Guys:

Have an otherwise very nice Ithaca 37, that has some small areas of pitting on the barrel. Fairly shallow, but, I think, too deep to polish out. Been looking into/reading about laser welding. That seems like a viable options.

Would appreciate thoughts and ideas from experienced metal finishers. Will attempt to post pics.

Whoa, that a big pic. Sorry about that.

Draw filing before polishing seems to work every time! Just don't dig a hole, needs to be blended and uniform. Doesn't take some high tech welding procedure, just manual labor (who, by the way, was not Mexican General). I polish most shotgun barrels by hand, as they are so soft. More "manual labor".

You need to resize your pictures; you are in HUGE mode. All I see is a blur.
Ithaca 37: Not worth much; shoot it as is. or get another one.
Do NOT weld on a barrel!

quote:

Originally posted by slivers:
Draw filing before polishing seems to work every time! Just don't dig a hole, needs to be blended and uniform. Doesn't take some high tech welding procedure, just manual labor (who, by the way, was not Mexican General). I polish most shotgun barrels by hand, as they are so soft. More "manual labor".

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This. Or buy a used barrel, check FleaBay.

quote:

Ithaca 37: Not worth much; shoot it as is. or get another one.
Do NOT weld on a barrel!

This

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Ithaca 37: Not worth much; shoot it as is. or get another one.
Do NOT weld on a barrel!

This

The HAZ on modern micro-welders makes the above statements dated. You can literally hold the piece you are welding and touch it immediately afterwards and not burn yourself. I micro-welder barrel flaws regularly.


That said, for the above barrel draw filing would likely get you where you need to be. The barrel wall thickness on a 37 is quite generous.

I have not seen a picture of the pitting (just a large expanse of gray), but it is likely it can be filed and polished out. Regards, Bill

I take it that the pitting is way out at the muzzle end,,,if that is the Front Sight Bead and the back end of a Poly Choke in the pic.

Filing/polishing it out would be my first choice.
The bbls are generally stout. Measure the wall first, then take into consideration it's out at the muzzle (if I'm correct in my assuption above).

Laser Welding is certainly an option. Way out there and being a shotgun as well (pressures).

Lastly, and this would be some work.
Move the Poly choke back the amt required that removes the pitted section of bbl.
Some Polys are hard soldered onto the turned muzzle. Others (more common) are threaded onto the muzzle.
If threaded, cut the threaded section off just behind the poly body and re-solder into the cut down bbl with a counter bored joint up close to the polychoke body. You won't notice the joint that way.

You will loose maybe 1 1/2" of bbl length I'd guess.

Resized image, pitting is close to muzzle/polychoke, draw file and replace Bradley front bead, it will be like new.

Guys-

Thanks for the inputs and advice. Also thanks for the resizing!

Yes, it is towards the end of the barrel near the polychoke with the broken Bradley…..hood eyes there!

At SB mentions, the Laser/micro welding techniques have changed the game a bit here. I have reached out to fellow that does this to get his thoughts. If the cost is not unreasonable I may very well go that route just to try it out.

This particular one is a pre-war 16 ga so not a throw away to me at least. Also barrels don’t interchange on these so a new barrel isn’t cost effective either.

Thanks. Bob

Chicks dig scars! I'd just hunt with it and be happy!

It's a 37 with a poly choke. 0000 steel wool, cold blue and oil. Then hunt with it!

The pits look too deep to me. I think maybe filing them completely out will thin the steel too much or leave a flat spot on the barrel that would be hard to hide. Just shoot it.