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Stacking em up in a 4" barrel


Round_Gun_Shooter

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Shot the ICORE Postal today with a couple guys. One is a newer shooter and an even newer reloader. I was not on the line so I really wasn't paying close attention but I hear the STOP called.

They came back to me and apparently there are now at least two, maybe three bullets stuck in the barrel of a 4" 19. They won't move and the barrel has a slight bulge.

Any ideas on getting these out? Barrel may be salvageable but not if it were mine.

Last question is Anyone got a 4" barrel for a P&R 19? kinda feel bad for the guy and I would like to help him out.

Regards,

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That's a real bummer! I hope the shooter doesn't give up because of this. I agree with HSMITH, if the barrel is bulged, don't bother trying to get the slugs out. Just replace it and go on.

Gary

Sorry to hear about what happened, but I have to agree with these guys. Time for some entertainment:

Several years ago, I was new in reloading and wanted some really light plate loads for man-on-man competition. Loaded 6 rounds of .38 Special with Unique powder at the minimum load listed in a reloading manual for the respective bullets. The end result was 6 bullets stuck in one S&W 686 barrel, with a slight swell about half-way down :surprise: . All advice from experienced shooters was to replace the barrel. I was so embarrassed that I removed the barrel before shipping the rest of the gun to S&W so they wouldn't know the reason it needed a new barrel.

IF you try to punch out the bullets, be warned that if they are jacketed, the outside parts of the jacket may stay in the barrel when you punch everything else out. All 6 of the outside parts of the jackets are still in my barrel, which is kept as a reminder of the event.

Edited by chemepharmd
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Back in my pin-shooting days, my primary competition gun was a Baumannized S&W Model 27 with the 8-3/8" skinny factory barrel that I bought from Brian Enos. It worked great (and still does!) but I needed a back-up gun that would work safely with my pin ammo. So when one day a 5" Model 27 found its way into the local gun shop, I was immediately interested.

Handling the gun, though, I noticed right away it had a distinct bulge in the barrel an inch or two out from the forcing cone, obviously from being fired with an obstruction (probably a stuck bullet). You could clearly see the bulge when looking down the bore. The gun shop owner was a friend of mine, and he let me take the gun home and test-fire it. Guess what?--despite the bulged barrel that revolver shot just fine! So I bought it off the dealer for $175 (his cost) and had a perfectly functional back-up pin revolver that served me well for a number of years.

So you don't really know how the gun will shoot until you try shooting it! :)

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I agree with Carmoney, as I had to borrow a shooters revo to shoot a match. On the last stage he had a squib and just cleared his gun and put it up to be repaired laer. I found out I was in the Best of the Day shoot offs, Top Revo against Top Auto, so I borowed his revo and shot in the shoot off. It wasn't until later at his house, Where we congregated after the matches, that we found out he had never cleared the bullet before I shot the shoot off. I asked him what a barrel would cost to replace his. But when he took it out again he said that the accuracy was as good as it ever was and not to worry about it. He shot it for a good while before he finally sold it. My thoughts are drillit out, be sure to use a small enough drill, use lead remover and go from there.

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I made the mistake of buying a used M67 sight unseen, using a gunsmith near where I then worked for the FFL. When I got it there was a bulge in the barrel, and the gunsmith didn't want to go through the trouble of returning it. I called Ron Power and got a barrel that he had taken off a gun he built for PPC, then called Alex Hamilton and arranged to have the barrel shipped to him while I sent him the gun. I had the gun back in eight days...and this was before the mandatory next day air malarky. Three clicks windage, and it was zeroed again. Just like Mike's, the gun shot fine with the bulged barrel, but I wanted to get it right.

Ron Power, or Frank Glenn, or some other 'smith who builds PPC guns, would be a likely place from which to get a 4" M19 P&R barrel.

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Several years ago I read that getting a replacement barrel for a M-19 was difficult due to the cracking forcing cone issues with 125 grain magnum loads.

If you find a supply of barrels I would be interested in who has them.

I suppose a custom barrel would put the stock M-19 into a differant IDPA class.

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Thanks,

Now the rest of the story, drill press, under size drill bit, lots of WD 40, some tapping, and the three bullets are out.

Close inspection shows very minimal damage that may or may not have been there before. Owner is going to continue using the revo for IDPA but no more mag loads just in case.

As an aside, there is a 4" barrel on Gun Broker now but he has decided not to bother.

The 19 was given to him so he feels he will leave it as is and play. The barrel in the condition it is in was a special option for Nickel guns (yeah, that's what we will tell them)

Now he needs to perfect his reloading skills :huh:

Edited by Round_Gun_Shooter
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That's impressive :surprise: . For some reason, I always thought that it was increased gas pressure that caused the barrel to swell (hadn't really thought it through that much). The pic shows that the bullets begin to expand when one hits the next. Although pressure (by definition) is obviously the cause, it is pressure from bullet expansion that creates the bulge in the barrel.

The pic also shows why you have to drill them out.

Edited by chemepharmd
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It's not hard to see why you can't always bang them out.

8shots.jpg

(don't recall where I got this pic)

If I am seeing right, this barrel has 8 rounds in it so a reload would have taken place before the shooter realized that nothing was coming out. :wacko:

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Just a couple comments on bulged barrels. In 1964, I bought my first big-bore revolver, a Colt 1917 for $23.50; it was refinished and had some godawful stocks on it. Many years later, I realized it had a slightly bulged bore but it shoots fine and I've still got the gun.

The pic of a barrel full of bullets reminds me of something I read about Civil War muskets. Soldiers would get into a zone of reloading and shooting and never realize the barrel was obstructed until it was all the way full. Once they couldn't stuff anymore bullets down the pipe, the musket got tossed down or swapped. Apparently, these plugged guns were not uncommonly found on battle fields.

Bob.

A16841

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For the OP, FYI any K frame .38 barrel should work. I'm certain specs are the same and a tapered barrel would look like a Model 15 with a little cosmetic work where it meets the frame. You would of course have to ream a new forcing cone.

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Do not use a steel drill or pound out the bullets. Make a flat flute drill out of 1/4" brass with a 90 degree tip properly relieved and drill a hole through the offending bullets. Then drive them out with ease other wise one only wedges them in thighter.

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