Forums.NitroExpress.com

Dad bored out the monoblock and squared off the ends. Next he shaped the barrels and cut a tenon on each one to a light press fit into the reamed monoblock. Tinning both the barrels and monoblock, he soldered them togeather and locked them with grub screws into the flats. After cutting the extractor bed and fitting the extractors, he scraped in the barrels to the standing breech. Now the barrels were chambered and headspaced.I had talked with several guys about tig welding and they all just went on and on about how wonderful it was being strong and low heat. I didn't want a seam showing at the joint so I talked him into cutting a grooved ring at the barrel joint that was to be "tigged welded" in thus creating a virtual seamless joint or so I thought.   Gawd, I wish I had talked to Tinker before trying this. It proved to be a nightmare as the weld was so hard we had to hand stone it down. A file wouldn't cut it.

After some initial bore sighting with the right barrel, he soldered in a temporary front wedge. Dad hand filed a block of leaded steel to a V bottom and milled the top parallel to the bore center and put temporary bases on it. I stole a leupold scope off one of my brother's rifles and we were off to the range. WE strapped the rifle in a leadslead with bungee cords and shot several heavy proof loads to begin with. Once convinced it wasn't going to come apart we started shooting it for rough regulation.

We would go shoot at the range and then Dad would set the barrels back up on the bench jig to his zero point.   Dad made the jig by bolting a vise to a metal table. Each side had an adjustable brass, centering spud turned to the bore size. This way either side could be moved up and down as well as left or right. He would square and level the barrels and then lock down the right barrel,unsolder the bridge and using two dial indicators, move the left barrel the right amount of thousandths he wanted and lock it down.   He would then machine a new front block the size he wanted, and solder it in.   Each trip to the range would consist of 18 shots.   I would shoot three right-lefts, let the barrels cool and then three more sets of two.

Once we got close he made more caculations and set up a temporary rear sight and threaded a turned down screw into the front bridge as a front sight.   After several more trips we had both barrels shooting to point of aim and parallel but not crossing at 100 yards. Now both the scope and iron sights were shooting on.   Dad then brazed in a second spacer in the front that would hold it's location during the rib soldering.

It was almost rib time. He had brazed in a thin block between the barrels that would be the base to hold the two swivel screws. I had cut a section of metal tubing out for the under rib and under the taskmaster's watchfull eye spent ten million hours draw filing and polishing it until he ws satisfied. Both sides were filed with a bevel to insure a good fit to the barrels. Dad machined the front ramp and fit the front sight. He threaded the front ramp for a tiny screw that is backed out of the ramp to lock in the catarpillar blade.    He milled off the fixed middle blade of the rear sight I had so I would still have two folding blades but be able to use a low peep sight.

TO BE CONTINUED.