Fitting a Commander Bushing

[revchuck]

Folks - The bushing on the Bar-Sto barrel in my Commander started to self-destruct, so I called Bar-Sto and sent the barrel back to them so they can fit another one. In the meantime, I decided to re-install the Colt barrel and bushing.

When I dug into the drawer I had thrown it into, I found that I had knocked over a bottle of Oxpho-Blue next to it. The outside of the barrel was badly rusted where it came in contact with the Oxpho-Blue; the bushing was rusted to the barrel. I decided to try to salvage it anyway, since the bore and chamber weren't affected. I stood the barrel on the muzzle and pourer BreakFree on the side so it ran into the bushing. About 20 minutes of waiting, then some "encouragement" with a brass hammer, and the bushing broke free enough to be able to remove it. I then worked on it with 0 steel wool and 220 grit sandpaper, and it's usable - not pretty, though. I ran 50 rounds through it at an indoor range and it didn't stutter.

I decided to order an Ed Brown bushing, since the original one is pretty ugly. When it got here, I installed it. It was a good fit in the slide, but tight on the barrel. When I retracted the slide, it stuck to the rear; smacking the muzzle freed it. Several tries resulted in the same thing.

Is this a fairly easy fix? If not, can it be fit by a gunsmith without the gun? I'd hate to have to spend $100 in shipping to install a $15 part.

Thanks!

[Joe4d]

Since this is a backup barrel and bushing and allready suffered some damage, see if the bushing slides up and down barrel with the barrel removed, if it does it is actually binding when the barrel tilts down, bushings arnt perfectly round they actually have a slight oval relief to allow it to tilt down, put a little lapping compound on the barrel about a half inch in front of where it binds reassemble gun and lap it in it'll stick and you'll have to wack it a few times but eventually it'll loosen up, as soon as it moves with out sticking clean and oil gun and see how it works. Of course by the time you do all this your other barrel will show up.

If you havent noticed if you read the fine print at Brownell's you'll see Bushings offered in several different inside and out side diameters. You might have one too tight for your gun but the lapping procedure should have you back in service.