About a week ago a friend of mine had his Trophy room burn down with all his trophies and most of his guns - 22 of them and some of them were real beauties. I had a look at them two days ago and I can tell you it was heart breaking.

None of the guns have even a semblance of a stock left and each and every spring off all the guns has lost its tension. The ribs of all double rifles and shotguns have come off and in the case of his .425 Westley Richards the action is jammed (seems like some solder from the rib has jammed the ejectors).

My question is - can these guns be restored or have the steels of the action and barrels been compromised. Is there some kind of test that one can conduct to check the strength of the steels(rockwell hardness)

He is prepared to send all of the double rifles back to UK if the guns can be restored.

All advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

Pluto

I recently restored some fire damaged Win 70's. The large mass metal parts may have some hope of restoration, i.e. receivers, bolts and thick walled barrels. The triggers, sears, firing pins and anything with some thickness to them probably can be salvaged as well. It will not be cheap to restore the guns. The salvageable parts will not be cost prohibitive to be tested and then reheat treated.

I used Blanchard's in Salt Lake City Utah and can't recommend them highly enough. Great job, great price, swift service.

One of the best restoration specialists in the country is right down the road from our shop. Guild member Pete Mazur in Grass Valley Ca. 530-268-2412. He is very expensive, but if you want a Purdy to look like a Purdy when it's done, he's your guy. Good luck to your friend.

Isn't it curious that in most house fires where there are guns involved, there is usually a Win 70. Hmmmm...

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
Isn't it curious that in most house fires where there are guns involved, there is usually a Win 70. Hmmmm...

They're prone to spontaneous combustion, one of their design faults.

quote:

Posted 23 April 2010 20:52 Hide Post
Isn't it curious that in most house fires where there are guns involved, there is usually a Win 70. Hmmmm...

Now cut that out next thing you know there'll be a 45/70 involved

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
Isn't it curious that in most house fires where there are guns involved, there is usually a Win 70. Hmmmm...

Not surprizing at all. The other guns that get burnt up aren't worth good what a pre 64 70 is burnt. They just discard them.

Just kidding. I bought a few of the burnt ones on this forum and a couple of people gave me one locally is why they keep appearing.

I know hind site and all that But a fire rated safe is cheep. If this guy has the money to send his stuff back to the UK I'd get a safe for when they come back. Hope they were insured.

B&G Gunsmithing 816-331-6589. Gene has been doing restorations for decades and does outstanding work.

Sorry to hear that. Lost all my trophies in a house fire about 10 years ago, no rifles lost though. Wish your friend the best of luck.

There is insurance for that.

Guys,

Thanks for the replies and the info.

Unfortunately, he did not have insurance

quote:

Originally posted by Pluto:Unfortunately, he did not have insurance

No safe and no insurance....unbelievable!

To be honest a safe is good fore theft protection. Even the most fireproof safe is still only adding protection. Most guns in bad fires aren't much good regardless of the safe.

Specifically what I am saying is don't think your house can burn to the ground and you can go into your safe and think everything will be fine in there. It does offer protection but none that I know of can protect guns in that kind of fire. 1600F for 45 minutes sounds good but it does have the limit of 1600 for 45 minutes and that can be breached in a lot of fires.

Firearm insurance policies aren't too rosy either for most of us. If the policy is affordable there are usually so many conditions and caveats that it isn't much help. There are some that cost a small fortune and MAY offer total coverage, but they are out of my reach.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by Pluto:Unfortunately, he did not have insurance

No safe and no insurance....unbelievable!

Dumbass (hey, someone had to say it)!

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
To be honest a safe is good fore theft protection. Even the most fireproof safe is still only adding protection. Most guns in bad fires aren't much good regardless of the safe.

Specifically what I am saying is don't think your house can burn to the ground and you can go into your safe and think everything will be fine in there. It does offer protection but none that I know of can protect guns in that kind of fire. 1600F for 45 minutes sounds good but it does have the limit of 1600 for 45 minutes and that can be breached in a lot of fires.

Firearm insurance policies aren't too rosy either for most of us. If the policy is affordable there are usually so many conditions and caveats that it isn't much help. There are some that cost a small fortune and MAY offer total coverage, but they are out of my reach.

Additionally, most firemen I talk to tell me that a fireproof safe won't protect your firearms from hot steam generated when they spray water on your house to put it out. I've see what kind of damage this rust will do...its ugly.

I'm sure a rifle in a safe is 100% better off than in a corner of your closet.

Hot steam/fire or whatever....mine are in a safe.