50cal.cliff
58 Cal.
Rifleman1776 said:
OK I thought the same thing from the first time I saw the pic but, I am not all that familiar with TC. That it was rust from the wet conditions. If I can do this like I want to I will try to explain. I am going to try and post Ohio Hunters original post below my text.
In Ohio Hunter's original post he says,"Opening day was a wet raining soggy mess"! In the first pic I see a black area. That in the second pic it totally corresponds to that area. In the second pic you see a real heavy rust spot at the corner of the barrel lug, that to me looks like nothing more than water contact. The same with the area just back from the lug. This is a slightly tight area to begin with in my opinion on most rifles. The inside of a stock is usually not sealed well unless and effort by the owner has been made to do so.
The way I see this is that if it had been from escaping gases unless it is a recent rupture, on this gun it would have shown before. Also black powder gases and water make a different type of corrosion. It turns to rust but it appears more a corrosion with bubbled white area when it first appears. If caught initially you can almost wipe it away with your hand if its not bad. I don't see any of the white corrosion area in the pics.
If it were mine after sending it too TC and they said it was OK I would do the following. I would video the whole experience. I would clean the barrel well and the stock area. I would then cut a piece of white paper that would allow for the lug to just poke through it. I would then put the barrel back into the stock and then I would load normally. Lock it down into a lead sled or tie it down in a safe manner and pull the trigger with a string from a distance.
If you can't replicate the results with the paper test the first time I would do it again with a clean piece of paper. The next time I would fire up to five shots, before I pulled the paper.
I think what you are going to find that the area is slightly rubbing (IE it is a tight area). This may show up on the paper as a dark area but it won't look the same as gases blowing out! It is a rub and it may not appear at all now that the stock is dried and not swelled causing that tight spot!
However if you see what still looks like evidence of gases escaping then you have the whole experience on video. Believe me TC doesn't want a video out there that proves they were at fault after there inspection for missing something like this and it would defiantly put them into a position of liability! And they will scramble to do the right thing and replace the barrel.
I am beginning to sound like Paul now so I am going to shut up. This is just my O2 on the subject and take it for what it is worth.
OhioHunter said:I sighted in my TC Renegade .54 cal for Ohio deer gun season. Opening day was a wet raining soggy mess! When I got home I removed my barrel from the stock to give everything a good cleaning and get all the moisture out. Once I removed the barrel from the stock I noticed my big problem. The belly of the stock is charred right at the appointment where the wedge goes through the underlug in the barrel. It looks like there must be a crack in the barrel where the underlug goes into the dovetail. I think may be it is too thin there? Hopefully these pics will explain it a little better. The underside of the barrel is even starting to corrode from resting in the black powder residue. I contacted TC/ Smith/Wesson today to see what they thought. Even though the Renegade is out of production, they would like to look at it anyway. I dont know if they will do anything or not, but I figure what the hell, cant hurt. Really sucks because I shot 5 maxihunters out of it and it grouped the last 3 shots at 2.5". Now I fear it may be a widow maker!
