Glock barrel fitting

[Robbf213]

I just bought a Caspian Glock slide, barely used, and am having an issue with a KKM barrel. When the barrel is inserted it will not fit into the slide without being forced, it will "snap" in with a little pressure but I doubt the gun will cycle, haven't tried it. I'm assuming a little material needs to come off the back/top of the barrel. Am I on the right track? I'd like to do it myself if possible.

A factory G22 barrel drops in and functions like it should. Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated!

Edited March 13, 2015 by Robbf213

[mike cyrwus]

get a sharpie and mark up the back and sides of the hood.

Since you have a factory barrel, start measuring dimensions with a caliper and compare to the kkm. you will find where it is tight fairly easily.

just keep your filing to the back of the hoon and the sides of the barrel hood. since it snaps in with some effort, you are probably verrrry close so dont do too much. check fit every swipe or two of a stone/emery/file

[Robbf213]

Great, thanks so much!

[Whitefish]

Just to through a flier into the mix, the instructions with BarSto Glock barrels say to take material off the front of the hood where it locks up with the slide, not the back. That said, I have had barrels fit both ways and it would seem both work. If you take very much material off the back of the hood though, you may have to check your chamber with a go/no go gauge and possibly ream it a bit to restore the correct chamber dimensions for the caliber. Otherwise, dimensionally correct brass and rounds may not chamber correctly. I have seen some Briley Glock barrels that needed touched up the sides of the hood, but not many and almost never a KKM barrel. The instructions with the Briley barrel also said to take material off the front of the hood to fit it. As I recall, the Caspian slides tended to be a little on the tight side when it came to fitting parts, especially aftermarket barrels.

[Robbf213]

Thanks Whitefish, turns out I hit the sides a tiny bit and its dropping in like it should. Now Ive got another problem. The complete new upper assembly won't slide on my new frame. The Caspian slide with KKM barrel will slide on my issued duty G22 but not on my new FDE G22 frame and cannot figure out why to save my life. My stock complete upper goes on the FDE frame like it's supposed to, when I try the Caspian/KKM something it stopping it from going all the way on. The factory barrel in the Caspian will go the FDE frame with some resistance at the same point its stopping with the new barrel. It seems to be hanging up on possibly the barrel lug. Any ideas???

Edit: got it on but I almost hand to hammer it on with the palm of my hand.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Robbf213

[Whitefish]

I think I can help with that too. Glock polymer frames can vary a bit from gun to gun. I have had a barrel fit to a slide and frame on one gun that will either not go on another or be very tight. I'm guessing that since the Caspian slide to frame fit is tighter, the barrel lug under the feed ramp may not want to go over the locking block on a gun with tighter fit. You may need to take a bit off the bottom of the back lug under the feed ramp to get it to slide over the locking block. The KKM barrel is going to have more "meat" on that lug than the stock barrel, even with the KKM drop-in barrels. BarSto barrels have even more meat there. Almost every BarSto semi fit barrel I have worked with needed some material machined, stone, or filed off the bottom of the lug is go over the locking block. You can try putting a dab of slide glide or lubricant on the locking block and the bottom of the lug to allow the barrel lug to slide over the locking block easier, but my guess is that you may need to remove a small amount of material off the bottom of the lug from your description of the tightness.

[Robbf213]

Thanks again Whitefish for the reply, I was on the right track, like you suggested. I was seeing wear/rub marks on the bottom of the lug like you said. I took a very small amount down with a stone and it will go on easier. Not much though, you think putting some rounds through it will "get it broken in"? Or should I work it down more with the stone?

Edited March 14, 2015 by Robbf213

[Whitefish]

Since the barrel steel is much harder than the locking block, I doubt the barrel will "break in" much, but all the other frame and slide pieces around it will. More likely, the locking block and other parts will do the breaking in. The gun will probably smooth up a bit with more rounds through it as the metal to metal contact mates up, if that is what you mean. The barrel dimension should stay pretty much as is, given the hardness of the stainless KKM uses (40-42 Rockwell after heat treating if memory serves me). Just lube it well with good quality oil or synthetic lube. I use Amsoil synthetic 5w-30 motor oil on the moving wear parts and a dab of slide glide lite on the barrel lugs and locking block to keep it in place better, but the slide glide is personal preference. Slide glide works well in milder climates, but it can cause issues in colder weather because of the thicker viscosity.

[3djedi]

When I got my zev socom slide the kkm barrel was extremely tight. So tight I had a hard time getting the slide into the frame. The slide was cycle by hand but you had to push it closed. 100 to 200 rounds later it fits like a glove....... I had one stove pipe in the first 50 rounds. No malfunctions since. I'm at probably close to 500.......

keep you burgerhook off the bang switch until your peepers are on the hamburgler .......