doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com I destroyed a Spanish SxS. Need advice on repair

So.... I used a no name spanish sidelock as a "trunk gun" for years and years.... The perfect SxS to hand to a friend's kid that you were taking out. No engraving, straight grain wood, case coloring long gone... You get the idea...

Well, I left it in a breakdown case for a few days and apparently a wall unit air conditioner condensed the wall and let moisture into the case.

Quite confident the case now has a cure for cancer judging by what's growing in there.

Action looked like it had been left at the bottom of the ocean for a few centuries.

Here's where everything stands:

1) Gun's value was only $700-800.
2) I've scrubbed the action, trigger and trigger guard and gotten it back to very servicable condition.
3) The barrels have external pitting where the forend attached.
4) Barrels have surface rust as well.

Here's the question for my esteemed friends....

Can I get the barrels polished and reblued or do I risk making them too thin?

If I can give it a shot, how much does this type of service go for?

Thanks!

I would have someone competent measure the depth of the worst pits and calculate the wall thickness that would remain after polishing them out, and go from there. Take the (hopefully knowledgeable) advice of said 'smith regarding it's safety margin after striking the barrels smooth.

Since it is a relatively low value gun you may want to consider striking the barrels and polishing/rust bluing them yourself to keep costs down. Since it's a beater/loaner I would even consider a top end cold blue application and resign myself to occasional touch up when it wears thin. I certainly wouldn't advocate this approach if it had any more value than a no-name trunk gun. JMO, others may disagree.

Josh:
I believe Gary D. has it. For a Spanish of this value, any professional service is a net loss. If you want to clean the tubes, get a Flex Hone from Brownells. Order some Oxpho-Blue Creme while you're at it and use it on the (cleaned and polished) barrels.

Chances are the Spanish barrels are thick enough to take a light clean/hone safely.

With your own labour, you'll have a presentable gun again for under $100.

Best, Kensal

If it's a 12 gauge you can use a power drill and an automotive brake cylinder hone (with a couple of drill bit extensions wrapped in vent tape at the junctions) to clean out the inside of the barrels. Make sure you use lots of oil inside the barrels when you spin the hone. After you've honed the barrels take a cleaning rod tipped with a 12 gauge wire brush, wrap it in steel wool and dip it in automotive polishing compound (the orange paste), next chuck it to your power drill and run it up and down inside the barrels for awhile to polish them. When you're done the barrels will be shiny and bright inside again.
Steve

Re: Rockdoc's cleaning suggestions; if you hone out a couple of thousands in the barrels without honing the chokes, you'll also tighten the degree of your chokes. If you do clean up the choke areas, be carefull as you could also change the pattern placement of the barrels.

George,
The brake hone really doesn't remove metal very quickly, yes it works well on brake cylinders because they're typically cast iron but it really doesn't remove metal very quickly from steel gun barrels. I wish a brake hone was more efficient, the first time I tried this method it was on an extremely pitted Crescent hammer gun. I honed and honed and honed and never did get all the pitting out. I've found it's mainly good for just very light pitting. I've also used it useful for polishing chambers to help ease shell removal. Between using a brake hone and a bore brush wrapped in steel wool and dipped in rubbing compound you can make a chamber really slippery! It's cool to be able to just turn the gun barrels upside down and have the shells drop out.
Steve

Thanks very much guys. I'm going to give it a go myself. Worst that can happen is I have really cool paperweight sidelock action.

Great advice all around.

Brownell's sells a hone made for guns. Or you can get the inside honed for about $200 at Skeet's gunshop. If it's not on the inside, you're steps ahead. Polishing and reblueing on the outside isn't going to remove a whole lot of metal, but it may leave some pits...blued pits, which isn't so bad.

I've used Oxypho blue, also from Brownell's, for good (the best cold blue I've used) results. Got to degrease the barrels first, of course. Fingernail polish remover works great.

Joshua: I'm just kind of shocked by how much damage can happen in such a short time! Obviously, we're all anxious to learn from your story. I know that storage in cases can cause trouble, but just what kind of case was this, and what was the connection with the A/C unit? Thanks. TT

Agreed, i was pretty shocked by the damage too.

The gun was in a toe under canvas and leather case from jeff's outfitters.

The case was next to a wall that had an in-wall air conditioner unit. Over the period of a few days that had really high highs and moderate lows, the wall had some light condensation on it. When it got hot again, I'm guessing that the condensation evaporated but got in the case a bit. Think of what happens to a half full water bottle when you leave it in a hot car for a few hours when you're out shooting skeet, and you'll get the idea......

Good lesson learned if nothing else. If it had happened to my Ken Hurst custom sporting clays gun, I would've shot the air conditioner with a 10ga....

The pitting is on the outside of the barrels. Which tool is best to polish the exterior of barrels best?

Thanks again everyone.