doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Browning saltwood guns

Does Browning do anything to remediate saltwood guns? Recently saw a very OE Diana with all the earmarks of saltwood and wondered if there was anything to be done about it.

DDA

I do NOT know if Browning still does salt gun work?

I have heard that Browning will restock salt wood guns. However, they will charge you full price unless you can prove you are the original owner. The warrenty was not transferable.

http://artsgunshop.com/Video/Salt1/videoPlayer.htm

http://artsgunshop.com/Salt/Salt_Article-Page-1.htm
http://artsgunshop.com/Video/SaltIntro/videoPlayer.htm

Skeettx is right. The guarantee was ONLY for original owners, and it's been a long time since the problem.

Skeettx will get a kick out of this: While working in a Cabela's in a gun library; we took in trade a 20 gauge superposed with gorgeous XXXX wood that had been oil finished. The metal, however showed wear, so the manager sent it to Arts Gun Shop in Missouri, with crystal clear instructions to refurbish the metal, but to leave the wood alone.
A few days later, he received an invoice which indicated a refinish on the wood would cost $xxxx. He CALLED them and said
"Don't TOUCH the wood." A few weeks later, here it came. The metal was like a brand new gun......and they had put a gloss finish on the wood!! The Manager is not a cussin' guy......but wow was he frustrated. The wood was still beautiful, but not as pretty to our eyes as it had been.

WOW!! I have had NOTHING but the BEST service from Art's

A few words about Browning Salt guns; From 1967-1969, ANY Browning gun should be assumed to be a salt gun candidate. A silver nitrate test will tell for sure, but you can view the metal-wood abuttment areas and look for tell-tale rust. If the wood finish is VERY crazed, assume salt. If the gun has a buttplate, back the screws out and check for rust. If not, it only means the butt is salt free, not the wrist or forearm. These are all well accepted Rules of Thumb. Silver Nitrate is the "acid" test, pun intended.

As for the Superposed, I have read several times in a few forums, that if a Super is a Long Tang Round Knob, it is assumed to be Salt Free. Consensus is the Salt cured blanks all went to the "new" Short Tang and Flat Knob guns. I have a 1966 Pigeon, LTRK, that is salt free, even though it is considered to be in the beginning of the Salt Era.

Hope this helps.

FWIW, I have never seen a Superlight from those years with a salt problem. I have four of them and they are all problem free. I did have a '68 Lightning RKST that I did send to Browning to re-reblue and restock due to the salt problem. They charged me half the normal price and did a really fine job. However, this was nearly 20 years ago��...

Scotty; I have been told the same thing, and I have never seen a RKLT that had the rust/salt problem either.

The gun was an excellence of service presentation from a corporation. The current owner inherited from his father. What is the recommended course of action to best preserve it?

DDA

Would there be any merit in trying to seal all the inletting with some penetrating epoxy or something similar?

I would say no. A friend of mine had a saltwood .375 H&H Safari grade rifle & completely epoxy bedded the action & bbl in an attempt to stop the rusting w/o success. He ended up restocking it in a fiberglass stock.

I really don't understand why a full epoxy bedding job didn't work but in this case it didn't help stop the rusting.