doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Water between ribs

I recently rust blued a barrel from a Parker Trojan and ran into some pretty bad corrosion on the exterior of the barrels near the muzzle when water from between the ribs leaked out during shipment. After rust blueing I was trying to reinstall the front sight and I snapped the post off in the rib. I couldn't get it out so I wrapped the barrel in bubble wrap, placed it in a section of 4" diameter PVC pipe with end caps and sent it off to the gunsmith that does my barrel work. The gunsmith got the post out and installed a new sight, repackaged it in the same bubble wrap and the PVC pipe and sent it back within just a couple days.

When I got it back I opened the package and to my surprise the area around the sight and the first 2 inches of both muzzles was badly corroded to the point where I had to refinish the barrels again. There was no sign of any moisture that leaked from the outside of the package in. My first thought was that the gunsmith got some liquid on the end of the barrel and then package it but after talking to him we agreed that some water got between the ribs during rust blueing and leaked out past the new sight during shipment back since the sight thread was not sealed.

So, I redid the rust blue job yesterday. I was going to put a solution of soda ash between the ribs by using a syringe and putting it through the sight hole but can't seem to get it to drain in. As of now I have the sight out and the barrel sitting muzzle down in front of a dehumidifier going full blast. I'm hoping to pull any moisture out to prevent corrosion.

One other thing. On the bottom rib there is a small round circle about the size of a small pea that looks like solder. It didn't take the blueing at all. It's silver colored and very shiney. Is this solder? Was this used to drain water in the past? Should I drill a hole through here to get the solution of soda ash in and then resolder?

Any suggestions?

This is only the second barrel I have rust blued and it came out perfect the first time. Needless to say, I was not happy when I opened the package and saw the rust and corrosion. The second rust blueing also came out pretty good and I am hoping it stays that way for a while. It sure does take a long time to do this.

If the silver spot is close to the lug it is probably the drain hole that was stopped up by some solder. I would open it and use it to it to circulate the basic solution to neutralize the acid inside.

I would suggest that the ribs need to be pulled and the barrels cleaned out under the ribs. I am reluctant to have barrels blued by gunsmiths who do not know how to lay ribs. It is a crapshoot whether there is damage inside and how much it will cost me for the gunsmith to subcontract the rib work if he runs into something he can't handle. You seem to be disappointed that the "water leaked out during shipment". Imagine the disappointment of the owner of the gun that there was water in there to leak.

I am the owner and doing this as a gift for a friend.

The silver spot is about 6" in front of the forend lug toward the muzzle. The ribs seem to be very solid.

Someone rust bluing and or composite barrel refinishing won't know postively if the barrels didn't leak. Only sure fire way of knowing is drilling a small hole up next to the barrel flats. Then actually poring a small amount of water in the hole, using compressed air blow through the hole that was drilled. You will see where if any leaks are. They can be very tiny pin holes along the rib. If no leaks the water will be blown back out through the drilled hole.
After that its a good idea to heat the barrels to evaporate any water/moisture left between the ribs.

Is neutralizing with a solution of soda ash a requirement? If I leave the barrel in front of a dehumidifier for 1-2 weeks and or heat it with a hair drier will just removing the moisture be enough? I assume the water came out of the threaded hole the sight was in. I have the sight out now to allow for evaporation. I took the sight out when rust blueing because I was not sure what the rusting solution would do to it. The barrels were boiled with the sight out so I took it for granted that's when the water got between the ribs. I thought the treaded hole was not all the way through the top rib. How does a gunsmith know the space between the barrels is dry so he can seal it again, or doesn't he seal it again?

I would make sure it has a hole through the muzzle end and blow air through the rib cavities. I would then use a water displacing agent (WD40) to flush the under rib area, then reseal the holes with a soldering iron.
bill

Most of the time, a leaking rib can be spotted the instant you drop the barrels in the boiling tank. The air between the ribs expands quickly upon being heated, and a stream of bubbles will issue forth from the point where the leak is. This only lasts for a few seconds as eventually the pressure will equalize and the bubbles stop. Also, you obviously won't see it if the space between the ribs has become completely water-filled so that no air remains (haven't run across that yet). Most of the time you drop a set of barrels into a boiling tank, the cold steel will cool the water and momentarily stop the boiling action and the bubbles can be seen briefly coming from the leaking area. It could be that the leak is just from the front sight. It won't hurt your redone bluing job to drop them back into the boiling tank for a short test to see. You don't even need to get a rolling boil going, just nearly boiling will do the job.

I simply hold the barrels slightly muzzle down and pour near boiling water on top down the length.
Any leaks will be seen as "fizzing" along the barrel/rib join as the expanding air escapes.
Completely non invasive but you might like to wear a heavy leather glove.
You would be surprised how many "sound" barrels will leak some air doing this.

GDU

CASE SOLVED!!! I drilled a weep hole in the bottom rib near the barrel flats to add a solution of soda ash to neutralize and rinse the area between the ribs. After drilling the hole I did as suggested above and applied compressed air to this hole to see if I could tell where the leak was. I FOUND IT! There is a hole in the left barrel. It is right where the small pea sized hole filled with solder on the lower rib is that I mentioned above. I suspect I got taken on this one. Someone worked on this barrel and probably knew there was a problem. You could not see the hole unless you looked really close. It look like a small blemish and the rest of the barrel and the right barrel look like a mirror.

I guess I am in the market for a new set of barrels. If you know of a set of Parker Trojan barrels that are available you can PM me at tom@watertechusa.com or call me at 414-303-1727.

What really gets my goat is that I spent 40 hours rust blueing these barrels twice. Thank god this is a hobby!