doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com barrel ringing

Vent ribs tend not to ring as clearly as solid ribs, so don't immediately fall on your sword if your vent rib barrels don't sound like a bell.

Not ringing is a reason to look closer at things. But, I have not had a set that sounded like a dull thud that wasn't loose.

I was looking at a potential purchase. Everything looked good till I rang the barrels. The rib was loose. Was very difficult to see. Owner ended up sending them out for a relay.

Joe Wood Its not particularly modern proof, I think that barrels that only have a very small contact area of rib to barrel can be opened up by the much larger pressure pulse moving up the barrels. Alternatively, it may be that there is a bleed hole there already but it is blocked by rosin, varnish, loctite (one commonly used bodge by barrel blackers), rust or baby food, who known! A good bang and the hole clears to produce a delicate stream of bubbles on the next test.
I remember a bit of high speed film of a load moving up a shotgun barrel and the bulge moving up the tube was quite visible. I have to admit it gave me pause for thought when I first saw it!

Toby. Do you have any idea if that high speed film is available to see anywhere ? It sounds as scary as it would be interesting.

El Garro, Sorry no idea where I saw it. It was certainly long before the internet revolution, Youtube etc.
Probably sometime in the '70's or '80's

PLICA, welded ribs? Maybe you mean brazed? And even then I am not so sure that AYA are brazed.

The vagaries of ribs, here and in other posts, reinforce my convictions that ribs are an abomination.

Alex Martin showed the way with his ribless guns. If the looks of a ribless double are objectionable then make a top rib that is screw detachable. It is incredible that in the days of CNC tech (used by the very "Best" these days) we are still messing about with tin tech.

I had a gun that when you "rang " it sounded awful . Some kind of dull rattle . Loose bead sight ! Ringing is a simple ,practical, rule of thumb test but it is limited to the experience of the person involved reading the results and interpretation of that information . It is not the be all and end all nor is it definitive but its the best you can do without a lot of equipment and has worked well for a couple of hundred years .

Is there a proper way to "ring" a barrel? Does it have to hang from a wire or string or can you just hold it by the barrel lug and ring it? What do you hit it with?

I don't know that there is a "proper" way per se. Probably as many ways as there are ringers. However, down and dirty way is to simply hang the hook from your index finger and thump the barrels with your fingernail. When available I prefer to use a small piece of metal. Doesn't take much of a thump. as mentioned somewhere above sometimes the extractor/ejector needs removing to get the barrels to ring. Just don't make a big project out of a simple test.