doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Striking Barrels?

How realistic is striking 2-4 oz's off a set of barrels? I have no idea (because I've never done it) is that a 4 hour job, an 8 hour job, or longer? Not talking taking the barrels apart, striking the barrels and then relaying the ribs. Just striking the top/side/bottom (I guess). Figure some of those on this forum have certainly done it to remove deep pits, reduce barrel weight etc. Thanks and Happy 4th.

I am doing something related to this right now.
The honest answer to your query is, "I don't know", unless you take alot of measurements, and then figure out the volume of material that your barrels can safely have removed.
That's the honest true answer.
Whether someone else accomplished this, unless you have their barrel measurements to compare to yours, is not safely reliable.
Safety first in all shotgun things.

I am re-profiling a set of Ithaca Flues 32" FxF barrels to the approximate profile of a pigeon gun from 1920.
The maximum answer should not be determined by target barrel weight.
The answer should be determined by safety (minimum wall thickness) and then swing dynamics.

We know a great deal about barrel machining, and we we know that historically, the limiting factor was the combined effect of concentricity and wall thickness.

This is how I am proceeding with my "Chicken Gun" barrels.
I started with measuring the barrels. I had a local machine shop do this for me.
They laid out off of an imaginary line central to the bores. They provided me with concentricity, and wall thickness measurements at every inch, starting 5" from the breech. I elected 3 points at each segment. Top, side, and bottom.
That information drawn lifesize on a piece of roll paper showed me what I have for each tube.

My plan, before I was hospitalized, was to recontour the barrels to the shape of an H&H pigeon gun. I have the wall thickness measurements (sans concentricity measurements)of a nice example, and wanted to see if I could produce similar handling dynamics from an old Fluesie.
In the measurements, I found that my original barrels were bored approximately round, were relatively concentric, and that they showed areas where impact had altered concentricity. (repaired dents)

The next step is to choose surface grinding or filing to produce the taper. I believe surface grinding will get me closest, fastest, but there is something about the slip of the file.

My illness has delayed my next efforts, but I should be done with it by Sept.

Probably 2-3 hours,but I would be shocked if over 1-2 oz would be removed if it is a heavy barrel and deeply pitted.Some of the ones I have struck had metal removed only in grams.

Stallones, Would you characterize your work as "cosmetic" or working toward a different profile ?
Unlike rifle forums, we don't see alot of threads on this aspect of shotgun modification and repair here.

I'd like to buy a set of 20ga tubes from PeterDyson if this project works out.

Cosmetic for me to prepare for browning or blueing

A mathematician better than I could sit down and calculate the mass of removed metal using a calculator or some paper and ink. Maybe someone could figure that out for Tut. Since the wall thickness and outside diameter varies along the barrel, the calculations should probably be done in four inch sections. If the wall thickness is fairly even for the last 18 inches or so, it may be easier to take metal from the inside rather than the outside and hand strike the thicker breech section on the outside. A 20 gauge Fox gun should be able to lose quite a bit of thickness at the breech since 16 gauge barrels are fitted to the same action. The breech balls could be reduced to match the struck barrel breeches.

Tut, check out the stock and forearm on the Turner shotgun, gunsinternational.com item #100097211.

Now that is unusual indeed. That would certainly lighten the front end for sure.

weight reduction from striking the outside seems like a lot of work. Buy a different gun.

Assuming a lot. Iron,490lbs/cu.ft--4.5oz/cu.in,open circumference average (12 ga) --2in.; length --30 in.Then for each .001 in. removal--.06 cu.in or about .25 oz/barrel.So,to get 1 oz, both barrels need to lose .002 in. open area full length.That is if I kept all the decimals in the right place."Damm the decimal point" said the engineer as the bridge fell down.Chuck H is the cautious engineer,just get a different bridge.