Loose Rib

[Bruce Day]

I dropped off Van's barrels yesterday, a set of nice undented grade 2 damascus top lever hammer 16ga 32"s and Dale Edmonds asked that I post the following photo to show a situation, which may be of help to restorers.

These are L C Smith barrels and they rang fine but you can see the bottom rib is very loose, so this will need a re rib laying job. The gun is a bottom grade Smith and the purchaser will end up spending much more than anticipated.

I believe the point he was making is to check the ribs for looseness even if the barrels ring true.