[m1ahunter]

Ok first of all thanks to everyone for their responses to my last post .
Especialy Rooster who was a great help in his remarkable response time to a PM I sent him, hopefully I will be getting an op rod guide from him soon . Next ? I would like to unitize my gas cylinder, as money is tight
could I try the spot weld method on my own? I work at the local Meineke shop and have access to a mig welder and feel quite confident in my welding skills however I dont know exactly where the welds should be placed. Any one have pics of a welded unit or advice on wether I should even attempt to do this at all. As always thanks again to the great group of guys on this forum.


M1awolf

 

[TEA]

AFAIK, you need to use a TIG welder. I asked my brother, who is currently a regional supervisor for "customer satisfaction" for Mazda USA (read, super-mechanic) and used to run his own shop and still works on cars, including doing some welding now and then, on a regular basis. He's been welding since he was 12 and is pretty proficient. He said that even with a TIG welder he'd be uncomfortable doing the job for me, as there would be a fairly good chance of warping the gas cylinder unless you've done quite a few to get the hang of it. I also spoke with a gun smith in my area that used to do these out of his shop, he said they weren't too hard once you got the technique down, but expect to ruin a few learning how. He used a barrel stub to hold everything in place while he did the welding to reduce the possiblility of warping the gas cylinder.

 

[NoExpert]

I'd go with a shim kit for $11.95 shipped from Fulton Armory. I don't think you could go wrong there.

 

[mysticplayer]

Help from the North

Here is a link that should help you and others on this board. It is to our Canadian site where we play with M1A and M305's.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/viewforum.php?f=10

You can most certainly unitize the gas system with a mig welder. you want a tack welf at 10, 2 and 6 oclock when looking from the muzzle. Suggest you leave the rifle in the stock when doing this to ensure that everything is in alignment.

Don't weld a long bead, just a 1/4" tack is plently and let things cool between welds. Takes a second to do.

Good luck...

Jerry