Need tips on changing a barrel

[Rick B]

I have a 627 with an 8 inch barrel. I would like to put the stock 5 inch barrel back on the gun. I have the tool to hold the frame but I am not sure what to do from there. Any tips or suggestions sent my way would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Rick B

[Carmoney]

Rick, if you have the barrel wrench (which supports the frame to protect it from damage), take the gun and clamp the 8" barrel very firmly into a padded vise. I'd recommend leather pads closest to the gun, then a layer of lead between the leather and the vise jaws (both are available from Brownells). Clamp the barrel at the underlug fairly close to the frame. Put on the barrel wrench and gently turn it off the barrel--lefty loosey. Clean and degrease the threads of the frame and the original barrel, clamp the stock barrel in the vise, then coat the threads with red or dark green loctite. Screw the frame onto the stock barrel. When you are getting close to finished, slow down and very carefully inspect your progress, noting the exact alignment you wish to achieve between barrel and frame. Do not turn the frame past this point, or you will compromise the fit. Ease up very carefully to the final alignment point, the exact spot where the barrel originally had been set when it was new--then stop. You're done.

[Bubber]

Rick B. Mike has stated that it is an easy job with the right tools. I even made it using a home made version of the wrench. Mike my question is "Has there ever been a problem with the loctite when removing the barrel? " I have heard stories of some having to be put in the icebox to make the loctite a little easier to release, and even some recomendations to add a slight amount of heat to the area. I guess I was lucky and had no problems, just had to reface my new barrel. Good luck Rick B. rddd

[Carmoney]

Mike my question is "Has there ever been a problem with the loctite when removing the barrel?"

Usually the leverage of the barrel wrench is enough, although I had one a few years ago where I had to use a big piece of pipe as a "cheater bar" to get the barrel loose. I was away from home at the time and didn't have a torch with me, otherwise I'm sure a little gentle heat to the area would have done the trick. The problem with burning them loose is that the finish (either blue or stainless) can be affected if you're not incredibly careful.

I don't really recommend removing and reinstalling barrels more often than necessary. Once or twice during the gun's lifetime is more than enough. Really, I'm putting loc-tite on them with the intention of never removing the barrel again.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Carmoney

[Patrick Sweeney]

Changed lots of barrels, never used Loctite. In this case you needn't worry about setting the cylinder gap, but if you used a barrel not the original one, that would be an extra step.

[Rick B]

Thanks guys for your help. I took your advise and everything went smooth.

[JohnRodriguez]

I've assembled a lot of race engines and have also rebarreled my S&W revo's several times Don't use loctite on your barrel. I use ARP moly lube, what ever lube your use, coat the threads and shoulders of the barrel and the face of the frame. Before you do any assembling, clean the frame and barrel off compleatly and make sure there are no burrs on the face of the frame, make sure it is completly flat. Thread the barrel into the frame and it should index at about 1/8 of a turn to final line up, or about 11'clock. If it doesn't then you'll have to have have the barrel set back to get the proper torque. if its in the 9 o'clock position, don't try and line it up, you'll crack the frame.

If you gun is a PC 8 shot 627, then the area around the barrel on the frame has more meat on the bottom of the frame, well over a 1/8 of a inch. The frame is offset bored to raise the barrel. On the other 6 shot N frames the area on the bottom the frame is almost paper thin and is were the frame will crack when over tightened.

If the barrel is a PC 627, then is should go right on with out haveing to cut it back for proper cylinder gap. Its been my experience with them so far. To make sure when you have the barrel removed. Take a dial caliper and with the cylinder and crane in place, measure from the face of the frame down to were the barrel use to be to the front of the cylinder. Then measure the barrel from thee shoulder to the back of the barrel. you should be off about .008 inch or there abouts. Remember when you do the final assembly with lube, the barrel will stretch so you might end up with .005 clearance. If the barrel measured longer that the space in the frame to cylinder fit, then it will have to be cut back, and would not be a bad investment to purchase the tools from brownells to start your long hard education is revo 101.

The race engine bit is about have proper fastner knowledge. The only place you will see loctite used on a engine will be on the crank shaft bolt and the flexplate/flywheel bolts. Proper torque and fastner stretch is what keeps them from coming loose. Revolvers are the same, except for the strain screw, use lots of red loctite on that sucker.

