Ideally I'd like to restore this to original in appearance....Can these holes be welded shut? I figure if not plugs peened and filed. I'd really like to get the lettering restored if I could.

wow, that looks nasty ..
if that a prewar 99? .. its heat treated, and i would have to make the screws from some hot rolled stock, as it will color better, peen the screws over, KNOWING it will show .. but i would keep the tig away from that particular front ring, as the barrel tennon is tiny, and the ring thin..

kinda like what jeffeosso said, but then put some blockheat around the screws and get a guy that really knows how to heliarc (not very many around) and he can weld in the tops of the screws without hurting temper

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
i would keep the tig away from that particular front ring, as the barrel tennon is tiny, and the ring thin..

You're lucky in that the bolt locks up at the rear. Soooo, pull the barrel, thread a piece of copper to fit, and weld the holes closed. Draw (neutralize)the area around the weld with a torch to remove any hard spots and carefully re-shape. Find someone to fill in the blanks. Probably someone like Mr. Kehr.

Thanks for the advice. I'm waiting to get some wood turned and after I finish it up I'll get this done.

If you are resourceful you can find a shop with an electron beam welder. The EBW can weld the plugs full depth without a lot of heat. The beads would only be about .030 wide.

I tried to do that on a project once. I had more than one source that was all eager to help until they heard is was a gun part. Most non-firearm relates companies simply won't get involved with that because they can't keep the part overnight and/or perceive a special liability.

I once worked for a medical implant company.
It scared the bejabbers out of a lot of companies to even think of manufacturing replacement body parts. The same companies often manufactured aircraft parts without hesitation.