I have had 2 guns, one a Parker that had a rib separation at the muzzle, both 1 1/2" or less.
On the Parker, a decent gun, but just a shooter VH, I was able to get the rib soldered back in place without removal. This did discolor/distort the bluing in that area. I just used a wipe on bluing compound and blended in the area, and over the years has held and looks fine--don't know about Damascus barrels.
. Again, not a high grade, high condition gun--I didn't want a $1000 fix on a $1200 gun.
I got this advice from another PGCA member on another gun. Not a Parker. Top rib loose about an inch. First clean/degrease area--I used carb cleaner.
I used Red Loctite on the rib/barrel interface. Cleared all the excess Loctite out with cotton swab and tooth picks.
A dowel rod with a hole drilled in it to go over the bead was clamped over the rib with rubber jawed clamps for 2 days. H ave had no problems since.
Now, I expect I'll get some "crap' over this fix, and I would not advise it on a high grade gun--Brian, please avert your eyes. But, if the fix for your gun is more or less the worth of the gun, well it's up to you. Don't think you would be able to do this if you wanted to re-brown your Damascus barrels.
I would imagine the cost of rebrowning Damascus and relaying ribs to be $1000, maybe more. Tube of red Loctite, $8.00

i have got to remember this locktite fix.....charlie

Loctite is just super glue and is heat sensitive. You shoot the gun a few times and that loctite will soften up and not hold much of anything for very long.

For what it's worth, Loctite says that to remove Red Loctite one must heat the part to 500 F for two minutes. That particular threadlocker is used to anchor the barrel on single action revolvers when you must make a windage adjustment on a fixed sight gun. I can't comment on how well it will hold on a rib.

Bill Jacobs

Thanks Bill, you got to that before I did. I don't think you could shoot gun barrels that hot and still hold onto the gun. The guy at the automotive store told me that it is used to hold replacement liners on engine cylinders.

Years ago one of the guys at work had a Charles Daly If I recall correctly with a loose rib. We cleaned well with MEK and used 3M 2216 epoxy. Clamped it down and cleaned off the excess. He shot the heck out of that gun on dove and it never loosened.
2216 is incredible but it is very expensive. The upside is great shear strength, withstands vibration and holds up and stays flexible and adheres over extreme temperature ranges.
Developed for the aerospace industry. We used it to hold Boundary Layer Energizers to the top of Learjet wings. When properly prepped before installation the BLE’s would hold on for thousands of hours of use in wide variety of operating conditions.
I Googled and found a 1 OZ tube on Amazon for under $20.
Just another idea to research for a possible solution.

$20 sure beats having the ribs re-layed...(laid?)




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Thanks to Google I think it is Re-laid.

Dean:

A couple of sources I found say "layed" appears centuries ago; so if archaic, it's probably best sticking with the modern spelling, even for vintage gun "practical eccentrics".


It reminds me of fly "tyer" vs. "tier", the latter supposedly being a rarer but legitimate spelling variant.


Phil C.

Thanks for that info. about 3M 2216.

There are a lot of "strong" epoxies on the market; but if they have the property of flexibility, that makes all the difference.

Re: fly tyer/tier, the magazine “Fly Tyer” magazine is still in existence and I do prefer the archaic spelling where appropriate, or even not appropriate... so layed is okay with me.





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