doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thoughts on TIG welding on a barrel

Chuck, are you saying that you sleeved this gun and TIG welded the joint rather than soldering? That sure looks better than the usual solder joint, or engraved chicken tracks to cover up the joint. How did this work out?

I say it one more time. Any welder that does barrel work better have liability insurance for barrel work, or zero assets to attach when something anything happens to the gun. Attorney in court. Mr Welder x where do you take your degrees in Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering? Where and when did you get your pressure welder certification? Is certification current? Tell me about your testing apparatus. [Laughter in courtroom when defendant says he put gun in a tire and pulled trigger with string]. Show me your alloy % chem analysis on the parent metal and what you used to fill it. Also your tech analysis of the completed weld including the microstructure of the steel before and after welding. Why did you put my client at risk doing something you really know nothing about? Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this is right just this is the way it is today. No different than trap shooter who blows up barrel with homebrew trap load and loses fingers or injures the man beside him. Then he gets a contingency lawyer and sues Remingtom WW federal etc claiming it was a factory load, and Rem WW etc are on hook to prove otherwise. Last comment, companies that do barrel porting, sleeving etc have liability insurance and the guy who does welding is not at risk of losing his home and savings.

I understand your concern, but getting some answers here from some of the most knowledgeable people still doesn't mean the gentleman who has the gun will do so.
Plus what makes you think that you could not fire the gun as it is now. They do port guns. I realize ths is right past the hand hold and would let hot gasses out there, but most of the high pressure has already been lost.

Thank God not everyone thinks about all that stuff all the time. Our world would stop functioning. I'm around enough product liability at work to appreciate your point CB. PL lawyers are a drain on our society.

I remember the GM truck saddle tank lawsuit. I think it was Bryan Pannish who litigated that as a class action. $4 billion award. It got reduced in a settlement. But the point is he got cash from GM, the class got $2000 discount coupons for new trucks, most of which were never used. GM buttered Pannish's bread, knowing he'd go for it, the class got their axxes buttered, and GM paid a tiny fraction. What a racket.

L C Smith Plans & Specifications book list their bbl steel as having about 40 points carbon but no alloy number given. Purely a guess but likely either a 1040 or 1340 steel, if I haven't got my numbers confused. 10xx does denote a plain carbon sttel, I seem to recall 11xx is the leaded variety & 13xx is a mangenese steel. This series having a small manganese % was a quite popular bbl steel as I understand. One steel in this category was sold under the trade label "StressProof" & was often used even for high power rifle bbls.

Several quick thoughts. I would like to see someone attempt to weld the barrel who is reasonably competent. I do not think that a weld by a competent welder should be dangerous. I also have to remember that many of us shoot welded barrels on a regular basis.
As for lawyers (censored)
As for the person with the hacksaw (censored)

Miller,
My look into what we know as chromoly steels suggests that they were being made as trade name steels well before WW2 and probably around WW1. Based on my welding and filing of that LC barrel, I'd guess it might be 4140. It seemed just too tough to be 10xx series.

I think it'd work out if the welds don't crack. I was chasing cracks all over. But I couldn't tell if it was the Galazan tubes or the original LC barrel material that was the culprit.

Miller, as for the metalurgy of the barrels, a while back I went to a scrap yard and bought some aluminum round stock from 3/4"-15/16" cut to 8' long. I wanted 6061 as this machines rather nicely. A fellow came out and put a hand held machine on it and in a few moments it read what the content was and it was determined it was 6061. I would venture to say barrel steel could also be done and will have to ask them.

Chuck, with this being such a small weld, if the area was pre-heated and then welded, I don't think there would be much metal cracking, but like you stated, dye check anyway.
Also if the area did air harden, filing it will tell.

With the right filler metal I would tig it. Reloads with a power that is not very progressive and a light charge should work fine. I believe that the stock will give up befor the barrrel.
bill