doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sleeving joint line

I am wondering if there are methods to cosmetically hide the seam on sleeved barrels?The gun I am looking at has sleeved barrels done by a reputable firm in England using what I suspect was a soldered joint which leaves a very thin silvery line around the barrels near the breach. I think that more modern methods use TIG welding to make the seam virtually invisible.
I am wondering if a competent TIG welder could cut a groove at the seam and weld a bead into it.
I suspect that there are other methods as well.
I would have no intent to deceive any future owners, so lets not go there.
This is a cosmetic issue for me..

No help, but TIG 'Invisible Sleeving' is amazing. This William Cashmore, 12b sleeved to 16b, was on the Heritage Guns UK site

Hi, my 12b Henry Atkin is sleeved and the seam was been engraved over, a la Italian style. you can see the seam on the underside of the bbl. As the gun is marked "Sleeved" on the bbl flats, no deception. If you don't want to deceive anyone (good for you BTW) just be upfront and tell them.

Best!

Greg

I have seen four guns sleeved in this fashion and one had no cut line in the top or bottom ribs now either the ribs where removed from the gun before the front barrel section was cut and removed or the ribs where also welded. The good thing about the work being undertaken here in Britland is that the gun must be submitted for proof and if the gun passes proof firing the barrels are stamped �SLEEVED� with no exceptions even if you can not see the barrel joints you are left in no doubt that the gun has sleeved barrels.

I have never heard of a sleeved gun having its ribs cut too as part of the procedure? The ribs are always lifted before the tubes are cut.

The tubes are marked as SLEEVED and I understand why.. I'm still wondering if there is a way to eliminate the obvious silver ring. Toby of Heritage Guns does a bang up job of sleeving, I agree. Now can a soldered joint be cleaned and perhaps TIG welded to hide the joint?
And no, the ribs are full length, not cut at the joint..

With a tin soldered sleeve job, you would have to take the entire barrel set apart (unsolder) ribs and barrels from the back end to completely remove all solder. Then it would be possible to have the joints welded. If any of the solder remains and gets into the weld puddle you would have a very contaminated weld. It is sleeved,enjoy it that way. The only advantage to a welded job is the joint generally doesn't show.

Have an engraver put a gold band in the joint and another at the breach. Easiest way to make it aesthetically pleasing.

Or use soft iron inlay and make it disappear, though sometimes bluing differences can make it show slightly under the right light conditions.

PS...I wonder if this kind of "cure" affects the proof in any way??

Dennis is quite correct in what he says . I must also add that the further problems are first removing the tubes without damaging them ,secondly in making sure all the tin is removed which may mean the tubes are not as tight fit as they should be and may even be loose . Third if this achieved getting the tubes back in place correctly so that the extractor wells line up . They also need to be welded around the rims and back ends as well as round the tubes . Top and bottom is that yes it is possible but not practical and is simpler if contemplating this to just fit new tubes .Real trouble here is that untill you get the old tubes out you do not know how good a job was done origialy and how thin the back ends are and you run the risk of ending up with a worse job or scraping it all together
Not quite sure what SamW means but I do not think it is a practical solution.
Damascus , the only time you cut the ribs on a sleever is if it has brazed ribs ,this will mean having to fit new ribs and if the job is done proporly the top rib would be taken back to about an inch from the breech when the new top rib is fitted as well as a new bottom and short rib .