need to break a weld, can I do it without damaging my heat treat?

[scythefwd]

Ok, I bought a shotgun barrel with a mis mounted rail on it. I though I would just be able to redrill the mounting holes and be good. This barrel is 1+ inches in diameter and only a 20ga, so there is a lot of steel to work with. I get the scope rail off and to my suprize, it was screwed on to a piece of steel that was welded on to the barrel.

Can I break the welds without doing damage to the heat treat? I know if I grid slow enough and with an oil bath I can probably do it... but what do the pro's say? The hole thats been tapped for the front bead is perfect, so I may just use it old school if I can get this "rail" off my barrel. I can use it that way now, but I don't like the looks of it.

 

[rcmodel]

The initial welding heat did more damage to the heat treat, if any, then just about anything you can do now grinding it off.

Just go slow and when it gets too hot to hold in your bare hands, dunk it in water and have another go at it.

Most shotgun barrels made prior to pre-steel shot, were not tempered anyway and are actually very soft steel.

rc

 

[scythefwd]

weld been broken. Gun shoots great. Love how it feels. Thanks rc. I had a master machinist take a look at it and do it.