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Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
David Billington
 
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Default Attaching Shotgun ribs...

Thanks, all good points. I was approaching it from the point of view of
someone doing all the work, not reworking where you can have may unknown
quantities.

Gary wrote:

When a customer brought a double barrel shotgun into the shop and asked
you to install a rib you had no way of knowing what type of silver
solder had been originaly been used or what temperature it would melt
at. With no method of checking the temperature except for color
changes it took a great deal of expertese to do that sort of job. Way
beyond the skills of the average gunsmith at that time (1960's and
'70's). George got a lot of work sent to him by other gunsmiths who
didn't feel up to the job. He could even regulate double rifles so
that both barrels shot to the same point of aim with a given load by
unsoldering the barrels and sliding tiny wedges between them as he
soldered them back together. Others who -thought- they could handle it
often regreted it dearly. When you ruin someones expensive double
shotgun it can -really- cost you. You are right about the technique
with the two different solders being the way to go. It may be simpler
for jewlers but gunsmiths are confronted with multibarreled guns from
many different countries and ranging from brand new to hundreds of
years old. Not to mention past repairs that may have been done with
varying degrees of skill.
Fortunetly AL A does not have this problem. He just needs to ensure he
doesn't over heat the single bbl and take the temper out of the steel.
On a rifle he could mill small dovetails to attach the rib blocks but
the shotgun's wall thickness won't allow this except possibly at the
breech end. Brownells probably still sells ribs ready to solder on.
Only problen with silver soldering the rib will be that the heat will
ruin the bluing which will need to be redone and hot salt rebluing can
attack some solders. Maybe he might want to try rust bluing it which
is a slow process but results in a beautiful finish.
Have fun and learn.
73 Gary