SKB Repair

[Hawkeye Kid]

Back from The Last Stand in Florida. Great shoot, stages were ideal with target placement and movement by the way.

Anyways, cleaning the guns today, when it became the shotgun’s turn the lug the forearm attaches to the barrel came off. Does any one know Is this silver solder on?  Guess if I can find a local welder or gunsmith they should be able to repair.  Heading to the SW Regional in Fort Smith on the 23rd anyone out there who can do the repair that day?
 

[Leroy Luck]

Last year Boomstick Jay had his trailer there, for what that’s worth. Do you have a spare to use at the SW regional?

[TN Mongo, SASS #61450]

I had this happen to one of my SKBs a few years ago. I contacted the new SKB company and they recommended the following outfit:

 

Gunsmithing LTD

3 Lacey PL

Southport, CT 06890

Mitch Schultz

(203) 254-0436

 

They did an excellent job, but I remember it being a tad over $300 for the repair.

 

A good friend and fellow cowboy shooter had the same thing happen to one of his SKBs and he used the following company for the repair:

 

Briley Manufacturing

www.briley.com

(713) 932-6995

 

I looked at his shotgun when he got it back and their work was also excellent and he got a better price for the repair than I did from Gunsmithing LTD.

 

A well know cowboy gunsmith recommended that I epoxy the lug back in place because he had good results using that method for repair. I tried that idea and it did not work for me.  He did give me excellent advice to always use a tight-fitting leather sleeve over the forend on SKBs to take the stress off the barrel lug. I now use leather sleeves on all my SKBs and have not had another problem.     

Edited April 8, 2025 by TN Mongo, SASS #61450

[Tarheel Doc]

I just had this happen. I repaired it with JB weld for metal and has worked well so far. 

[Hawkeye Kid]

Never had good experience with JB weld. 
$300 seems outrageous for this repair. Looks like the lug is silver solder in place. Very little material on the part and in the wedge where it fits. 
May try the sleeve once it’s repair. TN Mongo where did you get yours?

[Silver Sam, SASS #34718L]

I know of a couple that have been repaired with JB Weld and they're both holding up several years later!

[Lead Monger]

That looks like soft solder. Clean it and solder it back on. Or have a local Smith do it for you.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

It's going to be soft solder, so it's able to be repaired without the solder on the barrels-to-ribs junctions being softened when the lug is attached.    

 

I'd certainly recommend Briley to do this - all they do is shotgun work, mainly on high-end guns, which an SKB is close to being. 

Either them, or Art's Gunshop in Hillsboro MO, who do a LOT of high-end side-by-side and O/U barrel set repairs.....   https://artsgunshop.com/contact-us/

 

Cost is often pretty high on this because it can often require re-rust bluing the barrels after the soldering.  If you do not care if the bottom of barrel area is left "de blued" or even just can be cold-blued to get a "fair match" of color, mention this and they may be able to reduce the cost.

 

good luck, GJ

 

Edited April 9, 2025 by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

[Captain Bill Burt]

Three Cut made the same repair on one of mine years ago and it’s held up well.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

I do not post much any more but want to make sure you do not ruin your gun.  Do not use silver solder as the heat required would melt the solder holding the barrels together and probably ruin your barrels.  Welding is also not a good repair method.  The barrels are soft soldered.  For the repair use soft solder or at most use low temp Hi-Force 44 from Brownells.  This is a fairly common problem with SKBs and Johnny Meadows, Boomstick or any of several other SASS smiths that work on SKBs should be able to fix it.  In all candor Briley might not even do the job once they see SASS hacked barrels and funneled chambers.  Plus the cost would be high.  Here is the typical set-up.  First photo is the separated lug.  After the part is cleaned and retinned and the joint fluxed the lug is placed in the barrel.  An iron rod is placed on either side of the lug and the barrels wrapped with soft iron wire.  These act as heat sinks.  Apply heat to the area and the solder will melt and flow.  The repair usually does not require reblue as the temps are relatively low.

 

 

[SGT. ELI 35882 GUNFIGHTER]

My friend just had his done, $80 soldered.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

3 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

I do not post much any more but want to make sure you do not ruin your gun.  Do not use silver solder as the heat required would melt the solder holding the barrels together and probably ruin your barrels.  Welding is also not a good repair method.  The barrels are soft soldered.  For the repair use soft solder or at most use low temp Hi-Force 44 from Brownells.  This is a fairly common problem with SKBs and Johnny Meadows, Boomstick or any of several other SASS smiths that work on SKBs should be able to fix it.  In all candor Briley might not even do the job once they see SASS hacked barrels and funneled chambers.  Plus the cost would be high.  Here is the typical set-up.  First photo is the separated lug.  After the part is cleaned and retinned and the joint fluxed the lug is placed in the barrel.  An iron rod is placed on either side of the lug and the barrels wrapped with soft iron wire.  These act as heat sinks.  Apply heat to the area and the solder will melt and flow.  The repair usually does not require reblue as the temps are relatively low.

