Help with Browning 'salt wood' problem

[Gordon]

I have a good friend who got ahold of a nice Superposed Lightning in 12ga. The trigger reset mechanism doen't work and when I took the forend off I noticed rust type corrosion under the barrel (not THAT bad) . I presume the action bob weight is gummed up. The stock bolt is pretty frozen. With out getting some high buck restoration is there any GOOD shotgun smith out there who could strip it down, clean and lube it and seal up the "salt wood " with multiple coats of Varathane or something. Names and Phone # PLEASE. PS: Browning IS NOT doing anything about this anymore!

 

[Gordon]

Surely one of you shotgun experts knows a Superposed mechanic!

 

[PJR]

I can't recommend someone to do this or know even if it's possible but there are a couple of sites where you might post the same question.

http://bbs.shootingsportsman.com/
http://www.gunshop.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=1
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/index.php

In the days when Browning fixed these problems they restocked the guns. The salt wood problem occurred in the mid 60's to early 70's and Browning fixed these guns for many years after. It's probably not surprising that Browning is not fixing the guns today more than 3 decades after the fact.

Here's another link where Bruce Buck, a pretty knowledgable shotgunner, offers some thoughts on salt wood.

http://www.shotgunreport.com/TechTech/TechnoidArchive/19-Aug-03.html

The bad news is that given the time that has passed, the presence of rust on the barrels and the mechanical issues inside the gun, it's not unreasonable to assume there is a significant amount of rust inside the gun.

To bring this gun back up to spec would probably require tearing it down completely, cleaning up and/or replacing inside parts and restocking the gun. In other words, it would be the high dollar restoration you are trying to avoid.

Such are the risks of buying a used gun without knowing what you are doing. There are serialization lists for the salt wood guns and a couple of pretty simple tests that can be peformed to determine whether you are dealing with a salt wood gun.

Best of luck to your friend. I hope it works out for him.

Paul

 

[Gordon]

Thanks alot SM. At least I have a lead or two. Yes cleaning up the rust issues, Restocking is too much though. I think there must be modern chemicals to form a barrier around the beautiful wood!