Loose Barrel Band Springs

Good Afternoon All,

Working on an 1876 Evans Transitional rifle that has seen some history. All is well except the three barrel band springs. They are all loose in their respective holes with a bit of rot needing some debridement.

I am looking for suggestions on restoring the small holes as I am hesitant to do what I did with my 71/84 Mauser where I put some wood plugs in and redrilled the holes. These are tiny and there is not much meat to work with.

My first thought was Acraglass with release agent for the springs. Suggestions welcomed. Thanks, Randy

Attachment 136042

Maybe wrap the spring shafts with something (tape, plumbers tape, etc.) to make them larger and fit more snugly? That way you keep it original and don't risk splitting the wood while working on those small holes set in the thin areas of the stock.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rescuerandy2

with a bit of rot needing some debridement

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I got stuck on this. There are at least 2 possibilities.
1) The "rot" could just be oil soaked fibers, from a previous owner(s) instance on slathering on the oil before reassembling. The oil would need to come out. Many ways to do that, most would require refinishing. You may try taping over one side, and using an eyedropper to fill the holes with acetone. It will pull oil out as it evaporates. If it's really bad, it will need a soak (in a solvent like acetone). For stocks that need such treatment with no other workaround, I have found I'm able to bring back an original looking finish, either fulling refinishing or blending spots, with a combination of linseed oil, watco danish oil (dark, light, or neutral walnut. you can mix), and a home-made "red-oil". The red oil is made with alkanet root (look online for a jar already in powder form) soaked in linseed oil for a month or more, and blending carefully can create the color of linseed oil that has oxidized over decades (or centuries). Any soak in solvent will likely expand the wood, and you might find yourself back in business with nothing else required
2) Rot might just be rot. I've used this before in other projects to stop the decay. https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-8-Fl-...0131/206680616 Tape over both sides and poke a hole in the tape to prevent it going where you don't want it to, and use a dropper to saturate in the hole. The rot should soak it up like a sponge. You might find this closes the hole enough where you just need to chase it with a bit.
3) After doing (2), if the hole is still too big, I would go the route of of a small piece of aluminum tape before I would use agraglas. If going the acraglas route, dye it black. Plenty of release agent. You will only need to apply a pinhead of acraglass.