 

 

Brownell's low-temp silver solder works very well.

 

Edited April 9, 2025 by The Original Lumpy Gritz

[Hawkeye Kid]

Brownell’s Hi-Force 44 solder is out of stock.  Would the 4% silver, 96% tin solder sold for electronic use be the same?

[Tall John]

Hawkeye, connecticut shotgun has the hand guards but they aren’t cheap.

 

https://connecticutshotgun.co/black-leather-handguards/
 

[Lankyframe #44046]

How about trying the epoxy they use for relining a barrel?

[Oklahoma Dee]

I have had this happen a couple of times, and I agree with Garrison Joe, about Briley's.  Course it is a scant 20 minutes for me to go there.  But, they are one of the premier shotgun gunsmithing shops.  They do it right...the first time.  call to price em.  I am thinking it was around 200.  They know all about cowboy action shooters and understand the cutting and mods, etc being done.  They also have cut two SKB's for me, down to 19".  Great job by them.  All they care about is makin me happy.  Another option could be Brad Finch, Longhunter gunsmith, up in Amarillo, Texas.

 

Briley MFG, 1230 Lumpkin Rd, Houston TX 77043

NEW HOURS! Showroom and Sales: Monday - Friday 8-5 • Saturday 8-12 • Sunday CLOSED
Gun Fitting: By appointment only, please call the showroom for details.
Phone: 1-800-331-5718 / 713-932-6995

[Hawkeye Kid]

17 hours ago, SGT. ELI 35882 GUNFIGHTER said:

My friend just had his done, $80 soldered.

Do you know who did the work? Contact information would be great.

[Lonesoms Al SASS37893]

4 minutes ago, Hawkeye Kid said:

Do you know who did the work? Contact information would be great.

He is an old time gunsmith in Oakland , IL. I can pm you his contact information if you would like it. He is hard to contact and sometimes does not get the work done in a timely manner. If you are in no hurry let me know and I will get you his contact information.

[Bison Bud]

On 4/8/2025 at 8:30 PM, Tarheel Doc said:

I just had this happen. I repaired it with JB weld for metal and has worked well so far. 

It does appear to have been silver soldered in place, but rather than paying a professional to make the repair, I'd probably try the JB Weld route myself.  I had the upper rib of a Baikal SXS come off shooting black powder, because the barrel got so hot the solder melted, and I glued it back in place with JB Weld and I believe it to now be stronger than it was originally and have put literally thousands of rounds through it since the repair.  Might not work as well on this lug since it holds the barrel on, but I think it might just do the trick and cost you $6.00 or $8.00 for the glue!  Good luck and good shooting to all.  

[Hawkeye Kid]

Struck out with the local smiths in CT.   FYI: Gunsmithing  LTD is out of business. 

The DIY route is about $74 for solder and flux, $17 for some iron rods and maybe instead of using iron wire copper wire plus some wet to rags.

Unfortunately, Briley wants the complete gun - price is somewhere between $175 to $200+  without rebluing barrel.  4+ weeks turnaround time.

 

Guess I will have to break out the back-up that has been standing in the safe for the last 10 years. 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

I am no longer familiar with who does SKB work east of the Mississippi.  Go to the FAQs and look at the Cowboy Gunsmiths thread.  Solicit some suggestions on who is ACTUALLY doing SKB work and check the list.  You should only need to send the barrels and no FFL is needed.  It can go USPS, UPS, FedEx as it is just a part and not a gun.  As you have found out for a one shot repair the cost of materials is about what a lot of smiths would charge for the repair.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2025 by Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933

[Marshal Stone, SASS #53366]

Might check with Fast Eddie,

He does a lot of SKB work. Don't know if he does the work you need.

Would be worth checking.

 

Marshal Stone

[watab kid]

my range is an SKB dealer but we dont do repairs , another here stops by every monday , i think he does repairs , PM me for a name and number if you wish , 

[Hawkeye Kid]

Thanks for all the advice and potential places to have this repaired.

I was about 90% ready to go down the DIY route - when Johnny Meadows offer to do the repair at a reasonable cost.

Fairly sure I could have made the repair - but nothing is worse than being at a match 1,000+ miles from home and having a gun break with no backup. 

[Silvertip]

Good choice