doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Procedure for removing ribs

I'd like to hear from anyone who has experience removing ribs on a double. I need to remove top and bottom ribs on a set of A.H.Fox barrels so that I can finish removing a bulge. Anyone with experience that could pass it along would be appreciated.

Chuck, you've removed AND relaid ribs, right?

Thanks, Stan

Hi Stan,
Yes, I've removed just a few sets. One of them, I used a oxy-acetylene torch, because it was convenient. The other two, I used my propane torch at home. The small Home Depot type are hardly enough to heat a set enough to remove ribs. I don't recall the BTU rating on my larger torch, but it's maybe 2 times the heat of my Home D auto ignition type.

I just heat the barrels until they fall off. You're going to have to do the full re-laying of them anyway. Don't fret if they separate between the barrels. If you try to start at the muzzle end and pry up the rib as you heat along the rib, you end up with a curved rib once it's removed. Just heat until gravity lets it fall off.

Check out Drew's site for that article I typed up on putting the barrels back together. It's really not rocket science and it's not all that scary. The wire rigging makes it simple soldering. Also, I think Claudio wrote one too.

Let me know if you have any questions along the way.

It's a good idea to make a tiny witness mark, with a tiny file, across the barrel muzzles where they touch before removing the ribs. It helps to re-align the barrels at the muzzle when re-laying the ribs, and helps ensure proper regulation. Make it as thin and straight-across as possible - clear enough to see easily, but faint enough to polish out when finished.

I will use my acetylene torch. Chuck, you mention the ribs "falling off", so I assume you hold them in a vise by the breech end and heat the rib on the underside of the barrels until it comes off, them turn them over and do the same thing on the other side? You must have to heat the entire length of the rib evenly so that it comes off kinda all at once.

vh20, thanks for the reminder on the witness mark. It'd be a bummer to do a nice job on this and the barrels be out of regulation.

Stan

Stan,
Yes, you have the basic idea. There really isn't much to it. You can aid it a bit with something to pick at under the rib, but a little sustained force and the heat together will arch the rib, so not too much force. Better if it almost falls off.

Chuck it would be good if you could repost your tutorial, do you get enough heat into the barrels just with a gas torch or do you also use heat sinks?

Not answering for Chuck here, but we use something like this, attached to a standard 20 lb. propane tank (like on a BBQ grill), and no heat sinks were necessary:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91899