Just my two cents, but when soldering such a repair, just wire the upper and lower ribs just like a complete re-lay job. It takes a little time to wire it properly, but it provides assurance that the opposite rib and the rib you're trying to solder doesn't move. Then you don't have to resort to efforts to keep the opposite rib cool. It really isn't hard to wire it and you'll move forward with confidence when you solder.
My thought on the whole subject is that it's possible there could be significant rust under the rib that eventually caused this problem. It could even be to the level that you might want to assess the safety of the barrels due to extreme rust. Probably not. But I'd want to know.
Heck, everyone seems to be concerned about bore pitting from a safety perspective and I've only seen one gun that I'd worry about and it had 1/8" diameter pits halfway thru the chamber walls (on the inside of the chamber). Yet when indications like a loose rib and corrosion creeping out from under a rib show themselves, a lot of people will choose to deny the potential for serious problems under the ribs because the repair is expensive. So, they go for the quick fix.
The one thing that I took away from Andy ____witz when Bruce had his fathers Win 21 redone on Shotgun Journal, was that Andy wouldn't do a quick fix on this kind of problem (Bruce's fathers gun had a loose rib) because he'd run across a number of guns that were damaged so much he wouldn't re-lay the ribs and have the guns resold to some poor unknowing sucker.
Last edited by Chuck H; 12/30/08 06:57 AM.
