doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com MY BOSS RENOVATION ADVENTURE

George too late now it got out of hand when you bought it...and I believe that's a factory made Husky Birddog posted.

Bac in the hay days of barrel sleeving in Birmingham ,that the late 60's .Tubes were in short supply and as a rule Brummie gun men did not spend money if they did not have to . As a result of this there are a lot of old barrels stripped down and the tube reused .Some were barrel that had for some reason never been finished or that had failed proof on one side and were put aside as nothing was ever scrapped . Greener had a great many that seemed to disperse into the trade ans there were Fire damaged barrels that had come out of the old Midland factory . Yes I have done it myself in the past . It was not uncommon to find a cheaply sleeved gun that had one steel tube and one damascus !

Point being that if you can find a good set of damascus barrels then yes it is possible to take them apart and reuse the tubes . But you have to be very careful and measure up to make sure before you start .Nowadays I would be reluctant to take such a job on and if I did it would be on the script understanding that the outcome of the finished job would not be guaranteed .
Sorry Toby but I think your idea of "re-lumping " is a non starter as I can see so many problems ,believe me having fitted a new lump to a set of barrels in the past I can assure you it ain't easy .

I might add that first step would be to find a good gun to put them on....

kinda like putting a set of shiny twink'y twos with some high dollar skinz on a car with no motor and a rusted out body and clapped out interior.

jOe it may be a Husky model 48 or 49(if the chamber bloc is damascus), but it sure didn't come from the factory with damascus to damascus sleeved barrels. I'd be fine with a sleeving result like the pictures Birdog posted...Geo

george: just a thought about finding a nice set of damascus barrels. there is a unending supply of shotguns out there with nice damascus barrels but the rest of the gun is junk i see no reason the barrels cant be salvaged and even possibly be fitted to your boss. with the welding techniques of today and machining im sure that gun can properly be brought back. i have bought many junkers over the years with perfect damascus barrels off of gunbroker in the less than $250.00 range. just something to think about.

Pod I like your enthusiasm But I do not think you full understand the problem .Width of centers is the first essential , then no matter how good at welding you may be the width of the lump has to be correct the depth of the lump and the spacing not to mention stripping off the ribs and fitting a new loop . You might have to try 50 pairs of barrels before you come across one that even comes close . Believe me as one who has tried , in my younger and more foolish days , to find barrels that will fit or can be fitted to another gun even of the same make ,it is not a realistic proposition .

i hear you, as you said i really dont understand the ends and out of such a project and in the back of my mind i knew it could not be that simple. im always amazed with the amount of expertise and knowledge on this forum im sure this restoration will be completed in the future with the help of members such as yourself that understand the ins and outs of such a project. regards

Bill Wise had a beautifully restored Purdey hammergun. The barrels had been sleeved with damascus tubes from a defunct gun. The patterns matched so well, that the joint was nearly impossible to detect. So much so that when it underwent proof, the proofhouse missed the sleeving and did not stamp them as such.

When I asked Bill about the missing stamp he was surprised and commented that he had never noticed.

The work was done in England, but I can not remember the shop that did the work for him.

Firstly the barrels would have beeen in the white,that is polished off so it was not possible to see the paterns . Secondley when a sleeved gun is submitted for re-proof it must be declared as sleeved. There was a breif period that the London Proof house stopped stamping sleeved back in the 80's I recall . Prior to this they stamped sleeved on the new tube in front of the joint . There have been the odd time that guns have been incorrectly marked but it is a rarity .

Hi, been reading with interest as I'm currently working on a nice set of damascus barrels , I was concerned about some pitting and looked into sleeving and possibly re barreling. I contacted peter Dyson(uk) about the damascus tubes on their website, I was told they are blanks so would need boring etc and striking down externally , would this extra wall thickness on the original blank enable them to be 'made' to fit most if not all guns , given that the centres and measurements mentioned earlier on this thread could be re produced ?
I have no intention of doing any barrel work other than browning , polishing and a bit of tightening up where necessary as I simply don't know enough about it and would rather leave it to the trained experts, but in cases like this, and I realise it won't be cheap, would this be the most straightforward way to go ?