A Couple of Dans; 1 to go

[Rob112o]

Really not a bad place to carve your name. I'm not saying it should be done. But, if...you know it's gonna be yours forever, which that owner didn't, it's not a bad place.
   Get that rear sight off. Looks like it may have been attempted or removed and put back on at some point.

[Yng@hrt]

Really not a bad place to carve your name. I'm not saying it should be done. But, if...you know it's gonna be yours forever, which that owner didn't, it's not a bad place.
   Get that rear sight off. Looks like it may have been attempted or removed and put back on at some point.

Can you be more specific about what you are referring to with regards to the rear sight? Maybe a pic that shows the difference? Or maybe explain what you notice on this one that isn't correct?

[Rob112o]

On the pic of the rear sight you can see the sight is moved off/forward of the wedges slightly. From factory it would be flush with each other. The rear sights are notorious to causing barrel separation. The legs on the sight are forcing those wedges into the soldered joint. Which can and does cause the tube to start being pried off the tube. You can remove and relieve the clamping force of the rear sight. Than reattach to rifle.

[Yng@hrt]

Okay. I'll take a look at it.

Thanks Rob.

[Yng@hrt]

Decided to give "Val" her own thread; http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=121824.new#new

[avator]

On the pic of the rear sight you can see the sight is moved off/forward of the wedges slightly. From factory it would be flush with each other. The rear sights are notorious to causing barrel separation. The legs on the sight are forcing those wedges into the soldered joint. Which can and does cause the tube to start being pried off the tube. You can remove and relieve the clamping force of the rear sight. Than reattach to rifle.

Mind you, this is not the case with all Sheridans. If it were all would have separations. None of mine have separation and trust, I'm just not that lucky. Have a look at the functions of a Sheridan... especially one that gets pumped to the max or over pumped repeatedly. Unless you're the original owner you just dont' know. Holding the gun by the wrist of the stock and pumping 6,7,8 or even more stresses all kinds of places.... even the solder. I would think over pumping in general is more likely to stress closer to the front end of the gun. Some original Dans came with the handguard suggesting the recommended position to grip the gun when pumping. Just seems to me that any separation caused by the rear sight of a gun that has been properly used would have happened when the sight was originally installed. Also, solder don't adhere good to "dirty" surfaces, hence flux. I work in a mass production environment and things do get past QC. Lots of variables.

[TimmyMac1]

My observation has been guns left in a place where the temp swings are major are most at risk. Factors adding to the separation would be strength of the original joint and the tightness of the rear sight. The lead in stained glass windows needs redoing every 75-80 years because lead fractures and flows over time depending on the stresses it sees.
I would always pull it off and stretch it so it is only tight enough to stay in place. You don't know how tight it is on until you try to get it off.
Solder joints are less structurally solid the bigger the gap is the solder is taking up. Tube and barrel butted up perfect being less likely to fail.
I also noticed that all the joints I need to REDO seem to have far too much solder used which makes me think they were not done well in the first place. When I clamp them with solder flowing they squirt the excess out. Many tube and barrels were not touching. The jig that held the parts when they were induction welded was not set-up correctly when the parts do not mate well.
At the end of the day it was the second dumbest thing Sheridan EVER did when they designed that rear sight. The 6 screw scope mount they made was the dumbest thing they ever did because it also separated the barrel from tube by all the mount screws terminating in the solder joint. They should have learned. It happens after 25-30 years. Faith won't keep it from happening.
Ray Katt used the "over pumped line" regularly to the Solder joint failures. I sent him a separated model F CO2 rifle with a note "someone must of overpumped this one too".
I think when you have a gun with a bad joint, tight sight & lots of heat cycles it does not have a chance. If you have two of the three above you will eventually need Dr JB or TimmyMac1.
The sight was A STUPID DESIGN and Crosman could care less. The factory parts time out way before most joint failures.
It really is only a problem for the folks who want stuff to last for decades, like it can. That would be my customers.
I'd use the JB to glue the rear sigh on so you don't ever need to use it for the joint!
Wait. I solder these things. Forget what I said. Take the sight off and bend it tighter and refit. What was I thinking?
TimmyMac1