doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Resoldering barrels

All 3 ribs and the fore end iron are done together, at the same time.

pacomb,
I suggest you work both ribs at the same time (at least wire both), to prevent loosening one while working on the other.
Mike,

Well, I have to say I am very happy with the outcome after my first attempt.

The lower rib was full of holes and broken, and I thought it would be better to build one. I am not aware of anyone making and selling ribs, so I made my own. I got 1m of a rectified bar of 10mm x 3mm. I needed 8x2 mm, so I first reduced it from 10 to 8 on the milling machine, thanks to the perfectly square sides. Then I reduced from 3mm to 2mm. Finally, I made a temp jig to position the bar at 120º to make chamfers on the sides so it would have better contact with the barrels.





Then, the soldering process began....

I first tinned all the parts, both ribs, and the barrels. All the surfaces were sanded, and old rust was removed. I used a strong acid flux and 50/50 solder, as my previous attempts with 60/40 were not successful. Using some pliers and steel wool soaked in flux, it was very easy to create a perfectly tinned surface. All tinned surfaces were cleaned with washing soap to remove all traces of the acid flux. If you leave residues, rust can form internally.



Ribs were positioned using iron wire and horse nails. Finding pure iron wire (not zinc-coated or galvanized) was impossible, but nearby construction works had it and gave me a few meters. Zinc-coated wire can be contaminated. Also finding horse nails was a challenge; 20 of them cannot be obtained in the middle of the city. After some calls to my friends who do horse riding, one could get me a bunch of nails. Horse nails have a perfect shape to tighten the wire






I used rosin flux, which has no acid residue (and a nice smell). It was not easy to get the correct translation in Spanish until I found it is a pine resin called "colofonia." Luckily a bag was very cheap. I spread some powder all over the joints.

Used a butane/propane torch gas, which has a great temperature. Slowly heating until the temperature was reached at which the 50/50 wire would melt just from my touching the metal. Finding the 50/50 solder was difficult and not cheap; no shop would have it, but I managed to find it online. The difference between 50/50 and 60/40 was incredible. Thanks for the people that encouraged me to find it.

I first soldered the top side; once happy, I turned the barrel and made the lower part. As I always had the bar with some inclination, solder will flow with gravity, and excess will just drip.

https://files.catbox.moe/8gczfa.mp4








I had a moment of crisis when I found the forend attachment would not fit, as the latch on the barrel had moved a few mm, so I had to repeat the process 3 times. Also, I noticed the lower rib had inclined respect from the barrels...

All in all, the barrels were soldered, and the moment of truth came with the bell proof... holding the barrels and gently tapping with the screwdriver handle to find a nice bell sound or a dull sound that means the barrel is not correctly soldered. Luckily the sound was a sweet bell sound.

https://files.catbox.moe/14occz.mp4

Lastly, I used a sharp chisel to remove all traces of solder and started the process of sanding the barrels prior to bluing, which is a process I have never made and still need to learn.

https://files.catbox.moe/tk1gzw.mp4






Hope this resume helps others...

If you have comments on how I can improve, please share

great work! thanks for sharing such a detailed description with pictures

Thank you for posting the results of your rib relaying project. It looks great and it was interesting to hear what it took to get the job done.

Wonderful narrative and pics. Your generosity in posting all this is greatly appreciated by me.

I enjoy doing such projects myself and I just eat up the techie stuff like this.

I almost hate to ask, but what consideration was given to regulation of the barrels before soldering?

Short answer: none…..

Before removing the ribs, I clamped both tubes very tight, fitting copper sheet not to scratch the bore, and taking care not to move the clamp….

This was a scratch shotgun,and my goal was learning to resolver…. Once soldered and shot, if any problem I may learn to regulate

I learned a lot reading this and other forums, all the videos I posted on my first messages, and some books. I am not discovering the wheel, but I though I could encourage others to do barrel soldering with my experience and findings

pacomb,
Good for you, keep doing whatever works for you, even if it differs from something any of us advise. You might ask your "construction" friends about hardened cut nails (used to fasten wood to concrete), they are also tapered similar to horseshoe nails, but a more even taper. We called them "case hardened", but I think they were " through hardened"; that is not important for your use, what is important is that they are cut, flat, and tapered. Cut nails for hardwood floors may also be helpful to you.
Mike

Mike, do you have a photo I can have as an example??