Ruger SRH Barrel

[murf205]

I have a friend who fell in love with my 9 1/2" Ruger SRH 44 and he has a 7 1/2" 454 Casull but wants to have Ruger rebarrel it at the factory. I emailed them and called them and the response was that ATF would not allow them to change the barrel length, only to replace it with the same barrel it was made with!. My question is, are they B.S.'ing me? If that is indeed the case, then every custom pistolsmith in the country is doing it wrong. Anybody know for sure or was Ruger Customer Service just blowing me off?

[DougGuy]

They will only make changes that keep it the same catalog number. If a certain model came with unfluted cylinders, and there is the same gun, same everything, with a fluted cylinder, and it has a different catalog number, Ruger would not interchange those cylinders. If they made the same model with both fluted and unfluted, and you wanted an unfluted cylinder, they would change out the cylinder because it would be the same catalog number either way.

[murf205]

But is that dictated by the ATF, like they told me? I understand it is pretty hard to rebarrel a SRH so the factory was his 1st source. He has since bought a used 91/2” gun

[DougGuy]

It's possible that the serial number is recorded with barrel length and has to remain as it is described, I know once you build an AR if it says it's a rifle, it will always be a rifle, etc....

[contender1]

Yes,, as the manufacturer,, they have different rules to follow. Plus,, they are not set up as a "custom" gun business. The ATF can make life miserable at times,, and it's easier to NOT make such changes.
Custom builders do their paperwork a bit differently. While they also hold a "manufacturing license" they are not the original builder. Their records reflect what work they do. Changing barrels,, calibers etc,, all goes into their records.

[WebMonkey]

One example may be:
California "list" of allowed firearms.
Altering a firearm from its cataloged configuration would drop it?

[murf205]

At any rate he now has 2 SRH’s and says he is going to keep the 9 incher. From what I have read, unscrewing the barrel on on of these guns is a real task. That might be why they are so accurate. Ruger discontinued the longer barrel 454 and if a revolver cartridge ever need a long barrel it is this one. But... carrying one is a bit of a challenge.

[murf205]

It's possible that the serial number is recorded with barrel length and has to remain as it is described, I know once you build an AR if it says it's a rifle, it will always be a rifle, etc....

Doug, I am betting that is the reason. It would slightly alter their records even the serial # is the same.

[DougGuy]

Now, if they offered a long barrel SRH with a full underlug, well... That would be a game changer for me, not that anything around these parts needs that much gun to kill it, but that would make one helluva pig poker!

[Baja_Traveler]

Curious what changed from the Red Hawk to the Super Red Hawk that made changing out a barrel so difficult. I know the frame is vastly different, but the barrels should go in and out identically. I made my own 10" fluted barrel and installed it on my Red Hawk with little difficulty - all it takes is a decent barrel vise.
Sure miss having machine shop access, now I'm limited to a file and hacksaw...

[DougGuy]

Linebaugh won't even take in a SRH for barrel work. Period! Unscrewing the SRH barrel in many instances totally ruins the threads in the frame, rendering the gun useless. Depending on the age of the gun, there were a few years of SRH production that even Ruger can't get them off without ruining the frame!

[murf205]

Curious what changed from the Red Hawk to the Super Red Hawk that made changing out a barrel so difficult. I know the frame is vastly different, but the barrels should go in and out identically. I made my own 10" fluted barrel and installed it on my Red Hawk with little difficulty - all it takes is a decent barrel vise.
Sure miss having machine shop access, now I'm limited to a file and hacksaw...

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the extended frame. From what I understand it warps the frame if not done with the factory frame jig. John Gallagher told me that his approach was to cut the barrel off at the frame and drill out the factory threads and retap to a larger size. Sounds like a lot of work to me. My friend may have taken the easier approach by just finding a used 9 1/2" gun and selling his 7 1/2"..

[murf205]

Traveler, that's a nice looking piece. Did you do anything to the trigger? My 2 Redhawks had pretty heavy triggers and I tried a set of springs but the primer strike was too light for reliability so I wound up with the original spring.

[DougGuy]

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the extended frame. From what I understand it warps the frame if not done with the factory frame jig. John Gallagher told me that his approach was to cut the barrel off at the frame and drill out the factory threads and retap to a larger size. Sounds like a lot of work to me.

It's because of the threads. They used an interference fit, and once the barrel was threaded in place, there ain't no turning it backwards, it galls and starts ripping metal from the frame and the barrel until it is locked up so tightly it won't move in either direction.

My friend may have taken the easier approach by just finding a used 9 1/2" gun and selling his 7 1/2"..

That's always the easier thing to do!

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

An "interference fit" often results in the barrel having a "choke" inside the frame. Can cause havoc especially with cast. Can be cured by fire lapping.

[murf205]

Attachment 239716Yep, we slugged the barrel and you can feel the tight spot. He is more of an "out of the box and leave it alone" guy so he will shoot it and see what happens. His 7 1/2" gun has the same tight spot but if you stick with J bullets, it shoots just fine. I agree with the fire lap but not until HE brings it up.
As far as interference fit, they must install the barrel on these guns with some fluid power. Stainless does not like to be reversed when it has been this tight.
Wish they made a blued carbon steel SRH. I never understood why they made a 9 1/2" 44 mag in bright stainless only. Target grey would have made more sense (to me at least) because it is first and foremost a hunting gun. Here is Old Ugly, my SRH that I sprayed and baked with Lauer Coat. In the deep south, pine thickets are all that is left after the paper companies got done and we have to set up CLOSE.

[Willbird]

There is no such BATFE regulation for Mfg about barrel lengths. As long as Ruger did not make a mess screwing the barrel IN it could be bored out to the minor dia of the threads and the threads would come out like a Heli coil probably, but it would be a labor of love for sure.

Bill

[Tackleberry41]

Odd how that overly tight fit also sort of ruins the guns with tight spots in the barrel, while making it near impossible to change the barrel. Have to ask, why? Was no other way or just this was the cheapest way? Especially as many people like and modify Rugers guns.

[Willbird]

Odd how that overly tight fit also sort of ruins the guns with tight spots in the barrel, while making it near impossible to change the barrel. Have to ask, why? Was no other way or just this was the cheapest way? Especially as many people like and modify Rugers guns.

Stainless Steel can be a real pain in the rear as far as galling, "gun stainless" is typically pretty benign but there are some high temperature alloys that even free running hand tight threaded connections will gall up and seize even running by hand. The solution in that case was to use Milk of Magnesia old school anyway, it supposedly worked great.

As far as the bore distortion it sounds like all revolvers suffer that from the threaded connection, Dan Wesson has it at both ends of the barrel according to Veral, and even the roll markings will produce a bore distortion that can be felt hand lapping (same source of information).

In your typical rifle setup the chamber is longer that the barrel tenon so none of that shows up in the bore of the finished gun.

Some folks have theorized that in the TC contender the more accurate ctg are all longer than the welded on locking lug....

The "Taylor throat" idea reams out the portion of the barrel stressed by the threaded connection, on a SRH that would end up a loooong freebore tho .

Bill

[murf205]

I'm afraid that fire lapping is the answer. I have never done it but too many people have , and the results speak for themselves. I am very fortunate in that my SRH has no thread choke and it is the most accurate revolver I ever owned.