Short Barrel Buckmark

[RevolverJockey]

I am considering converting a stock Buckmark into an open steel gun. I have a second one with a tactical solutions barrel that is irons and usually a suppressor host, but wanted a dedicated one for a Cmore. My question is, has anyone cut back a stock barrel to say 2.5" and threaded it? I have a lathe and doing this would be free and very compact. I have a comp I have fabricated for the project and would likely put a can on this occasionally well. Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.

Lee

[RevolverJockey]

Total weight 32oz but balances well.

[LilBunniFuFu]

Good looking work. How does that comp work? I would think that the ports ares too big for the small amount of gas a .22 makes.

[photoracer]

I hope you are not planning on using a 2.5" barrel in SC. Balance would suck and the amount of unburned power that would start clogging up the comp almost immediately would be an issue. Not to mention filling the air with a lot of junk. Still nothing against it. I have seen a few using 4" barrels but most use TacSol 5.5" barrels and a few use 7.25" ones. Means nothing in the accuracy department if using a red dot but consider the velocity. A 1235 FPS Mini-Mag goes out of a 2.5" barrel at about 850 FPS so you will get significant drop at even 25 yards, compared to the same round out of a 5.5" barrel will hit around 1060 FPS.

BJ and I found out independently back in around 2009-2010 that the best balance in a Buckmark was with a 7.25" TacSol barrel, which gave a weight of around 30-35 oz. However we both shot the 5.5" TacSol setup faster even if it did not feel as good balance wise. That would give a gun weight of around 27-28 oz. unless you used a steel comp. Based on some other data from BJ I recently built a new Ruger Mk III using one of the VQ alloy lowers and 4.5" TacSol upper with the same parts as in my Browning and got a weight down to 28 oz. That is my current steel open rimfire gun, the Buckmark being my backup for now. Both feel pretty similar except for the grip angle.

Still I would like to see what the results would be when you build it. Always room for more experimentation.

[RevolverJockey]

I hope you are not planning on using a 2.5" barrel in SC. Balance would suck and the amount of unburned power that would start clogging up the comp almost immediately would be an issue. Not to mention filling the air with a lot of junk. Still nothing against it. I have seen a few using 4" barrels but most use TacSol 5.5" barrels and a few use 7.25" ones. Means nothing in the accuracy department if using a red dot but consider the velocity. A 1235 FPS Mini-Mag goes out of a 2.5" barrel at about 850 FPS so you will get significant drop at even 25 yards, compared to the same round out of a 5.5" barrel will hit around 1060 FPS.

BJ and I found out independently back in around 2009-2010 that the best balance in a Buckmark was with a 7.25" TacSol barrel, which gave a weight of around 30-35 oz. However we both shot the 5.5" TacSol setup faster even if it did not feel as good balance wise. That would give a gun weight of around 27-28 oz. unless you used a steel comp. Based on some other data from BJ I recently built a new Ruger Mk III using one of the VQ alloy lowers and 4.5" TacSol upper with the same parts as in my Browning and got a weight down to 28 oz. That is my current steel open rimfire gun, the Buckmark being my backup for now. Both feel pretty similar except for the grip angle.

Still I would like to see what the results would be when you build it. Always room for more experimentation.

That's a whole lot of numbers. I'll cut to the chase, barrel is 3.6", the gun weighs 2 pounds even and balances well as the weight has been distrubted rearward and the comp is stainless and can be dipped in peracidic acid to be cleaned. The comp despite it lbs size of ports works well. Running .012 splits, the dot doesn't leave the glass and the shots are around 1.25" apart at 15 yards at the speed. I will do some accuracy testing this weekend as I had to cut down and recrowned the barrel. This initially was done for the cost of the replacement barrel but I like the weight right where it is.

Lee