It's not supposed to look like this!

[PhilFedUp]

My first shotgun was as 12 bore Silver Pigeon, bought new about 20 years ago. It's seen plenty of clays, and even hit some of them. Imagine my horror when I looked at it last Sunday to see that where the barrel tubes meet the monoblock there was a gap appearing about the thickness of a credit card. The barrel tubes are parting from the monoblock. I decided it was probably best to stop using it at that point.

I consulted GMK and was informed that it's fixable, chargeable and needs to go back to Italy, taking 6-9 months, and the cost to me would be likely to be in the order of £700-£800.

I was wondering if anyone else had seen this happen, and what happened next.

 

[chippy]

I would have thought a good gunsmith could repair that. They are either brazed or silver soldered in. £700 sounds a crazy price. 

 

[Will Hewland]

I would have thought a good gunsmith could repair that. They are either brazed or silver soldered in. £700 sounds a crazy price. 

Especially when they sell new barrels as part of a new gun for about £400 I estimate. But yes, a UK gunsmith job for a fraction of £700 I would think. 

 

[Jonny English]

My dad had that happen to an old 686 in the early 90's. Not sure if it was still under warranty but gmk supplied him with a new set of barrels for his foc.

 

[Freddypip]

Is there a matching gap at the breach end ??

I am sure they will be brazed which now involves heating the barrels and mono-block beyond and that might therefore affect the rib etc. They will be re-proofed.

Its not the money bit that would bother me but the time - why should it take 6 to 9 months.

There seem little point as you might in getting them fixed as you may as well buy a second hand gun or barrel set and have the barrels fitted particularly as your originals may not be HP Steelproof.

 

[PhilFedUp]

My first shotgun was as 12 bore Silver Pigeon, bought new about 20 years ago. It's seen plenty of clays, and even hit some of them. Imagine my horror when I looked at it last Sunday to see that where the barrel tubes meet the monoblock there was a gap appearing about the thickness of a credit card. The barrel tubes are parting from the monoblock. I decided it was probably best to stop using it at that point.

I consulted GMK and was informed that it's fixable, chargeable and needs to go back to Italy, taking 6-9 months, and the cost to me would be likely to be in the order of £700-£800.

I was wondering if anyone else had seen this happen, and what happened next.

View attachment 9328

Latest update on the poor old sod. It was dismantled, cleaned to within an inch of its life, and re-jointed using some sort of magic goo from Loctite. It went together fine; tested by the gunsmith, then taken outside to get plenty of shells through it, and it seemed solid as a rock. However, when it went to the Proof House, it failed, and it's down to the magic goo. Not magic enough.
The cunning plan now is to dismantle, clean up, and do what we should have done to start with; suitable silver solder/flux paste to complete the job, then re-blue it, and back it goes to Birmingham once more. I saw it the other day, and there's nothing to see on it.