doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Chamber Porting!!

I received permission to post these images here. A Baker Paragon in for refinishing discovered to have a hole drilled through the middle serial number, through the extractor rod channel and into chamber, then filled with soft solder. And to the owner's knowledge shot extensively thereafter!!

hmm, an attempt at a blow out plug, like the better muzzle loading doubles once had?

off course they did not release into the foreend and your hand.

Wow that is different. Given it is continued to be shot something more than soft solder may be in order and full length brass shells (RMC) might also be in order. I am not sure I would shoot it, then again I might.

That said it is a testement to the many unexpected things encountered with old guns, and further to the reality of what is being shot out there knowingly and otherwise.

If this "repair" has held up with soft solder all these years I'd be inclined to Tig weld the hole shut and be done with it. To me it's not much worse than an inclusions(voids)in a Damascus barrel. It these were fatal half of the shooters would be nicknamed "Stubby" today.
Jim

Drew, any idea as to why the hole was drilled?
Mergus

I have seen this done when there was an early smaller gauge chamber insert--there was a screw to hold the insert in place, which as later filled when the insert was removed.

Possibility?

Berrien

Mergus: the current owner had no knowledge of the hole.

Berrien, your thought really makes sense.

That would require that the hole be threaded I think, no?

I wonder.....a small hole like that, if it is smooth, how much of a threat would it be? Intuitively, I'd guess the risks it presents would be negligible. Sure would like a well qualified engineer to do some stress calculations and report his findings.

Not saying this one was engineered, but I think some newer autoloaders use chamber ports to regulate the cycling of different shells. This set up might not work too well for a chamber insert if it has to work with the extractor?

Can't tap off gas in the chamber... there's a shell in there and you would be blowing a hole in it.

Autos tap gas a good bit further down the barrel.

They vary in design, some use a higher pressure point than others.

Regulation for different loads is accomplished by what amounts to a 'waste gate' of some sort. Above a certain pressure, the gas is vented.

My first thought was the barrels might have been considered scrap and someone wanted to pressure test loads, accessing the chamber pressure through that hole. Dunno.

Take a peek at the new Remington. It looks like longer shells block gas from being tapped off, and it doesn't seem like it damages any of the fired hulls. I not planning on getting one of these guns, but it just looked like an example of where chamber porting might not be so dangerous.

I shall, thanks for the tip.

So, what is the surface area of the soldered up hole in percent of a square inch...times psi should give the pressure on the solder during firing?

Yes, but it's the area not the percent, because both units are in square inches. So the force is going to be pretty small. The force on a 1/16" hole would be about 32 pounds at 10,500 psi chamber pressure. The new Remington VersaMax uses a series of gas ports in the chamber area such that different length shells close off different numbers of the ports to regulate the gas being bled off to run the action. Works quite well and the plastic hulls are strong enough they do not get damaged.

Just what I was getting at Virginian, I just didn't write it as plain as you. I also didn't run the numbers but thought it would be somewhat small. Thanks.