doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Barrel Lug re-soldering?

I was shooting a few clay with my Remington 1894 this weekend and after about 35 shots of so, my gun would not open. eventually i did get it to open only to see that my barrel lug had slid back about 1/8 inch or so. of course the gun is way off face now, about 1/8 inch.
i am waiting for a few smiths to call me back with quotes, but wanted to see if anyone here has had this repaired before and what it cost them.

also, after a little research i read about the low temp silver solder being used for this so that the solder on the rib and barrel is not compromised. any thoughts on this?

not sure of how difficult a repair this is, but i am trying to find the oldest, codgeriest smith around hoping that they may have done similar repairs in the past.

Hi,. I'm not am expert but I'm pretty sure that silver solder would still require enough heat to compromise the lead solder on ribs etc. If the barrels are wired tight and heatsinks were used I'm sure that a gunsmith with knowledge and experience would be able to repair the gun.
It's just a thought about the temperatures involved , I'm sure someone in the know will read your post and be able to give you more help.

Shouldn't the lumps have been brazed in place? If the lumps were originally brazed, fairly certain the ribs, lump, and forend hangar will have to be stripped and relaid. Don't think you can braze something in place and not jack up the solder holding everything else together. Sounds like an expensive job.

Contact Brad Bachelder, a master gunmaker in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's done a lot of work for me and my friends and always does top notch work. And he stands behind it. He can answer all your questions and do any repairs necessary. No phone calls on Monday - tell him Paul sent you. 1-616-459-3636.

Sounds like what we in the UK refer to as a rebraze lump. Not a simple job I'm afraid . The barrels need to be taken completely apart ,all the old brass/silver solder cleaned off ,rebrazed the ribs relayed and blacked . That's the simple part . Bear in mind the original the barrels would have been brazed together then machined ready for jointing the barrel into the action body . When re brazing no matter how careful you are there is no guarantee that every thing will go back together precisely so that the barrel may not fit the action as it did before . It is down to the skill of whom ever does the re jointing to get it as close as possible . Over all and speaking from the experience of having done a fair few of these it is not a job to be taken on by some one who has had no previous experience and I will only take such a job on, on the understanding the the out come may not be perfect . You do not have proof to contend with but even so if the barrels are not in reasonable condition I would consider the gun to be beyond reasonable repair .

That's gonna require someone pretty clever to re-establish the proper relationship of the underlug to the breachface of the barrels. That seems to me to be the difficult task. Figure that out, and the issue of the ribs is easy.

The entire barrel assembly needs to be fixtured or wired together during the process, IMO.

If silver brazing was used, refinishing will be required.

Just a thought, but Dewey Vicknair www.VicknairRestorations.com had posted some pics about how he built a fixture for holding barrels and ribs together during rib soldering. His fixture might work for this task. You might give him a try.

I love that barrel jig/holder. Fantastic.

The bbl lug itself (lumps) is loose,,,the top rib extension,,or the forend lug on the bbls?

Big difference in repair technique & the bill.

Keith Kearcher will do that very reasonably.

And with luck, it may even hold up!