Paintball

[Niterocker]

Greetings all.

To make a long story short, I have a classic rail that was being used with a ULE body. Now I want to go back to using it with a classic body. That means getting the barrel retaining pin back into the rail.

Banging one out with a hammer is easy...getting it to go all the way back in seems to be a little tougher. I was thinking of putting the pin in the freezer and gently heating the rail. It may not be a real "shrink fit," but might make it a little easier.

Does anyone have a good stratagy getting the pin back in?

Thanks in advance...

-Keith
(hajkowski@aol.com)

[secretweaponevan]

Originally Posted by Niterocker

Greetings all.

To make a long story short, I have a classic rail that was being used with a ULE body. Now I want to go back to using it with a classic body. That means getting the barrel retaining pin back into the rail.

Banging one out with a hammer is easy...getting it to go all the way back in seems to be a little tougher. I was thinking of putting the pin in the freezer and gently heating the rail. It may not be a real "shrink fit," but might make it a little easier.

Does anyone have a good stratagy getting the pin back in?

Thanks in advance...

-Keith
(hajkowski@aol.com)

hrrm. I would freeze the pin, but I wouldn't heat the rail. Metal expands in all directions and might make the hole smaller.

Good luck!

[Niterocker]

Originally Posted by secretweaponevan

Metal expands in all directions and might make the hole smaller.

A common misconception, but I assure you that the hole would get bigger...that much I know for a fact.

The real question is, would the expansion be enough to be helpful?

-Keith
(hajkowski@aol.com)

[secretweaponevan]

Originally Posted by Niterocker

A common misconception, but I assure you that the hole would get bigger...that much I know for a fact.

The real question is, would the expansion be enough to be helpful?

-Keith
(hajkowski@aol.com)

Thanks for pointing that out. Learn something new every day. (UW Physics Lecture Demonstrations: Heat and Thermal Physics)

I guess it couldn't hurt, unless the difference between the hot and cold was enough to cause the metal to crack.

[hmudd13]

just sit the rail on a vice, (not in) and get a hollow punch or even a small socket and bang that puppy home. Ok, not bang, tap that puppy home.

[Niterocker]

Originally Posted by secretweaponevan

Thanks for pointing that out. Learn something new every day.

I had a short stint as a physics teacher.

-Keith
(hakjowski@aol.com)

[Robertsr]

I've had a couple of real bears to get in on those twistlock pins. I have a heavy walled aluminum tube that fits over the springy part and rests on the head of the assembly that I use to whack them in with a mallet.

Never had any trouble with any I put in that way.

[olinar]

I would take the internals out of the pin before smacking it all in place.
With nothing inside the pin to keep it sturdy, It will be a little easier for it to compress into place.

Then add the internals once all is in place. I used this method a couple times and it works great.

Then again you could always just make the hold a hair bigger.

[pillage]

You can always use a vice as a press. Just place the proper size socket over the pin and compress it into place with the vice. Do place some wood in the jaws of the vice to avoid damage to your rail. I had to press in some pins this way.

[Niterocker]

Thanks for the good advice, guys.

-Keith
(hajkowski@aol.com)