cautery Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Finally got some time to start fitting my Barsto barrel to my G35... I'm just working on the hod right at the moment, and have it just now at the point I can seat it into battery with slight finger pressure. Question: How much clearance should I set in this dimension.... Until it just drops out of battery with gravity? Or more? I know the chamber "block" portion of the barrel will expand some due to heat during firing... I want to put just enough in to make it cycle reliably, but don't want to put any more in than I have to. Opinions? Experience? Yeah, I know. Should have had a smith do it, but I can't afford to be without my only pistol. And I need to learn this skill anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 OK... The barrel hood is fitted. Unless and until I get a better answer, I've decided to go with "barely drops out of battery via gravity". And I'm going to go test fire it at the range... Dirty it up with around 300+ rounds, and then heat it up really well with a simulated "hoser stage" to see if expansion will cause it to fail to cycle. BTW, I don't have a bunch of expensive smithing tools or machines (yet), so I did the barrel hood fitting completely by hand with a 4-piece stone set. I used a 1 ft square of 3/4" HDPE as a true surface (and to reduce friction). I also used a broad tip sharpie to blacken the mating surfaces to see where metal needed to be removed. Toward the end, I quit using the marker, and just used the marks in the metal itself. Without a jig, it's critical to check the barrel in the slide VERY frequently to make sure you are keeping the hood square and matched to the breach face. Not doing so could result in rounding the corners such that you take too much material off and can't get a full mating surface with the breech face. Perhaps I'll do a more in-depth article of how I managed to do the fitting when i'm done... But right now, you gotta see the below. The other main part of fitting a Barsto MT barrel into a Glock is setting the height of the lug that ride up over the locking block. This lug is actually what pushed the barrel into battery. The "stock" lug is "too short" which accounts for the rear slide "suck down" when you pull the trigger. However, I think Barsto left a little TOO much material in this area for fitting. Check these out: I've lined up a stock G35 (fr), Storm Lake (mid), and the Barsto MT barrels (rear)... LARGER VERSION OF PIC SUPER LARGE VERSION OF PIC Not an exact alignment, but you CAN see that the Barsto has a ton of material available for fitting. Here, check it out from another angle: LARGER VERSION OF PIC SUPER LARGE VERSION OF PIC Above, you can plainly see the enormous amount of extra material. The chamber block top to bottom measurements (through the lug) for the three barrels are: Stock: 0.807" SL: 0.80725" Barst MT: 0.85625" That's almost 50 thousandths extra!! No way I'm gonna be doing this with a set of fine grade stones, that's for sure. There's so much extra material, the lug sticks out below the bottom of the slide! Gonna take a lot of material removal just to get the slide to go on the weapon. Good news is that I think that once it is fit properly, there will be no need to tighten the slide to frame fit. The taller lug should lock the slide out against the frame rails nicely. Without a mill, or a clamping filing jig, this is going to be a challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jspruance Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 CAUTERY, I just fitted a Bar Sto barrel to my G22, by hand. I found the same problem with the extra thick lug. I just kept working with a file and lots of test fits until it finally cleared the locking block. I have a good tight fit but I still have some problems feeding the Master Blaster bullets they seem a little stickey. I does seem fine with jacketed bullets. I think I will open the chamber a tiny bit to get a little more clearance. BTW I wrote Bar Sto to ask them for some fitting tips. They didn't even bother to respond. Possibly because I didn't purchase directly from tham. So In the future I will buy products that have a friendlier end user attitude. I am not sure these barrels are superior to stock except for lead bullet use. Good Luck, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 JFS - Thanks for the response. Barsto has a really hard time responding to emails... One, they aren't set up to do one-on-one stuff, and two, they spend almost all of their time trying to machine enough parts to meet demand. I am thoroughly happy with the quality of the part. I have used several aftermarket barrel makers now, and Barsto is right at the top... As this is my frst one, i can't compare it directly to the other makers... All of the others were semi-drop-ins... Anyway, don't take the noe email repsonse personally... ( bought mine direct only because CGR was out of stock, and I didn't think a 4-6 week wait was reasonable... not for $25.00 difference). Never used Master Blaster bullets, so I don't know what to tell you there... I'll get in the shop this week and start working on it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SA Friday Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Cautery, Never saw the results on this one. How'd it turn out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 Still in progress... Haven't been able to find the time to finish fitting it. Between work, practice, and matches, I can't even take it to my machinist to have some of