Barrel Rust Repair
 

I just acquired a Stephan Grant 28 gauge that has a few problems that need to be solved. One of the major problems confronting me is an area of rust on the left barrel that is too deep to totally remove without compromising the integrity of the barrels. My question is can this area be TIG welded and then worked down and then blacked? Has anyone done this or had it done? Are there any other solutions? Here is a picture of the area in questions:

https://i.imgur.com/E768ZtE.jpg

Have you scrubbed it with a Frontier pad to remove the scale?
Have you actually measured the depth of those pits?
They don’t look to be more than about three thousandths.





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Dean, I took the barrels to Jim Eyster at Heritage Gunsmiths and he examined them. Said he could work down most of the pitting but not all of it without getting too thin in that area. Jim's specialty is barrel work and I trust what he says.

I would not deem welding as a viable option for those barrels. I would think that micro laser welding would be the only way to go, and everything would have to be blasted clean to get rid of active rust in the pitting. It even may be considered to take the surface down some and then build it back up with weld. Either way, it would have to be a bit of a process of chasing your tail between welding and dressing down until everything is eliminated.
THEN, the repairs will likely show under the bluing. Rust blue does hide welds pretty well, but never completely. In the proper lighting it will most likely still be visible.

Careful measuring of the area snd the pits will give you an idea of what can be removed and what may not be.

I can promise you that it looks like an awful lot of work and the possible juice may not be worth the squeeze.

Thank you Brian, that is exactly what I needed to know. Looks like my only other options are to live with whatever can be worked down or to have a small beavertail made that would cover the area after working it down. Neither are great options in my eyes.

One more question for all of you. Does anyone know anyone in the states that does a really good job of Sleeving? Kirk Merrington was my first thought and I called him and he is not taking on any new work. He also said it is impossible to find 28GA tubes.

Aaron little is really the only other option in the States.

Briley doesn't do sleeving?





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To my knowledge, not anymore. Not for maybe 5 years at least. Unless they got back into it.

They had one guy there who did it. Near the end the quality of work really started to drop and he became unreliable in more ways than one and they let him go.

Ive always wondered where the tubesets come from. Available or not thats not a brownells type order.

Last time I spoke to Briley about this service they were sending it to Aaron Little.

Spoke with Aaron and he is $4000 and a two year wait and the barrels will have no choke unless you install screw in chokes.

If a competent gunsmith measured the thickness with the pits and determined them safe, I’d be inclined to just live with them and hunt with the gun. There must be a story there. At first glance, it looks like corrosion caused by blood to me.

Damascus or Steel?
If damascus Peter Dyson has raw barrel tubing which I believe could be made into barrels, however to turn, bore and make new barrel wouldn't be inexpensive.
Good luck

Barrels are steel.

Did Jim think it was safe to shoot as is? I'd be inclined to leave it as is if so. I know that the guns you post are always in pristine condition.
The Eyester's are well known for their barrel & choke work in this neck of the woods.

Jim Eyster and I went over the gun thoroughly and we decided to have the exterior of the barrels Micro welded. That has been done and Jim was very happy with the work. We are going to go over this gun from top to bottom and try to put it into the best possible condition. The welding shop specializes in gun work and said they have great success with invisible repair after rust bluing. This is such a nice gun and so rare it deserves some special treatment. I totally trust Jim when it comes to barrel work and he says they will be totally safe when he is finished.

Make sure to show pictures of the finished gun

Some pics of microwelding done at a friend's high tech shop. He's not in the gun repair biz and did it as a favor. The pic collage shows my start of cleaning the pitted areas ….. through the finished rust bluing. The left barrel muzzle was the worse and second pic is one I sent with the barrels. I left the choice of filler to his welding tech and told him about the soft solder holding the ribs. He said not to worry; he'd take precautions. The microwelding was also done in other places on the barrels not shown in pics 2-5 and it didn't affect the solder joints anywhere. I did the striking and finish polishing myself and was careful to keep a sharp edge at the muzzles. Just to show what can be done.

Frank, thanks for positing the pics. Very nice results!

Well "struck" Frank. Nothing like being able to save a fine old double from being a parts gun.

That certainly gives me confidence on my Grant!