doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Side by Side "Piper" 12gauge - 38/55

I guess mine's a modifeid version..


Closeup of the joint.



And the view from inside, looks like it's beginning to corrode.




As I said in previously it has a set front trigger and the third fastener so this is a gun I'd consider putting rifle inserts into for a double 45-70.

What's going on in the bore picture? Is there corrosion in the junction?

RR; From the view you show yours looks more like the original, note the step down at end of block. Mine, which is marked Modified Diana looks just like the one Pete shows, with the steel block & twist bbls with no step where thay join. I do not know how many methods of construction Pieper may have used, but his original patent shows the bbls without a step being inserted from rear of breech & fit to a slight taper in the block. On the modified version the tubes are stepped down & insert in the block from the front, as is customary in modern guns. On the one I have the tubes only extend back about half way through the block so the rear of the chamber is cut in the block itself, with the front part being in the tube. The tubes on this type are I believe threaded into the front of the block. Perhaps yours is a sort of hybrid between the two with the tubes being smaller than the block, but still inserting from the front. Can you determine if there is indeed a joint on the inside somewhere in the chamber. Mine was in poor condition with the forend lug & under rib loose & needed re-laying. I decided to apply a little heat & when I did a solder line popped out about the middle of the chamber, which had been invisable. From this I was able to determine the tubes did not extend full length through the block.

RR, that looks to be the original patent method. Apparently some of these have a corrision problem.

There is a 16ga on GB now that shows separation on the outside. Though the seller seems to be attempting to either hide it or does not realize the problem is there.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=64659356

There is a also a 12ga on GB that is NOT a Pieper Diana, but has had a set of Diana barrels fitted to it.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=64717489

No wonder even some of the better Belgian guns get a bad rap.

Pete

The joint on the exterior of the barrels is 2-5/16" from the barrel breechface and the corrosion rings is about 2-3/4" from the barrel breechface.

For the corrosion ring to be at the tube/block juncture the tubes would have had to have been opened up to accept stubs from the block which would have extended 7/16" into the tubes.

The corrosion is actually pretty light and would probably polish out.

Maybe forcing "step" as opposed to cone...with pitted bore?

Mark

As I said, that happens to be a very good picture of the pitting, it isn't that severe a transition. In fact i had a very hard time getting the corner of a 6" metal ruler to catch on the pitting so I could measure where it starts.

Rob

Not to be picky but-----
I have tried to be certain but will have to rely on a faulty old memory.
Was it not The Great One (Bill Wise) that cautioned us that the pronunciation of Pieper was pipe r and not peeper?
Think of the Pied Piper of Hamlin.
Best,
John

I do believe in fact that in an article he wrote for Double Gun Journal that Bill Wise specifically wrote it out as "Peeper" for the pronunciation. Don't recall which issue, but was a very informative article on the guns. That was the first time I knew how to pronounce it. I have slowly gleaned over the yrs, & I know there are exceptions to all rules, but most double vowel words are usually correctly pronounced by using the second vowel, as in tis case "Pieper", pronounce the E.

pee-PARE!