What to do?

[B. Dudley]

A rib can come loose for many reasons on guns. Condition has little to do with the matter. I have removed loose ribs that had very little evidence of much solder in the areas where it was loose. Some factory barrels were not put together as good as the majority of them. It is just the fact of the matter.

There is also some bore cleaners that will desolve lead. And some people feel the need to use those solvents on the outsides of the barrels instead of just the bores. Well, they can compromise the soft solder joints if allowed to sit in the cracks along the rib.

And as I stated before, if you have a rib stripped and re-laid, the barrels will have to be refinished. Someone good with the use of flux and solder can do the job with little cleanup needed. But excess solder needs to be sraped off and those areas polished back with abrasive papers, thus leaving white metal.