear rubber gloves and take all the precautions required when dealing with chemicals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberneck Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 The weld will be visible, regardless of the type of finish. Not exactly. It is very hard to re-chrome an area that has been welded. The metal surrounding the weld gets slightly discolored by the heat generated during the welding process. That area will be visiable through the hard chroming. Virgil can it explain it better. I wanted him to weld up a bomar cut and recut it for a Novak sight and then HC. He adivsed against chroming for that very reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radical Precision Designs Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 (edited) As Paul B and Eric N mentioned above... Wise words. You can make the pad to cover any length to suit your needs. Silver soldering the pad will work fine, and the whole 'shebang' can be re-plated. Never had any problems when plating disimilar metals joined together, when the surfaces were prepared properly. Different hardness'es in adjoining metals may show slightly different in the finish according to the finishers ability to blend the surfaces. Bring your project to a "local" reputable 'smith who will be glad to assist you for far less than a new frame. Edited April 13, 2006 by Radical Precision Designs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercomp9 Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 I'm half thinking of bastardizing my Limited Para, and fitting my open top end to that gun. It's not a simple swap though. The Open gun has a Clark / Nowling feedramp. The other Para frame would have to be machined to accept the C/N barrel. your idea of running a dual upper and one lower is one that I have done off and on... and I am in the process of building another on on the STI format.. but now I have one question about the barrels that you say are different one being the para cut and the other being a clark/nowlin cut .. Well you see the Clark cut is the same as the para cut , so I bet you are referring to the Wilson/nowlin square cut where the clark/para cut being the half round.. the other option to your delima would be to get the comp upper rebarreled to a c/p ramp & maybe look at the JPoint sight.. there are still many options out there.. Good luck in your venture.. J.Kee aka SuperComp9 7 para's and counting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted April 13, 2006 Author Share Posted April 13, 2006 Well you see the Clark cut is the same as the para cut , so I bet you are referring to the Wilson/nowlin square cut where the clark/para cut being the half round.. Yeah, that's what I meant to say. In any case, one frame has a square cut & the other is round, and they don't interchange. the other option to your delima would be to get the comp upper rebarreled to a c/p ramp & maybe look at the JPoint sight.. I was going to get a Docter and have Beven Grams tweak it and machine his mount into my slide. As it turns out, they are no longer being imported. I just heard back from Virgil Tripp. He can un-chrome my frame and weld it back up for a very reasonable fee. I think I'm going to go that way. Then I'll mount a 2-sided Cmore mount and be set. Thanks all for the suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted July 23, 2006 Author Share Posted July 23, 2006 I sent the gun to Virgil. When he removed the grip tape (there were no grip panels) he found two big cracks in the receiver which follow the cut for the trigger bow. Here's a picture of one side. The other side looks about the same. I finally gave in and bought an STI frame which I sent to Virgil. He fit my upper to the new frame and everything appears to be good. I'll probably look into what it will cost to get the old receiver fixed. If it's less than a new receiver, I'll probably have it done and build a spare gun. Maybe a dedicated Mech-tech carbine upper. That may be fun. Now that I think about it, does the receiver take much of the recoil with a Mech-tech upper? It might be okay to run as-is. I'll have to think about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul B Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 You may get better advice from others, but I would not try to fix that kind of crack. It looks like it mirrors the trigger bow slot on the inside and may be the result of just trying to shave down the Para frame a little too much or simply a bad casting. I would probably send it back to Para and ask for a replacement. Welding it would also probably mean recutting the trigger bow channel. I have heard of this kind of crack in Paras, but none of my 5 have ever developed one. It's time for a new frame. I have actually seen this kind of crack more often in an S_I as people shave the grips down so if you take to the new one with a file be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keninaz Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 Retired frames go great with Mech-Tech CCU's. That's exactly what I did with an old shot up Springfield Armory aluminum frame. The bad news is it takes up space for a rifle in the gun safe. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sestock Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 Give Para a call they may replace the frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulm540 Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 I'm half thinking of bastardizing my Limited Para, and fitting my open top end to that gun. It's not a simple swap though. The Open gun has a Clark / Nowling feedramp. The other Para frame would have to be machined to accept the C/N barrel. I thought it was para/ clark and Wilson/ Nowlin cuts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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