[Carmoney]

OK, but I still don't see any downside to using loc-tite on barrel threads, particularly if the owner of the gun does not intend to remove that barrel again. Remember, he was asking about reinstalling the gun's original barrel. If the re-install torque is slightly less than ideal, because that barrel has already been removed once, it seems to me the loctite could provide some cheap additional insurance against the barrel loosening, without spending the considerable time and effort to set the barrel back a turn. Obviously, you can't rely on loc-tite to hold a truly loose revolver barrel in place, but what about the barrel that hand-screws on a little past 11 o'clock? Y'know?

[Tom E]

Remember, he was asking about reinstalling the gun's original barrel. If the re-install torque is slightly less than ideal, because that barrel has already been removed once, it seems to me the loctite could provide some cheap additional insurance against the barrel loosening, without spending the considerable time and effort to set the barrel back a turn. Obviously, you can't rely on loc-tite to hold a truly loose revolver barrel in place, but what about the barrel that hand-screws on a little past 11 o'clock? Y'know?

Definitely worth trying Loctite if the barrel's going to be marginally tight. The downside is that heat defeats Loctite. Guess what area of the gun gets heated most when fired.

[Carmoney]

Not hot enough to break loose the loc-tite, Tom.

Years ago, some of the drop-in 1911 compensator kits on the market relied on nothing more than red loc-tite to keep the threaded-on comp correctly oriented on the barrel. I remember one particular brand (the "Centaur Systems Quadra-Comp") even included a little thingy of red loc-tite in with the kit. I installed several of these back in the day, and they held solid just fine. For awhile, Brownells marketed stuff called "Comp-Lok" (or some such thing) designed to hold comps on threaded barrels--guess what it was? Red loc-tite.

[David Sinko]

How about installing a pin through the barrel and frame, as in the old days? Wasn't the whole purpose of the pin to keep the barrel from rotating? Or is that not as easy a process as it sounds?

Dave Sinko

[Toolguy]

How about installing a pin through the barrel and frame, as in the old days? Wasn't the whole purpose of the pin to keep the barrel from rotating? Or is that not as easy a process as it sounds?

Dave Sinko

The pinned barrel isn't what everyone thinks. They just made a groove across the threads ahead of time, screwed the barrel on and stuck the

pin in. The barrel could still turn 5 or 10 degrees with the pin in if it were not for the crush fit where the barrel is hand tight at about 1 o'clock

(looking from the rear). Speaking of crush fit, that actually squeezes the bore down where it goes thru the frame from .0005 to as much as

.002 depending on how many degrees the front sight was off vertical to begin with. You can check this with guage pins by sliding them down

the barrel until you find one small enough to come out of the forcing cone area. This constriction degrades accuracy and contributes to leading.

When I fit a barrel, I make it to turn up vertical by firmly hand tightening. Red loctite keeps it in place. I have never had one come undone

of it's own accord even on the hottest day or with the hottest magnum. This way the barrel is the same diameter all the way through. It takes

350 degrees of heat to overcome the loctite. Properly done, this will not damage the blueing or the heat treat of the metal. You can tell when

you are at the right heat when you start to smell the loctite and/or there is a wisp of smoke coming off that area. Do not keep heating

after this point. My 2 cents.

[Carmoney]

Good post, Toolguy.

[Toolguy]

Good post, Toolguy.

Thanks Mike. That's a very fine compliment coming from someone of your skill and expertise.

I suspect we will see some comments about that last part, though. I saw the Carmonkey thread from your "buddies".

It was hilarious! I don't know all the players here, but it appears that you were imp-licated in some small way...

Edited April 22, 2008 by Toolguy

[bigsaxdog]

i'm sure S&W has thought of the torque thing when they crank them down. it's gotta change the values under the threads. wonder if they ream that forcing cone after to counter-act it? i've used JB Weld too, comes loose w/ just a little propane, put ar-15 comps on with it. gonna try all this soon, you guys gotta help.....

[Toolguy]

i'm sure S&W has thought of the torque thing when they crank them down. it's gotta change the values under the threads. wonder if they ream that forcing cone after to counter-act it? i've used JB Weld too, comes loose w/ just a little propane, put ar-15 comps on with it. gonna try all this soon, you guys gotta help.....

They don't do anything to counteract it. However, the barrel does spring back to normal when removed from the frame. They did a few

guns Dan Wesson-style with a sleeve barrel and nut on the front as a corrective measure. The best way for the average person (can't

say "guy" anymore) to deal with this is power lapping. Done properly, it can help a lot on a gun with this problem.