doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com re-blue a set of Husky barrels

Hello,

I have rust blued a few sets of double shotgun barrels with pretty good results.
Last evening I came across something I have never see before:

On all the other barrels I have done, they either had no barrel swivels or they were soldered to the under-rib.

The set on my Husky 310 have the swivel screwed to the rib. I removed the swivel prior to rinsing and when I rinsed the barrels in hot water to prep them for rusting I noticed water weeping out of the two holes.

How do I proceed from here?? I took a hair drier and dried out the rib. There is no water in them now. (I had removed the water,) (edited 07/17/15)

Do I try and plug the holes or what??

Thanks,

tunes

Tunes,
This is going to be a little extra work.I think there are at least two ways to proceed. One way is to drill another hole in the bottom rib,near the lugs,and tap it for a plug screw.Then after boiling,remove the barrels so that the holes are on the underside to keep the water weeping from between the ribs away from visible areas of the barrels.I usually polish the area around the lugs bright anyway.The other way and the way I think I would go; dry the water between the ribs and plug the holes with "slave" screws sealed with loc tite(removeable).Then proceed as usual. Either way, when the work is done and oiled,blow out any residual water(compressed air)and oil the area under the ribs. On more than one occasion, I watched my German gunsmith friend do this by "worrying" a length of cotton string into the area with a scribe and compressed air.When he finally got it in,he saturated it with Balistol and pluged the hole with a screw(the main reason for loose comming ribs is rust under the ribs).
Mike

Heat the barrels with a heat gun or torch so the water will evaporate. Then you can plug the holes with the sealed screws or seal the holes with pieces of shot. The compressed air into the holes can also show pin hole rib leaks that can cause spotting.

Be careful using a heat gun or torch. It's pretty easy to pop a rib loose. Better to use a hair dryer or set them out in the hot summer sun.

Clean, clean, clean. Water coming out of the weep holes, pin holes or swivel holes during rust blueing is not a problem if it is clean water. I use clean compressed air to blow out excess water after boiling.