Who does welding up of holes and refinishing?

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J Miller

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I have a Marlin MR-7 Bolt gun that two, not one but two gun butchers have messed with. There is now 8 holes in this poor rifle that are wrong and I'd like to find a real gunsmith that can weld them up and reblue the rifle.

I've seen threads here about gunsmiths that do this on Ruger cylinder frames but cannot remember who they are.
Can someone who has had this done recommend a gunsmith that would work on rifles?

TIA

Joe
 

Dave H

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Joe,

Alan Harton does the best welding of the type you're looking for that I've ever seen. His bluing is top notch too. I'm not sure that he's even still doing general repairs like that, or how long the wait time would be if he'd do it, but I'd give him a call.
 

c.r.

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Joe,

from what I've heard, plus ONE to Dave H's post.

you can also give Hamilton Bowen and Jim Stroh a call. They are two more folks that I've heard are quite talented with a welder.

~c.r.
 

Boxhead

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I suspect that the cost of repairs could be be equal to or greater than the value/cost of the rifle and, generally you will see a color difference in the repairs over the base metal on a blued gun.. Just a thought.
 
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Joe, any GOOD welder can make the repair ( weld it up...) then find a decent gunsmith who can blend it in, polish it out and blue for you......for that type of gun, no need to go "top of the line, custom gunsmith...." many will not even want to be bothered or take the time,you gotta talk with them....I "used" to be able to get "gov" work done by the guys at work, then I would "finish " it off, do the hand work work and polish it for 'reblue',,,,,all time consuming and that many holes, may not be worth it...BUT never know till you show them and ask 'em....gotta "see it".....
my guess it would "show" but you could always "bead blast' it to match(blend it in...) Big difference in a solid frame and the hollow tube ,of a 22 bolt rifle....besides, the fitting of the "inside" of the receiver, to clear the bolt afterwards......
 

J Miller

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Dan,

The holes in the barrel were drilled for iron sights. The bozo drilled them off center so the sights tilt. If the holes were filled, contoured, and then redrilled correctly they would never show as the sights would cover them.

As for the receiver well, it now has 8 holes in it. The original factory scope base holes, and 4 more that were drilled by an idiot who claimed the factory holes were not indexed correctly. An excuse to cover his ass when he did something I did not ask to be done.

The rifle was a birthday gift two years ago and unless I can get the holes fixed and the sights properly installed I'll never shoot it. I'm not a scope kinda guy.

The biggest problem is the two gunsmiths locally are the two that buggered it up so I have no body here to go to.

I was just hoping someone would have a concrete lead I could follow. I guess calling Alan Harton wouldn't be a bad idea. Phone calls are cheep.

Joe
 
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Joe, I'll send you an e-mail , and put you in touch with our guy, Walt, he may be able to help you out...............you 're not that far away and could UPS it over to him for a "look /see...." ALL HE WOULD NEED IS THE BARRELED, ACTION............
 

Pinecone

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Just for your info, that idiot who said the holes were not "indexed" right is more than likely right on the money! In my 42+ years of gunsmithing I have found "dozens" of Marlin rifles with this "problem". The problem being that the receivers are ganged drilled and tapped "before" the barrel is attached to the receiver. I have had to do many different modifications to these rifles to get sights/scope mounts lined up properly. One rifle was so bad the owner had "maxed" out his scope adjustments totally in one direction and still could not get the gun sighted in properly. Some "things" are not always as they seem!............................Dick :roll:
 

J Miller

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Dick,
I suppose that's possible, however I did not ask for him to do anything to the receiver or the scope holes. I asked him to fix the improperly drilled barrel sight holes.
So, he DID NOT do what was asked of him, and he DID DO something that was neither asked nor authorized.

So in my eyes he is still an idiot and not worthy of the title "gunsmith".

At some point I will get to the range and I will find out if he was right. I doubt it though.

Joe
 
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