doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Tig welding pits.

I've seen posts from people that thought about having pits on the outside of barrels tig welded. Has anyone actually had it done? If so, please send me some info on how it turned out and who did it. I have a very nice cape gun that has a lot of shallow pitting on the outside of the barrels. Rifle barrel is steel and the shotgun barrel is damascus.

Mike,
Check with SKB here, he has a good TIG guy.

Thanks Yeti.

Mike,
I actually do my own tig work. I have a machine that is much better than I am, I am improving dramatically though. In the past I have been hesitant to do this type of cosmetic welding. I weld the hook when tightening up guns often, and have made some very good repairs to broken vent ribs. I understand that cleaning the pits all the way to the bottom is the key to getting clean welds on a pitted surface. Mike, is the pitting too deep to restrike the barrels? I know Oscar used a guy to weld damascus shotgun barrels.....I'm not that confident in my abilities yet. The new tig machines are incredible....I bought my machine 2 years ago for 2500$ and the salesman told me that a digitally controled unit like mine, 5 years previous was over 20K! The machines nowdays are amazing. As to the gun, any pics?
Steve

Scuze, he am a tig guy.

I think that too much metal would have to removed if struck.

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=499576&c=544&z=1"][/url]

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=499577&c=544&z=1"][/url]

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=499578&c=544&z=1"][/url]

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=499579&c=544&z=1"][/url]

that is some deep pitting....the right barrel is the rifle? What caliber? There may be enough wall to spare. awful deep though.
Steve

Steve I think that its a .450 x 3 1/4". Thats what the cast tells me anyway. It was sold as an 8.5mm.

Bill G. did some welding for me and his work is excellent. However........it wasn't pitting, but a crack. Might try him.
Take Care,

The question is - why did you come by that bugger.
Those shallow pits are really craters, think of the barrel work ahead of you laddie.

Is there some who does weld damascus? Does any one contact information?

Pete

Glenn Fewless of this board knows a man who can lazer weld the crack for you. PerhapsGlenn will see this and reply. Or, give me a call and I'll look up his number for you. Ken

Mike,

Meffert made some very nice guns but when you said 'a lot' of pitting you werent' kidding.....

Hopefully someone will chime in, but I am sure you are going to have to draw file the barrel after welding. A pit or two could be filed out without doing the entire barrel but not what you pictured IMO.

I have gun out for renovation with some exterior pitting but no where near what you have. I don't have the pricing in front of me, but as I remember it was $15-1600 to weld, file and reblue my barrel set. I suspect you would be looking at a good bit more money.

You are smart enough to know what you were getting into so I am guessing you got this gun for a song.

Stored in a damp case?

That's what I think Utah. Unfortunatly I didnt get it for a song. I bought it off of an auction site in Germany. The person that I took the description to was born and raised in Germany for 25 years, but she had no knowledge of firearms. She told me it was a double rifle with an extra set of shotgun barrels. I'll now have to eat it and use it. It should actually be a very handy gun.

I have no idea how many linear feet of rod I have TIG'd into guns, but I would not touch this one. It is just too hosed up. Even if you find someone who would tackle it, it would just be the beginning of your expendatures on this gun. It would be quite a talley of reciepts by the time it looked better. And even then I doubt if I woul dshoot it. But of course all of this is based on a few pics and having to assume what it would look like in my hands and torn apart. How do the inside of the tubes and inside of the action look?

I am really sorry to hear about the buying circumstances, as it seems impossible to get your money back. Did you have any pics of it before buying? THis is kinda scaring me a little. I have a buddy in Germany and he sent me some cool links to places that sell guns in Germany. This definietly will make me more cautious if I ever do try to buy one from the sites.

Marc the bores are in great shape. I could see a few pits from the photo that was posted. But no where near the amount that is on it. I'm probably just going to keep it and shoot it like it is.

Mike:

The gun is a beauty, absent a few pits.

Have you miked them? Are they really really that deep? In pics they seem to grow. Which moves to the next question why NOT draw file them out? Even if they are 6-8 thou.

The question is, is there meat in the walls enough to stand it? Easy enough to check before making the decision.

Then if you go the draw file route, it is something you can do in a home workshop, and given a little bit of care, and final polishing with fine grit and shaped sanding blocks, you may not need to remove too much. All of the meticulous draw file time costs a good deal of money if you hire it out, and that drives the total investment sky high. On the other hand, if you do it, and then send it off to a shop for the refinish, you can keep your costs down. I have done the same with a damascus barrelled Ithaca NIG.

My thoughts.

Regards

GKT

Please explain to this ole southern boy the process of "draw filing". Is it simply what it sounds like?

It consists of filing metal off the barrels in long strokes trying to keep the amount removed even.

You put the file cross ways (long dimension of the file is 90° to the long way on the part) to the metal and draw it to you. You can also push the file away from you and accomplish the same thing. The file cuts differently in the directions, so with a mill file you need the handle in your left hand when drawing and the handle needs to be in your right hand when pushing.

Mike-

Make haste slowly. VERY slowly. You can screw something up in short order if you are not expereinced, especially on a gun barrel. Proper drawfiling is harder than it looks and sounds, and you can totally wreck something before your favorite song is through playing on your shop radio.

One of the biggest problems with drawfiling double gun barrels is that the rib hoses you up and it is hard to get all around the barrel evenly. What usually winds up happening to anyone but a pretty expereinced draw filer is the outside wall of the barrel gets cut way to thin, and the parts by the ribs are still pretty thick. You can get some bodacious leverage on the outside contour of the barrel and really make a lot of progress in a short time. It is more fun to draw file where it is easier and you can quickly see the fruits of your labor. Before you know it, the tube is toast.

With rifle barrles there is more meat, so it takes longer to screw it up beyond repair.

Inexperienced draw filers can really make a mess of things. The surface is usually very uneven with dips, dents, and divots all around, and often noticeable flat spots where the barrel should be round.

When done properly, drawfiling will prodice a very round and ripple free barrel. When done by the inexperienced, the result is often worse than the initial state of the part.

I encourage people to work on their guns. But this is something where I feel you should send it out to a professional if you have intentions of actually shooting it one day. If you are going to resign it to a mantle decoration, then go ahead and learn on it.

Just something for you to consider.

I think that I'll leave it the way it is and shoot it that way. Too much time, effort, and/or money. Won't have to worry on whether I'm damaging it while carring it through the alders up here.

Check with Freddie Brunner he is a magician with TIG welding.

Tom any contact info for Freddie?