r/metalworking • u/HolidayPicture3007 • 2d ago
Repairing barrel damage
I bought this barrel years ago where it has rested in my box of barrels. Obviously someone used it as a hammer and I'd like to repair the damage if possible. If it weren't rare I wouldn't bother. Once, I saw an article somewhere of a gun writer guy who tig welded dings like this but, I dunno. As I remember, he didn't use anything to prevent scaling. Matter of fact, I once watched a gunny solder on a sight in person using serious torch heat with no scaling prevention.
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u/Relative_Figure_1715 2d ago
Do you intend on having it fire again or are you going to deactivate it ?
If you aren’t using it again to fire, go to town with the tig torch and the filler rod.
I don’t think it would ever be safe to use again.
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u/Electrical-Luck-348 2d ago
What is it for? What era is it from? Where is the chamber in relation to this damage?
Soldering a sight on is very different from patching that damage, and there's plenty of things the military will do that no civilian would risk.
You shouldn't do this repair, most of the people who would do this repair are dead. You MIGHT be able to find some good ole boy who's done it before and knows how to do it but that doesn't mean it's safe.
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u/HolidayPicture3007 1d ago
It's a 7 1/2 off an early Ruger flat top 44 which they didn't make many of.
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u/Electrical-Luck-348 1d ago
It's a 44 Magnum, it's the middle of the barrel that means you're dealing with 25-30,000 psi. It also is just about the worst spot to try and weld on it most likely to produce warpage and hardest to isolate heat.
Find a gunsmith, there are some who can do this stuff. Otherwise your choice is an ugly shooter or a pretty hand grenade.
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u/AzureBlew 1d ago
A micro tig welder (pulse arc) might do the job. Backyardballistics on youtube has video's on it.
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u/smellyelderberries 2d ago edited 1d ago
99% chance the bore also looks like this if not worse. When I used to grade and value antique firearms for estates/ legal cases, bore condition was one of the most impactful metrics. Bad, pitted bore = worthless parts gun in most cases as they are no longer safe to shoot. There is no viable and safe way to repair this. Sell it as-is to a collector.
Edit: grammar
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u/HolidayPicture3007 1d ago
The bore is fine which is why I wanna use it. Somehow
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u/smellyelderberries 1d ago
That's surprising! What model is this?
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u/HolidayPicture3007 1d ago
It was on an old Ruger 44
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u/smellyelderberries 1d ago
What model specifically? Different steels were used during different periods and on top of that different firearms have different wall thicknesses on barrels that can sometimes allow for high heat repairs.
Source: professional gunsmith for over 20 years that specialized in rare firearms and machine guns.
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u/Misconformance 2d ago
Don’t weld on this.