Posted by John Liles on July 4, 2014, 7:18 pm, in reply to "12 g Rabbit Ears"
Hello Jody and welcome to the forum. The short answer to your question is no. From an actual safety standpoint, you'd not likely hurt yourself or anybody else, but the condition would worsen until the whole bottom rib needed to be re-laid by a big time gunsmith along with a new barrel blue if you continued to shoot the old gal as is. Please note that that opinion is only valid provided there are no other structural issues associated with your Elsie. It's a pretty easy fix now. Post where you're from and maybe somebody will chime in with a qualified local smith nearby that can inspect your barrels properly for other issues like deep pitting and barrel wall thickness. Either one of those issues could possibly render your gun out of service, but usually that's not the case.(sometimes it is the case!) Good luck, and if it were mine, id not shoot her till I had the rib repaired at least. (Hint Hint.... if you're near me, I'd be happy to evaluate and make that repair if there were no other issues precluding that move.) Good luck, John