doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com I think I messed up!!!

Bought it to shoot............

And as it seems from the replies that it is not a safety issue I'll shoot it till it's lose and then deal with it.

Thank you all for the knowledge.

Shoot it...when it get's loose again get the hook welded up. And chalk it up as a learning experiece.

....and who hasn't!

Fishdock, I'm pretty much a bottom feeder so I've gained some knowledge just from having to deal with my past mistakes. Yes, it was pinned, shoot it until it's loose (beleive me, it won't take long). Try shooting it with an aluminum shim for awhile (made from a strip of Al cut from a soda can). That should keep it going for quite some time. Then after you've shot the gun alot and know for sure it's a keeper do a proper repair. As far as the barrels being hot blued, it shouldn't matter as long as they were brazed (and not soldered) together, as most Belgium guns were. Check by taking a point and run it along the joint for 1/2 inch(underneath the forearm) to expose the soldering/brazing material. If it's copper colored you're okay.
About the punch marks, it may have already been punched, then properly fixed, with the punch marks still remaining. You won't really know unless it shoots loose after a short while. I unwittingly tried to repair an old Crescent that way once, the repair lasted less then 50 rounds. I next had the gun hook welded and I filed it to fit, the punch marks still remained even after a good long lasting repair had been made.
Steve

When it gets lose again, which I gather will be "sooner rather than later" how much will it cost to fix and where does it go?

Mind you it is not a special gun just a nice shooter.

I had Hugh Lomas put a gun back on face for me, It cost $300 and was worth every penny. The Crescent cost $45 for welding the hook and a lot of filing and fitting to cut the weld down and refit the hook. Because of other more serious problems it was more work then the gun was worth (chalk it up to learning). Like I said earlier, try the soda-can shim, it won't hurt anything and will last a long time.
Steve

I would second using Hugh Lomas. Does great work at a fair price.

I'm with Pete on all counts. While peening is looked down upon, it is somewhat effective. All traces of peening can be removed later during a weld and refit, if desire. Meanwhile, I'd use it with pleasure until it loosened up, if ever.

If it then needs work, I'd opt for the weld and refit over the shim method. But shimming has advantages for those that want to do their own fix and don't have access or experience to do the weld refit or don't want the expense.

You may want to determine if the barrels are damascus or homogenous steel. Also, the proofmarks may give some valuable info. Some pics of them could wrangle some good feedback from those knowledgeable in proofmarkings.

A lot of good advice.

Mike Orlen has been known to do good job of shimming as well. I would not consider this gun a mistake. It sorta fits my bottom feeding standards for a field gun. No offense meant... Believe me, I have made some whopper mistakes. Heck I have a closet full of mistakes!

Rockdoc is correct about the brazing. Pieper developed an oven to braze barrels in the mid-1890's. Since then, all but the top end Belgian guns passed through a brazing oven. So no worry about the blue job.

I think it was proofed in 1955. But could well be mistaken.
http://www.damascus-barrels.com/bp.html

Pete

fyi; Dumoulin made a variety of guns but seems to be known more as a better quality maker than a junk peddler. You didn't give a desription or pictures of the rest of the gun but I would guess that if the peened hook is the only issue it is probably still a good buy.

Also try hanging the barrels by the hook and tapping them with a wooden dowel both up an down the length of each barrel to listen for a clear bell like ring. If a rib is loose it will usually be apparent with a buzz or just a "flat" tone at some point.

Sometimes the extractors/ejectors may vibrate and can falsely sound like a loose rib.

I've heard of hanging the barrels by a string wrapped around the ejectors as an alternate method that can reduce that issue.
I've usually been able to fiddle with their position (in/out/etc) to solve that or isolate it enough to tell what was happning.

The ring test is not absolute. I had a gun with nice Boehler barrels that rang like a church bell all the way down but had been rust blued and you could see the beginings of rib seperations on very close visual inspection.

BTW; Make sure that the barrels are held above a soft cushioned surface just in case they slip and fall.