the material cut... Can't be without the pistol long enough. Hopefully, I'll get to it soon, now that I have another pistol to practice with, while the Glock is being worked on... It needs to be cut for a Bomar rear and hard chromed in addition to the barrel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe D Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Clay, I have never understood the need for the thick material on the bottom lug. A stock Glock barrel will return to the same vertical position everytime. I checked several of my Glocks with a dial indicator. All I worry about is the lateral movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Joe, do you ghet any deflection at all when pulling the trigger? Could you measure that with your light recoil spring for us. I've always been fairly suprised at how well the glock barrel locks up in a consistent manner, but I haven't checked that out much with a really light recoil spring and the trigger working against it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 The extra material is useful, they just have a bit too much there to do with files and stones. Most of it is there to make sure that at lockup you can utilize the taller locking lug to force the slide solid against the rails... Reduces that "suck down" that some people get on the slide when the trigger is pulled. However, in MY case, I am having a slide rail fixture machined so I can do a full length re-size of the rail frooves in the slide to more preceisely fit the rails in the frame. The fixture will take the fit down to less than 0.001", and then I'll lap the fit in to get a reliable/smooth slide/frame fit (I hope). As this sucks the slide down to the frame, it reduces the locking lug vertical dimension to "under stock" height... So, I'll have to have at least some of the material machined off before I can hand fit it. Have to say though, I am impressed with how well I was able to fit the barrel up for lateral and fore/aft fit... It's very sweet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe D Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 (edited) I checked my G35 with a 10 lb. recoil spring. No deflection that I can measure. I also use a reduced power striker spring. Edited April 18, 2006 by Joe D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jros3e Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Finally got some time to start fitting my Barsto barrel to my G35... I'm just working on the hod right at the moment, and have it just now at the point I can seat it into battery with slight finger pressure. Question: How much clearance should I set in this dimension.... Until it just drops out of battery with gravity? Or more? I know the chamber "block" portion of the barrel will expand some due to heat during firing... I want to put just enough in to make it cycle reliably, but don't want to put any more in than I have to. Opinions? Experience? Yeah, I know. Should have had a smith do it, but I can't afford to be without my only pistol. And I need to learn this skill anyway. Take the Bar-Sto DVD.They show how doing fitting to any kind of gun barrels.( Glock,1911,XD etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 Didn't know they HAD a DVD.... Guess I should watch it. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jros3e Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Didn't know they HAD a DVD.... Guess I should watch it. Thanks. I bought one from ebay.If you cann't find one i can send you a copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 This the one? http://www.barsto.com/category_main.cfm?ID=dv&cco=89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jros3e Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 This the one? http://www.barsto.com/category_main.cfm?ID=dv&cco=89 Yes shred.This is the DVD that i have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted April 19, 2006 Author Share Posted April 19, 2006 Thanks jros3e... I just went ahead and had Barsto send me one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SA Friday Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 Wow, I'm glad I asked about this again. That vid is exactly what I've been looking for. I've been interested in learning how to fit a match barrel. I'll have to check that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico567 Posted May 26, 2006 Share Posted May 26, 2006 I got a Bar-Sto for a 1911 around 25 years ago. When I got it, I could BARELY get the barrel bushing in, and the slide wouldn't go into battery unless it was dropped from slide lock. If it was eased down, a small push at the back of the slide was necessary to make the barrel lock up. I called Bar-Sto, and Mr. Stone told me I had got a barrel that just went within the definition of "semi drop-in," with the emphasis on the "semi." He said to just shoot it, and if it didn't break in in a couple of hundred rounds, to send him the slide and he'd fit it. I shot it, and there were a few FTFs in the first hundred rounds or so, but after that it ran perfectly, and after many thousands of rounds continues to shoot better than I can. For my G24, I got a KKM, which I dropped right in and has been a great performer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike cyrwus Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Great thread;thanks for all this info. I just bought a barstro for my 34; I need to get that dvd. Ebay, you say? hmmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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