Brad put a weep hole in my vhe that he lovingly restored. Makes no difference to me.

And i will forever remember the wonderful conversations i had with Brad over my projects. RIP Brad

It looks like a dark "plum" on my PC, is that what you all see too?






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You may be correct, Dean. I have a small computer screen and until I clicked on the picture it looked black/white. Anyway they are very pleasing to the eye.

Blown up on my HD monitor they look black and white. On my cellphone the color of the dark is hard to pickup, but it jumps out on my pc.

I also will add I have a 12 ga 3 frame barrel from Brad with a plugged weep hole in the keel as he has mentioned doing on this forum.

Personally, I'd rather have a professionally installed weep hole than a festival of rust between my barrels. Bachelder knows what he's doing.

This thread, and the previous "Weep Holes" thread has me laughing, as I've barely remembered hearing so many ill conceived opinions, many expounded by real soap boxers, I might add, about a process that basically means F#$k all in practical terms. 'Didn't do this' Remington did, but 'QC must have been bad'.
Honestly I think I've known more gunsmiths who've died, and were as good, or better than most calling themselves that today, and I don't recall as big a hubub as ya'll are making this out to be.
Many years ago, I sent a set of Acme barrrels out to one who many genuflect to, and I spent six months wiping the bleeding rust out of the ejector bore. Oh, and didja notice there aren't many propellers on planes anymore? Get over yourselves.

Put any label oe name on me that you want to Edgar, but I guess I’m just ‘old school’.

If I send a fine American classic side-by-side - that never had a weep hole indiscriminately drilled either new or if sent back to the manufacturer for re-browning - to a reputable shop for accurate RESTORATION it had better NOT have a weep hole drilled in it during “restoration.”
These are valuable guns that we take a great deal of pride in and we don’t expect shortcuts to be taken in restoring a gun to original condition.

If your comment wasn’t directed at me.... it doesn’t matter - I still feel the same way.






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No Dean, My comment wasn't directed at you, or anyone, specifically.

I do not think any gunsmith does anything, to use your term, indiscriminately, to our valued American double guns. If he feels he can refinish a barrel with a possible side effect of subsurface rust, or he can refinish it with a guarantee of no subsurface issues, I don't find an unobtrusive hole any more troubling than you adding a cute little woodcock to the trigger guard of that 16 lifter.
In over 50 years of playing with SxS guns, I've only refinished 6 barrels sets. The one I like the most are the 30" 0 frame Damascus barrels that Parker Bachelder did. Is there a weep hole? Honestly, I don't think I ever looked.
The rivet counters never had an issue with the small block chevy in my '35 Ford pickup, and I doubt they had an issue with the bondo under their paint jobs either.

FWIW, you know perfectly well if I had an issue with you, as I'm often likely to do, I'd pick up the phone and call you

The problem is these guns are 80 to 120 years old and you can have small holes between the rib and the barrel that can't be seen and during the process water will get trapped between the rib and the barrel. You might not care but you will get unseen rust in there. A weep hole can be covered up after that it will be hardly noticeable.

Right on !

For what its worth, this is what you find under the ribs of an 1879 Parker. Barrels were all original, no weep hole, just 140 years of decay.
Almost every set of barrels I have refinished, no matter the maker, show small solder voids along the ribs when submerged in the hot water tank.
I worry that such ribs might come loose later after I have completed my work. So far to my knowledge that has yet to happen.`
If you want to truly RESTORE a set of barrels this old, just pull the ribs ,clean out the crud, relay the ribs and refinish. Just my opinion, worth what you paid for it. Before and after pics.

I have a Greener that I can hear some thing roll back and forth in the space between the barrels. A video posted a few years ago on this site of the ribs being soldered by an english maker shows a good chance of a lot of debris winding up in this space, flux and solder. Your example I believe shows this and it would hold a lot of moisture if it had a way in and a liquid will find it if it is there.

Hmmm... no call yet. All’s well that ends well I guess.:cool:





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Thanks Robert, very informative. Those pictures are worth a thousand words!

I don't weep over any of my holes

Could this thread please be allowed to die?

I second that motion Mills.

For what its worth, we do not drill weep holes unless necessary. I do NOT consider it an acceptable thing to do to a Parker. With the quality of the these barrels, very few exhibit severe rib separation. Though almost all barrels will allow moisture into the ribs to some extent. Keep in mind it is impossible to finish a set that is leaking as it constantly hampers any attempt to maintain clean applications, meaning the leak must be insignificant. Once finished, the problem of remaining moisture is mitigated by submerging into displacing oil bath and put under mild heat to evaporate any remaining water. The barrels are also put under heat after every application so that there is never a chance rust can occur through the procedure.

We have in the past drilled weep holes on Parker's when deemed necessary under the directive of Brad. I could not tell you particularly why, I imagine Brad was simply not as fussy about having a drain hole as its standard practice across virtually every other double brand, of course there are always exceptions.

Occasionally we get barrels that have holes drilled from previous refinish. Obviously this was never done at the factory. I don't recall if the CHE posted had a hole originally or not. That particular set was refinished months ago as part of a multi part job.

As of the last two sessions and going forward, any set refinished under myself will not have a drain hole.

Thanks for the participation and insight as always Parker!

Parker,

Thank you very, very much for addressing the "weep hole" discussion and the position of Bachelder, Master Gunmaker as a restoration expert on the issue of the necessity of weep holes.

Dean





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Umm, that is exquisite craftsmanship!! They have my 0 frame 16 ga GH and if they work the magic on that girl I'll be a very happy Parker owner!!