Just Steam?
How do you figure when the barrels are submerged in boiling water? Trust me, tons of water gets into the barrel set through a weep hole when boiled.
Does a hole in the bottom of your boat only let air out, and not water in.

My point Brian.....
If you heat the barrels to 212 or a little higher a good amount of pressure will build up because the water will vaporize (at that temperature - remember, water boils at 212 degrees F) and escape, again, under pressure, until it is all gone from under the rib providing it was kept at temperature until it is completely caporized.... simple physics Brian....

Further, the weep hole is drilled after the barrels are blued to allow the vapor to escape, not before, which of course lets the warmter in.





.

Are you certain of this? Isn't the hole also for putting water displacing oil into the barrel? I don't think the barrels are heated, out of the tank to that temp, but usually just hung in a drying cabinet.

No. I wasn’t there. How could I be certain?... any more than someone could be certain the hole was drilled before biueing. The method I suggested makes more sense to me but others may have a different opinion and I welcome their comments.





.

Granted I was not there when the guns were built, none of us were.
But I can state a few things based on my actual experience and observations.

I have finished and blued quite a few new in the white Parker reproductions. Every one of them had weep holes drilled in the ribs in their new state. Before bluing.

If a weep hole is drilled in a finished set of barrels, the hole will show bright bare metal. And I have never observed any evidence of this on a set of original barrels from a maker who did put weep holes in their barrels (like Ithaca or LC Smith). Right now I own a true 98% benchmark condition Ithaca flues from 1916 that has two week holes in the barrels and There is no sign that those holes were drilled after bluing.

I do own a few sets of new old stock ilion built Parker barrels and they do not have weep holes in them, but they are not finished to the point of being ready for bluing. They still need final polish and cleanup. So I cannot say they are any sort of indication.

I did fit a set of new old stock LC smith barrels to a gun for my brother and blue them some years back. I would be curious to check on that gun to see if they had a weep hole in them or not.

Thanks to all for the information on Remington made Parkers and the weep hole. I own early Remington era guns without the weep hole and late Remington guns with the weep hole. This has previously been confusing to me.

Here is a question. When Parker (Remington) made 1/2 frame guns, what type hard buttplate would be on a VHE?

Thoughts on how to proceed. Barrels hot blued. Estimate on repair and rust blue cost. I know I need to call around just looking for SWAGS.

Drilling the hole before bluing would create a mess. Water will try to fill the hole when boiling (as evidenced by bubbles) and a bit of oil, accumlated over the years, would cause streaking, as Brian states. I always plug the holes, if present, with glass bedding compound dyed black. It lasts forever and the problem with streaking dosen't occur.

I never understood the advantage of holes. It's not desirable with rust blued barrels.