km69stang Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 I have begun working on modifying a WWII era Mosin Nagant. I was taking off the front sight hood and used a brash punch I fashioned to remove the sight stud. What I did was go to Tractor Supply and buy a 1/4 inch brass rod, cut it about 6 inches long, and chuck it into mu drill press and file it down to a smaller diameter. I only filed down about 2 1/2 inches. This fit perfectly through the hole in the top of the sight hood to pound out the stud. Now, to actually remove the stud, i took a lead brick I have and drilled a 3/8 inch hole in it so to have a hole for the stud to go down into. I took the punch and started pounding on the stud. It took me a while, but that's beside the point. I bent the punch while using it. This is my question, can brass be tempered in any way, shape, or form? And if so, should I have done so before I used it? Or, what should I have done anything with the brass at all? Any insight would be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 As soon as I say it someone is say it is the other way but here goes, most non-ferrous metals are hardened by work not heat so, no there wasn't much you could do about it. I would have use a good quality steel punch that fit the hole. This is what I would have done when I was worked as a gunsmith. I had a wide number of high quality steel punches and if I didn't have one that fit the size required I ground one of my others to size and then marked it for future use as to what type of firearm I had used it on. I had a lot of specialized tools when I quit that job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Brass is sold according to hardness, full hard, half hard, quarter hard, etc. Even so, brass is kind of soft for a punch, especialy a thin one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcostello Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Brass is sold according to hardness, full hard, half hard, quarter hard, etc. Even so, brass is kind of soft for a punch, especialy a thin one. Did the reduced part need to be 2 1/2" long? Shorter would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker3 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 There are copper alloys which can be precipitation hardened, but none of the brasses are among them. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 The BeCu (beryllium copper) alloys we machine at work can be hardened. Most of the prints show 625 degrees for 2.5hrs. The brass you got was probably just too soft to begin with. You would have been better off cold forging the end down some to work harden it. When punching pins, a stubby starter punch is sometimes used. I have several that I use to get stubborn pins moving before switching to a longer punch. The other thing is to determine which direction it was originally driven in. A lot of times that end will be slightly mushroomed. Other times the ends are staked to prevent their movement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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