Wesley there is no easy or nice way to say this. The barrels appear to be hot blued. I'm basing this on the barrel sheen and the solder that appears to be missing between the top and bottom ribs and the barrels at the muzzle end of the gun. Also the fact that the barrels were probably reblued when the frame was blued. Any gunsmith that would hot blue the frame would probably not realize that hot blue and soft solder do not mix. Hot blue consists of an extremely caustic substance that turns soft solder (lead) into a salt. It will may hold for a while but I promise you it will eventually let go. The only proper fix is to remove all the ribs, clean them up and remove all traces of the solder on the ribs and barrels, re tin, and solder the barrels back up. They will then need polished and rust blued. Before doing any barrel work the bore diameter, choke and barrel wall thickness and chamber length should be checked. This is not a "do it yourself" project and expect to spend between $600-$900 for the job to be properly done. And that will depend on the barrel dimensions being adequate for repair. Having the frame annealed, polished, engraving redone and bone case hardened will run about another $800. We haven't even discussed the stock yet.
What I'm trying to say is you are looking at an expensive venture and will have substantially more money in the gun than it would ever sell for. And I'm not including what you have in it right now. I'm trying to save you throwing more money in.
I know this is a bitter pill to swallow but the good news is it can be used as a learning experience and all this being said you've gotten off cheap compared to mistakes I've made over the years. I work on these guys now and all I can suggest is PLEASE have a COMPETENT gunsmith check out a gun before purchasing it that can measure the barrels properly, check the stock for repairs or things needing repaired, and overall what has been done and what needs to be done. If the seller is not willing to let you do this, do not walk away. Run. It may cost you $100 but will be the best money you can spend and if they won't let you watch or show you what they are looking for find one that will. Pretty soon you'll know more than 90% of the people that buy guns blindly and "hope for the best". I know because that's what I used to do many years ago. And I lost ALOT of $$$ but gained a great education. All the best, Don Hansen.
|