I did the lip repair with a piece of steel sheet and JB weld too.
Have shot a few hundred of rounds without any problem.
You have nothig to loose to try.
Removal of the front sight and sleeve is pretty easy with a propane torch. They are soldered with plain lead. Don't forget to remove both screws under the front post and rear sight first.
Heat and tap using a wood block with the hammer.
If you heat just enough, the bluing will not suffer.
Done...
Use 175gr cast bullet with 12-13 gr of red dot (called "the load") velocity around 1600fps, very good accuracy, actually, better than full power load. Good out to 200y.
Very economical load. Can be used with large pistol primer too.