Are you ringing it suspended with a piece of brass ?
Never rang a side by side that was dead ?
I had a W & C Scott muzzle loader that rang a like church bell with the rib visibly loose in two places...in fact after cleaning you could blow water from under one side of the rib and out the other with an air hose.
After that I don't trust the ring test as a sure sign of tite ribs....but a dead one would scare me for sure.
Years back I went to numerous gun shows looking for an L.C.Smith...never found one that rang true ? Although none were dead.
