Challenge

NCP Products has manufactured firearms for trap shooting since 1991. Traditionally, guns have been assembled using silver solder, requiring heat for 15-20 minutes at 1100°F. Such high heat can distort and warp a gun barrel, requiring a labor-intensive, hand-straightening process.

It is this hand-straightening that prevents a uniform concentricity from one barrel to the next. This, in turn, may cause different shooting patterns from gun to gun – even from the same manufacturer. Sometimes, a shooting pattern can vary as much as 6-8" in pattern height.

NCP Products Owner, Dennis DeVault, wanted to create an assembly process that would maintain barrel-to-barrel integrity – where every gun he manufactured shot the same pattern.

Solution

Working as a member of the NCP design team, Loctite provided the right technology and assembly methods to help them achieve their goal.

• Loctite 620, an anaerobic retaining compound is used to bond the steel barrel to the mono-block construction. No fixture or heat is needed since Loctite 620 is cured by the exclusion of oxygen with simultaneous metal contact. This is achieved by simple assembly.
• Loctite 620 is also used to bond the fore end hanger onto the barrel (steel to steel) and to bond the rib hanger connection around the muzzle end. Traditionally, the industry had been silver soldering these joints, as well.
• Loctite 262, a high-strength threadlocker is used to lock the tang bolt onto the receiver which holds the stock into the back of the gun. Loctite 262 is also used on the locating button, which locates the stock into its position to prevent rotation.
• The in-line trigger design housed in bearings. The striker is inside ceramic bearings which are held in place with Loctite 290 Threadlocker. The exterior of the bearings is primed with Primer T, prior to installation.
• On the front end of the forearm is a wear and guide busing for the fore end hanger pushrod. It is held in place with Loctite Fast Cure Epoxy.