parker collection for sale

[ed good]

so justin, us anti re case hardening quys are just makin it all up? have you ever re case hardened a shotgun receiver? if so, have you ever had one go bad? have you ever seen one that went bad?

[edgarspencer]

Tig welding (GTAW, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding) is not a new process, and was developed in the 1940s. Good gas welding was pretty much made obsolete by GTAW, but how many airframes were gas welded prior to that? I daresay, in the hands of a good gas welder with an AB torch and proper filler material, most gun frame cracks can be repaired and re-heat treated.
Cracks most often propagate from a localized stress riser. A crack which shows up after case hardening likely existed prior to that heat treatment, but opened up on heat treatment. Secondary cracking from welding usually shows up in the HAZ (heat affected zone, between base and weld metal), and is directly related to either impurities, or inclusions in the weld (gas, slag) or improper post-weld heat treatment.
Welding is a normal process in manufacturing of steel and steel products. Entire departments in companies like Electric Boat, are devoted to developing weld procedures and procedure qualifications. If it were such a risky process, I doubt we would build submarines from rolled and welded rings, 44' (Ohio Class Trident) in diameter, and welded together to make a tube called the pressure hull.
If my customers were as skeptical of welding as you seem to be, I sincerely doubt I would have been able to pawn off $10 million worth of castings a year.
I'll buy every cracked high grade Parker frame you can lay your hands on. You can throw in all those cracked Winchester lever frames while you're at it.
Oh My god, you mean they weld new barrels into old breech blocks? Don't they blow up?

[edgarspencer]

King, that must have been pretty traumatic, if not outright scary. If you want to pursue re-caseing your Fox, I'd suggest you speak to some of the other respected gunsmiths who are doing this process. I wouldn't roll over on only one person's say-so.
Destry, If I weren't house-bound, I would have tired of this a long time ago also, and as it is, getting a little weary swatting a myths and urban legends. If I have to say so myself, I have far too many years working with steels and most of their subsequent manufacturing operations to know what a qualified person is able to do. I also know what can happen in the hands of some who are not so qualified. As is usually the case, the failures get lots of press, but the men who know their stuff just keep doing what they're doing, quite simply, because success breeds more business.