Dolls Head/Rib Extension Fit?

[Stan Hoover]

Edgar,

Not to disagree but,

I’ve had a few guns that were off face and I had what I would consider a reputable smith correct the problem.
Now only one of these was a later hammer gun with the rib extension (dolls head), others were lifters with no dolls head. The top lever gun dolls head had gaps before the work was done, but when the gun was finished, the dolls head was noticeably more rearward than before.
I was under the impression that the barrel breach ends were made true so to be perfectly on face again.
After being off face pretty severely, would the breach end of the barrels be completely true to the frame?

Only trying to learn,
Stan

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Stan Hoover

Edgar,

I was under the impression that the barrel breach ends were made true so to be perfectly on face again.
After being off face pretty severely, would the breach end of the barrels be completely true to the frame?

Only trying to learn,
Stan

Having just said I couldn't think of a reason to mess with the breech face, you reminded me of something I had seen on a gun another member had and sent to Bachelder
The gun had been shot a lot, after it was obviously loose, and was probably shot with one barrel (right?) more than the other. Being loose to start with I suspect what Brad was describing was a hammering of the barrel face against the breech. Essentially, I'm guessing it got out of square. I can see where one smith might square it back up by machining. That would probably be way less trouble on a gun without a rib extension. In the gun that Brad repaired, I believe he built it back up with weld, then machined it square. I just remembered that the frame was cracked also, so it was probably one of the earlier lifters.