Barrel evaluation

[Drew Hause]

Helped a fella in the Valley evaluate his (sadly) interesting FrankenParker yesterday:
1. Blued 12g Trojan action on a restock
2. Trojan steel barrels
3. Grade 3 D4 1891 barrels, matte blued but with a potentially stunning Damascus pattern showing through
4. 1903 Grade 3 D4 barrels, also blued and couldn't see the pattern.
I couldn't tell if they had been hot tank blued, but they had 4 weep holes drilled in the bottom rib
None of the above with matching SNs

The 2 Grade 3 barrels had the rib extension filed down to fit the Trojan rib extension slot, and the Trojan barrels were poorly fitted to the action.
The 1891 Grade 3 barrels had been cut, had what looked to be moderate pitting, and on checking the bore dimensions was found to have an about 1" bulge, 1" back from the muzzle on the right; but the bore gauge showed the bulge to be only .004" and the wall thickness was .024". It took some time, but I was able to get the brass stop of the Bill Henry wall thickness gauge into the bottom of the deepest pit, and it was only .002" with a wall thickness still .029".
The 1903 Grade 3 barrels had the chamber extended from 2 5/8" to slightly more than 2 3/4" but had apparently been honed. The left chamber wall thickness was .114 but the right only .100
And the short section of the rib with the rib extension had been rewelded. Interestingly it had the nicest 'chime' of any barrels I've ever rung.
The Grade 3s were 2 frame barrels, and despite bores of .736 had wall thicknesses 9" from the breech of .045" and 9" from the muzzle of .030".

My point is that (almost) NO 100 year old barrel is now as it left Meriden, and without the proper tools it is impossible to adequately evaluate the barrels. AND it takes a long time to do it right. It is not easy to eye-ball the pit, rotate the barrels in the proper position, and try to get the brass stop in the bottom of the pit.
The entire process took about 90 minutes.

I advised the fella NOT to shoot the barrel with the borderline chamber without an additional evaluation by a barrel specialist, to send the other D4 barrel for proper refinishing, and to get the Trojan barrel properly fit to the receiver. I thought repair of the minimal bulge at the muzzle was optional.

[John Farrell, Charter Member #33]

Sounds like the time a friend of mine told me his girlfriend was a little bit pregnant.