doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com So here's a dandy of a problem/project....

FWIW, I have read somewhere (don't ask me where) that some one (don't ask me who) who worked at the factory had stated that the top rib was actually glued on at the factory on the 1968-1971 L. C. Smiths. Some kind of brown glue IIRC.

I believe it. I almost posted in an earlier response that I suspected that might have been the case. There is absolutely zero evidence that solder was ever present on this gun. If there was, the person who did the previous repair was meticulous about cleaning everything up, which would be a lot of work for someone who planned to use silicone for the final repair. Right? I think I'll ask about this on the smith site, also.

Kutter, post #304563, this forum
Okay, I can't search by post # either, and since I never have figured out how to copy with my tablet, just search for "glue rib", go to page 5 of the results, and look for Kutter's post "re Smith" on 12/15/12.

There were two types of ribs on the Marlin era L.C. Smith's, one was aluminum (Polychoke) on the Field Grades and steel (Simmons) on the Deluxe Field Grade. I don't think the steel one was glued on.
There were 189 Deluxe's made and the serial numbers started at 100000.

Many thanks, fellas. Very good information. Glad I didn't ruin the gun by having it "properly" repaired. LOL

David, those deluxe grades show up about as often as the gladiators. I've seen one of each, none in person.

I took my RBL up to CSMC for a repair and in talking to one of the guys there I was told that they epoxy the ribs on some of their OU's. He told me what model but I don't remember. He said that some of these epoxys are stronger than solder and handle the heat better. So maybe this is the future of barrel joining.

im glad most of the guns on this BB are older rust blued, tinned rib, sxs. mabe epoxy belongs on RBL lunch models,or CSMC overunders. not classic SXS.mc