Posted: 2/19/2008 7:05:36 PM EDT
having exploded my SA MilSpec barrel, I am left with a few choices.   I decided to have a local gunsmith put in a new barrel for me. He took out a Brownell's catalog and recommended a Wilson Combat match barrel and bushing. Labor was quoted at $45 to "fitted". He says even barrels that are advertised as "drop in" needs to be fitted. Part of me was wondering, how hard is it to "fit a barrel".. ?? for a gunsmith to charge me $45, it mustn't take too much time?? Just wanted to know if some of you have done it yourself. It reminds me of buying memory modules for your home computer, they charge you like $35 labor to put it in. I could do that in 45 sec. (when you know what to do). |
Looks like a squib... $45 is pretty cheap for a hard fit barrel. I charge $100 to fit a barrel, bushing, refinish the bushing, tune, chamber, throat, and polish the feed lip and ramp. If you are paying for a barrel fit, make sure it is a hard fit barrel. The drop in units are ok, but the hard fit setups are much better in my opinion. Bob |
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Based on my experience with gunsmithing on my own 1911's and a great deal of study on the subject, I'd say $45 is dirt cheap. Heck, I think Miller_Custom_1911's price of $100 is cheap for all that he described. A proper fitting job is well worth that. I'm also very curious to find out what happened to the original barrel! |
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I knew I need to tell the story of my barrel, just feel pretty darn stupid. One of you already gessed it, squib load stuck in the barrel and I send another one behind it. I forgot the technical words the range master used to describe how that tell tale ring in the barrel shows where the pressure build up and cracked the barrel, he also showed me how Springfield barrel are 2 piece weld, as you can see the separations. hard lesson learn on reloading my own. Maybe I'll know to stop the next time something just didn't feel right in the gun. |
Thanks for the post, and the straight up answer. Were you using lead bullets / jacketed ?... also what type of powder ?.. Bullseye ? |
Yarp. I was thinking the same thing. I've had good luck with the Wilson Drop in Barrel (with bushing) kits. I had all my barrel installation tools out and ready. Barrel dropped right in. I only had to fit the bushing to the slide. It shot a 1.3", 8 shot group, off hand at 20 yards using my sucky eyeballs. It was one ragged hole at .75" with one flyer. I was shocked! If your 'smith will warranty it, $45 is a good deal. |
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I would go with a Fusion Firearms Drop-in barrel. I have used three of them and they fell right in with no problems. The latest one I used was a ramped model in 9mm parabellum. it dropped right in and is a flawless shooter. On the other hand my gunsmith gets about 100.00 to fit one as well. lots of hand work involved. Lug-cutting, hood fit, etc. I've shot thousands of 230grain hard cast ball using 6.0 grains of Unique without a hitch out of a Springfield Inc pistol with no problems. Barrel just might have had a flaw in it from being manufactured. Two-piece barrels are fine. the Tube is swaged into a cast chamber section. Many manufacturers use them. I believe current production Hi-powers use two piece barrel, as do many others. |
And some are......... ar15.com/content/page.html?id=453  this Kart Barrel and bushing were fitted by a "Professional Gunsmith".
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The SA Custom Shop is an excellent idea.......... they'll Fit a match barrel & bushing for ............... $290.00 |
My gunsmith pulled out a Brownell catalog and recommended the Wilson drop in w/bushing. He commented that any "drop in" will still need fitting. Thus he gave me the $45 estimate to fit it. I guess that doesn't sound bad. Curious, what tools do you need to fit a oversize bushing to the slide? I have only one 1911, but plan on building a collection and tinker with them to fine tune them. May become a more serious hobby. |
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hi folks, just a follow up to my KB barrel. I did end up having the local gunsmith put a Wilson Combat "drop in" barrel + lug. It looked like a good tight fit. BUT... I am getting FTFeed on every 4-8 rounds. be it SWC or RN. I've put about 120 frustrated round through it. The round feeds like 3/4 to 7/8th way in and the slide jams. Does a new barrel need a "break-in" period? If not, then I am taking it back to the shop! |
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Disclaimer: Barrel fitting is not an area of expertise for me. If you have some Dykem handy, you can apply it to various points on the barrel and cycle it several times. Then look for binding points. But then your gunsmith should have already done this. I'd recommend taking it back to him and ask friendly questions to get a sense for how he plans to fix it. You need to have a good feeling that he knows what he's doing. |
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www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=18787&title=1911%20AUTO%20LUG%20FITTING%20KIT I've never heard of using a mill to cut the feet. What did 1911 'smiths use before "everyone" had a 2 axis? I've also installed barrels without the above lug cutter. Just a small round file and 600g paper. With enough time (patience) and effort (skill), the result is the same. |
I'm familiar with the lug cutter, even when Wilson made it before Brownells branded it. I'm also familiar with the chainsaw file fitting. My question would be.... If you can do it on a mill (with all the inherent precision), why would you do it with a chainsaw file? Your method wastes (patience) and is no were near as precise (skill). As long as you have the mill fired up, you might as well cut the hood while you're at it. |
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I use the Wiegand barrel fitting fixture to cut both sides of the hood and rear of the hood. Then I stick it up on the 1 degree and trim the barrel feet with a custom sized endmill. This will give a near perfect fit giving plenty of a ledge for the barrel to set on the slide stop in lockup. I will then profile the barrel feet to make sure there isn't any contact with the link and slide stop in the unlocking process. Then polish the feet and connecting slope, tune the link, and make slight adjustments from there after shooting the pistol and noting hard hits and premature contact. Obviously, before it's shot a headspace, chamber, and barrel throating is performed. Drop in units sell, and they work sometimes, but you really do get what you pay for. There is "proper" and "good enough," and you won't find "Good enough" in any specialized custom shop. Bob |
Is this the process you describe as 'hard fit' here?
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People often get terms mixed up and interpret them differently. "Hard Fit" is often used by somebody that says doing a barrel fit using files is "hard fit" because it is hard to do. I call a barrel that has oversized lugs and barrel hood, that needs to be significantly trimmed to fit, is a "hard fit barrel" and the process I just described is how I fit a "hard fit barrel" It takes a little while for me to do a barrel fit even though I have the tools and fixtures to do so. When I do my barrel fit, I will only take off .002 every pass, take it out of the fixture, and try it in the slide/frame/barrel assembly. If it doesn't fit, take another .002 pass and try again - repeat till it's close, do the rest by hand. Did this help or did this further the confusion? |