I’ve learned a lot about working on barrels throughout the course and know welding on any of them is almost always forbidden. What is the process the factories are using to TIG weld the lugs and other fittings on their bbls? Are they normalizing / heat treating after completing the weld? If so how do they prevent scale in the bore? Or is the bbl drilled, reamed and rifled after the weldment? There is a lot of interest here in the New England Handi Rifle and H&R Ultra Hunter Rifles. I’ve been asked if its possible to custom re-barrel them in cartridges such as the .260 Rem. With longer bbl length. My answer was, Machining a bbl lug woud be fairly simple but welding it to the bbl poses a serious and potentially dangerous problem with welding stresses etc. I Thought I would ask a real gunsmith.
I believe that the welding is done before the final heat treat process of the barrel is done. I don’t know how they keep from getting scale on the inside of the barrel, the barrels can be filled with something that will or can absorb heat etc. and they may even have a way of running water or coolant thru the barrels to keep them from scaling. I will have to look into it further and let you know. Ken
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Thanks for your answer. I’ve done some research on the subject and no one seems to know or is willing to share the information. I’d be interested in what you find out.
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I know that when Remington installs one of their barrel lugs that the whole thing is tempered, annealed etc afterward. According to Bob TC uses an induction welding process and the barrels are chambered after the lug is attached. Hope that helps, Ken
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I forgot to tell you if someone wanted us to make a barrel i.e. longer or different contour or caliber than what the factory or factory custom shop was willing to do we would turn that job down. Ken
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Argon gas can be used as a purge gas to prevent oxidation of a rifled bore from the heat of TIG welding. I have done some TIG welding on internally polished ss piping used in computer chip mfg processes, and I can say the process is excellent.
