Jim,
No, this gun is the pretty one I just got back from restoration in December and used it on that phez hunt in Blythe. I shot some pics of it just before I took it apart. It came back with a little crack. I was really disappointed. I just re-layed the ribs lastnight so I haven't shot it yet. I've regulated the 20-28 conversion this way for twist several times while changing convergence and it works fine. I believe this is the way everyone regulates for twist. I did not change convergence, so that should be the same POI. Here's some pics before.
You can see the rust where it delaminated about 3" back from the muzzle. From the outside it appeared to be less than an inch.
It cleaned up quickly with no pitting.
One thing I did was to tin the whole suface between the ribs. When I stripped it, this gun was tinned only on the joint surfaces. I had stripped a LC for that 20-28 conversion a few yrs ago and recalled how they had fully tinned between the ribs for corrosion protection.
Drew,
There are rosin based fluxes and acid based fluxes. Steel is nearly impossible to tin with rosin flux. It requires an acid flux to get the solder to flow and stick. But acid flux residue cannot be left in between the ribs. So, you tinn all the parts using an acid flux. I used Brownell's Comet acid flux and acid core solder. Once all parts are tinned with the acid flux, all residue of the flux must be cleaned. Then, a rosin flux can be used because you are simply joining solder to solder. Rosin flux residue can be left in between the ribs without concern for corrosion.
