Barrel welding - what can be done

[Cold Spring]

I posted the following on the Fox Forum and also want to share it here just to show what can be done. Please, please, please.... no questions on who did the laser weld work. The gent is only doing this welding as a favor to me. He asked me not to provide his info and I will honor that. But with that said, if you need similar work done, you or your gunsmith can do your own homework to locate a job-shop commercial laser welding source. Also, this is a steel barrel. I'm not a metallurgist and thus I don't know a thing about doing similar work on composite barrels and cannot answer questions on same.

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Every once in a while an otherwise nice Fox or another maker gun will be found that was put away wet in a case and now has some deep pitting on the barrels. I like to see such guns fixed, to be fielded again with pride. Here’s a high grade Fox that had really deep pitting, almost grooves, corroded into the muzzle. There was some other corrosion here & there on the barrels that I struck off, but this pic collage will show what can be done with deeper pitting.

This pic is after striking and just before I sent it off to be LASER over-welded … this is much more precise than regular TIG welding and is done under a magnifier. This is the pic I sent to show what needed to be done


After laser welding pic #1 – that weld is only about .010” thick – that’s only 10 thou of an inch. Laser welding generates way less heat than regular TIG welding and can be done slowly without melting the solder that holds the ribs. I taped brass rods to the ribs to act as a heat sink but the welding tech said that wasn't necessary. See that the yellow plastic tape hasn't melted even a tad.


After laser welding pic #2 – check out the “bead” that’s on the very end of the muzzle, and note how it didn’t get into the inside diameter of the choke


Striking the weld while using a center to keep the O.D. concentric with the bore/choke. That blue colored coating is machinist dykem.


After striking and ready for bluing


Bluing complete. I specified that C 1045 or similar mild carbon steel be used for the weld filler, and you can see the bluing match is just about perfect.


Again, I am only posting this to show what can be done…. all the prep work is mine except for the laser welding. If you have a similar steel barrel, most any good gunsmith can do a google search to locate a company that does job-shop type laser welding.

Usually we can prove the old adage ... "where there's a will, there's a way". P.S. I don't do work like this or any other gunsmithing except on my own guns.

Frank

[Dean Romig]

If I hadn't seen it here I would not have thought this to be economically possible. I have never seen such fine welds. My brother-in-law Jamie, is a precision aircraft engine parts welder and probably does this kind of stuff but I've never seen it.

Thank you Frank, for showing us this process.

Dean

[Opening Day]

Frank all I can say is "Wow". A way to give old barrels a new life..

[Autumn Daze]

Thanks Frank. This is great stuff and your tutorials are a treat.

[Tom Brown]

Thank you Frank, great work for sure. T

[Ben Rawls]

I knew about it intellectually but this is the best example I have seen.

[Cold Spring]

I've been asked for an "after" pic comparable to the first one I posted, to better show how the bluing matches up.

Frank

[charlie cleveland]

it s just amazes me what the right fellow can do on a job especially these barrels... charlie

[Double Lab]

Frank;
That is truly amazing! Thanks for posting.

[Dennis]

I still learn new things all the time. Thanks for sharing that with us. Very interesting and of course useful to those of us on the forum.

Dennis