Can a aluminum frame be repaired?
The frame on a sig 228 has a small chunk missing at the mag button.  The mag button looks like it would not stay in.  It now is in a left handed mag button configurations.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=525689488

If I was a betting man I'd say Sig has already told the owner of that pistol to pound sand.  Your only really viable option is to see if Sig will replace the frame.  Otherwise you CAN repair that frame but it will be very expensive.  I'm a gunsmith and I'd start my quote at $400.00.  So you'd be into that pistol way too much.  I would pass on that one.

copy that
thank you sir

You need a very good MIG/TIG welder to fill in the defect.
You then machine in back to flush and bore the hole again.

PITA to do 'one' off' on someone else's gun but not especially difficult.

Getting an exact reading on what type of aluminum is often the tough part.

How old is it? SIG may cover it under warranty as it's most probably a factory defect, not something that's the result of wear and tear.

I doubt that many firearms break in that area unless dropped.

Actually this is not a factory defect and Sig will not fix it as a warranty item.  If I recall seeing the pics when this thread started last year (which are no longer up on gunbroker), someone very likely attempted to swap the mag release incorrectly and then tried forcing it out under pressure to "fix" their screw up, hence breaking off a portion of the frame in the process.  

There have been a ton of threads on various gun owner websites from folks who assembled a mag catch incorrectly and posted about it BEFORE trying to pound it out...and a few who tried to pound it out with shall we say disastrous results (i.e. broke a chunk off their frame.).

I think one guy sent it back to Sig (with the mag release incorrectly installed, but not a chunk broken out of the frame) and they fixed it for $199.  Another person on the sig owners website showed how you can fix the screw up yourself using a set of feeler gauges.

Unfortunately I don't believe Sig (unlike Glock) will sell you a replacement frame, so if you go the home gunsmithing route and fail in the process, you're out of luck....



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One of the problems with aluminum frames is that the manufacturers each seem to have their own specific alloy for the metal.

It makes it a PITA to figure out what to use for rode and fill material.

You can be off a little but not a lot.

Most aluminum frames these days are 7075 T6.  There are very few companies that deviate from what is basically the best aluminum alloy for firearms applications.  But there are a couple out there who do something different.