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Let me "briefly" mention about scopes. I had picked up a Zeiss rail scope with a picket post and claw mounts off the internet. The rear base was damaged so he added a section to it with intentions of putting a folding peep there. He decided to set it up for two scopes, the zeiss with the see through mounts and a new scope in a set of low claw mounts. During all this fitting and manuvering he ended up making a ghost peep that would lock in the rear base out of an old claw mount he had. The Zeiss had several holes drilled into the rail from previous mounts that he filled with aluminum plugs. He set it up in the mill and with a cutter dressed down the rail back flush. For the second mounts he used the feet off of an old set of mounts he had but before we were done he scrapped them and made another set. He cut off a set of Ruger rings and made the feet from a block of steel and then soldered them to the rings.

The final quarter rib was drilled,tapped, and tinned and then bolted through the barrel V and then soldered. Then with the unit in the mill he fly cut the top to bring it parallel and to the height he wanted. At this point he machined the wave and cut the dovetails for the claw mounts and rear sight. He wanted to make islands for the front base and rear sight but I wanted to keep the line of sights as low as possible.   The front ramp was also drilled,tapped, and tinned and then screwed to the rib that had been flycut and and machined waved.

Once everything was in place he wired and clamped it all down for the final soldering. Soon as everything was cooled down and checked for rib fit we oiled the barrels and cleaned the entire shop. For several days he put oil in the swivel holes and every crack and cranny. I never realized how crucial every minute is to the overall job during this because from the second you start you can't stop.    Also, the final clean up is a major ordeal.

The moment of truth was now at hand. I know the question that's been on your mind and it was on ours as well.   To be honest my stomach was killing me as we unloaded the gear at the range. Would we be back at square one? After the first two shots I could breath normal, a couple more and I was in tall cotton.   The addition of the ribs hadn't affected the point of impact nor the grouping at all. It did take some shooting to get the new sights lined up and realign the scope but both barrels still grouped the same and printed to the same place.   Needless to say we were estatic. I realize what we did goes against all the standard proceedures but it worked. I've shot the gun over 300 times to date.

Still we weren't done. Dad set up the barrels and ground the muzzle square and cut the crowns. He fit a small block that seals the opening between the barrels at the muzzle. After taking the sights and bases off everything was shipped to Charles Danner for the rust blue.   Mr. Danner does excellent work and this time was no exception.   There was still two grooves at the breech face that we had intended to "tig" up but after our previous experience Dad ended up just filling them with solder.   Dad reassembled the gun for one final trip back to the range for the final sight in.

   The rifle weighs a couple of ounces under nine pounds with 23 inch barrels.

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