Tried to fit a spare 1911 barrel by hand... didn't go so well.

[Foxtrotx1]

The victim: Ed brown threaded barrel. 

 

The only thing I touched was the hood, but now the hood is at a slight angle and there are some rough surfaces with file marks. I followed a guide but the ed brown barrel would not fit into the slide. I'm not sure how much I took off but i'm wondering if I should just scrap the barrel and start with a new one and an actual gun smith. 

 

Yeah. I know. I messed up. 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2018 by Foxtrotx1

[Foxj66]

Might be able to save it with a mill but it looks like you took way too much off. Also don't attempt to fit  barrel if your not even going to measure stuff ahead of time.

[Foxtrotx1]

Agreed on the staying away from fitting. I measured it will calipers and sharpied it up but when I wasn't making progress I got overzealous with the file. I'm gonna hang it on the wall in shame. 

Edited August 4, 2018 by Foxtrotx1

[RIIID]

You might have to tig weld the side of that hood to fit it properly.

Rich

[38super]

Finish the fit, see how it shoots.  Otherwise use the barrel for practice or spare. 

http://www.blindhogg.com/gunsmith/barrel.html

[pskys2]

If you had trouble with the hood, you probably shouldn't try to fit the lugs.  There's a lot more to fitting a barrel properly than a few file strokes.

 

Take it to a "smith that can weld and they can fix it for you at this point.  Might cost a bit more but with a good barrel, properly fit the end result will be worth it.

 

Maybe just send the whole shebang to Ed Brown and beg for his help.  Mea Culpa with humility.

 

I've done a half dozen 1911 barrels but when I picked up a Bar-Sto off of a prize table, I sent it to Benny Hill.  

I also sent him my STI Limited gun to fit a premium barrel to, both times the end results were worth the extra money.

 

[zzt]

If the gun will go into battery, give it a try and see what happens.  If it doesn't, or you don't like it, send it to a gunsmith to fix.  It has been my experience (twice) that Ed Brown 'drop in' barrels don't.  Both would have required removing about 6 thou from the bottom lugs in addition to fitting the hood.  Fortunately, I measured first and sent them back.

 

FWIW, barrel hood fitting is not all it's cracked up to be.  Many say it is one of the three critical lockup points.  BS.  I fit a Kart barrel to my bullseye gun.  Then for some reason I still don't understand, I decided I wanted a Barsto barrel.  So I bought one and fitted it.  That left the Kart as a spare.  I had been reading arguments about how tightly the hood had to be fit, and how important it was to accuracy.  So I decided to experiment.  Kart had suggested .003" clearance on the sides of the hood and .001" on the rear.  That is crazy say the custom gunsmiths.  They say no more than .001" on the sides and the rear should touch.

 

I cut the hood on the Kart back to .005" clearance on the sides.  Then I shortened the rear a couple of thou at a time.  I shot the barrel each time.  I finally gave up after the rear was .013" too short and it still shot as well as it did when correct.  The barrel hood, at least on that barrel and gun contributed absolutely nothing to lock up or accuracy.

 

So knowing these results, how did I fit the Barsto.  .001" on the sides and .0005" on the rear, just because.

[WoodrowAugustus]

Hey, you won't get any admonishment from me.  I've screwed up enough stuff to learn my limitations and when to send something off to the smith...most of the time.

[Goodonpaper]

Some of the best things I’ve done were because I didn’t know I couldn’t do it. I’ve also made a fair amount of scrap but learned things from all of it.

[Broncman]

That can be easily Tig welded up.

 

I have Tig'd 2 barrels. One was a factory barrel I wanted to fit tighter on the sides, second was on my current Open Pistol after an error on my part left the hood to short. 

 

Is this barrel short chambered? If so even better! Then when finish chambered, it would help smooth out the Tig build up on the side of the hood.

 

[BigGabe]

A good gunsmith should be able to fix it.

[IDAHOAASHOOTER]

Reading about fitting makes it seem alot easier than it really is! I believe it when builders save they have hours and hours into a custom gun 

[Foxtrotx1]

Thanks for the help everyone. The smith at Accuracy Speaks was able to fit the barrel without a weld. The lockup is much tighter than the original Colt barrel and the accuracy seems fine. There is just a minor gap to the side of the hood which i'm told won't effect accuracy. 

 

Runs great with a suppressor and SWCs so no complaints here.