doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com who best for chamber sleeving?

I need to have a pitted chamber sleeved on a sxs that is otherwise in wonderful condition. Who can I trust do first rate work of this nature? Thank you in advance.

Kirk Merrington in Kerrville, TX
http://www.kirkmerrington.net/
830-367-2937

Keith Kearcher
http://members.toast.net/keithkearcher

A much cheaper but messy option is use chamber inserts like ChamberMates

John Foster is the Best.

Bob: could you please provide contact information? Thank you.

Is it this John Foster?


John Foster Gunmaker
The Stables
Thorpe Road
Carlton
Stockton-On-Tees
TS21 3LB
UK
T: 01740 631 110
E: info@gunmaker.co.uk

You might also want to ask our own good friend Mike Orlen. I can't imagine sending a barrel to England for this. Is the chamber pitting really that bad?

Can't say I've ever seen many cases of serious chamber pitting. I'd check with one of the above-suggested smiths. If there's sufficient chamber wall thickness, you might very well get by with some careful honing--as long as it doesn't leave the chambers oversize for the shells.

Chamber/barrel sleeving is not listed on Mike Orlen's list of services. I sent him an e-mail to see if he does that work, and if so, he would be an excellent choice.

It'd have to be a really first rate gun, before I would go through all the trouble.

I chamber sleeved a FOX 16 a few years ago. It had been stored with two paper shells in the chambers. They had absorbed moisture and the chambers were very pitted. It took .020+ to clean out one and .033 to clean out the other. Does not sound like a lot of metal but it was. I was younger and more adventerious in those days. Might not even try the job myself these days. It is harder than I thought it would be and set up was everything to getting a good outcome. All the above mentioned smiths can do a greast job.

I decided to chamber sleeve the 16 down to a 20 gauge chamber. Ended up with a heck of a long range Dove gun. In effect I have a back bored 20. I could have gone back with 16 chambers but I had three 16's with 30" barrels and no 20's with 30" barrels at the time. The collectors value was long gone so I made the gun into what I wanted.