1868 Sharps Loose Barrel

[VenisonRX]

Attachment 248032

[M-Tecs]

Thanks for the correction. How do figure how much of a rotation? I’m seeing 1/32 in past the witness mark. Below is a picture of what I mean. How do I convert that to fractions of a rotation?

I also have a proper barrel vise and action wrench for this.

For that you would use the circumference. What is normally done is to use feeler gauge (two at 180 degrees is best) to select the proper thickness to get the witness marks to line up than add your .001" or .002" additional thickness.

[indian joe]

Thanks for the correction. How do figure how much of a rotation? I’m seeing 1/32 in past the witness mark. Below is a picture of what I mean. How do I convert that to fractions of a rotation?

I also have a proper barrel vise and action wrench for this.

For reasons that escape me loctite is fine and dandy on a half million dollar John Deere combine but not kosher on a firearm ??

Loctite will do the job for as long as any of us are alive - the only downside is at some point some gunsmith will attempt to remove that barrel with his vice and barrel spanner and in so doing will booger the action because it wont shift without some heat.
I have one rifle that a guy "peened"to get it right and I hate that cuz every time I pick it up I can see the burred up flats on that barrel.

[M-Tecs]

For reasons that escape me loctite is fine and dandy on a half million dollar John Deere combine but not kosher on a firearm ??

Loctite will do the job for as long as any of us are alive - the only downside is at some point some gunsmith will attempt to remove that barrel with his vice and barrel spanner and in so doing will booger the action because it wont shift without some heat.
I have one rifle that a guy "peened"to get it right and I hate that cuz every time I pick it up I can see the burred up flats on that barrel.

Loctite has many applications including on firearm's. For the OP's application Loctite is less than ideal since the barrel index's past the witness mark. Most people are familiar with bolt thrust. In the OP application barrel thrust is the issue. Every firing the barrel thrust will want to push the barrel forward compressing the Loctite since the normal metal to metal contact is not there. Loctite does have product like 680 that should withstand this but disassembly becomes a problem. Shimming will not create any future issues.

[VenisonRX]

Found some shins from McMasters that ought to do the trick. Going to order them and give it a try. I’ll post info on all the particulars and pictures as best I can in case this can be useful to someone else in the future. Thanks everyone for the help and my continued learning.

[BrentD]

I too have a rifle whose barrel unwound during a match. It was a source of much puzzlement, trying to find the target and needing ever more downwind windage on each shot. It was a new custom rifle, so I was not too amused when I figure it out.

In any event, I glued it back in place with red Loctite and it has preformed spectacularly ever since. There is no way on Earth (or anywhere else) that I would peen anything on it.

[VenisonRX]

Although peening/rolling were and probably still are valid methods to do it I’m just not willing to bend metal on a pristine 155 year old barrel. If shimming doesn’t solve it my plan is to rebarred it with a new one and retire the original barrel to the back of the safe.

[indian joe]

I too have a rifle whose barrel unwound during a match. It was a source of much puzzlement, trying to find the target and needing ever more downwind windage on each shot. It was a new custom rifle, so I was not too amused when I figure it out.

In any event, I glued it back in place with red Loctite and it has preformed spectacularly ever since. There is no way on Earth (or anywhere else) that I would peen anything on it.

yes on all counts - a guy peened a barrel on an original 73 (setback and rechambered) I hated that peened barrel every time I looked at it - red loctite I used on an old 44/40 (model 92) parts gun - shot it with heavy loads (1850 FPS hp j boolits) on pigs for years and it never looked like moving - eventually rebarrelled it and a bit of a warm up with oxy torch to get the barrel off - only reason I can see for the lower grades of loctite is because someone forgets that it was used and stuffs the action in later years trying to get it apart cold. Most Aussies dont have the luxury of retiring a barrel that is a good shooter like our OP is contemplating .

[john.k]

I had an old lever rifle,somehow it got a spot of weld on the back of the barrel,and someone had determined to take out the barrel.........wrecked the thread in the action,about 1/2 left.........anyway ,got it cheap,cleaned up the thread a bit,still very loose.....so I slopped the thread in and outside with red loctite studlock,and set the barrel back against a closed bolt,case and a card shim to force the threads into metal to metal contact.Still there today,still in use,current owner has no idea of the loctite,probably wouldnt know what loctite was.

[VenisonRX]

Think I got it done. .002 worth of stainless shims and just a little torque. Can’t even tell they’re there and is nice and solid. Headspaces good and the sights are level to the rifle.

What I ended up doing is ordering some round shims from McMasters at .001 each. 1 shim got me to the witness mark at a solid hand tight, 2 got me there with a little torque. I was fortunate to find shims with the correct inner diameter. Put them on the barrel and marked the outer diameter. Took them off and trimmed them to match. Used a little oil on the shims and didn’t have any tearing or wrinkling. I just used grease on the threads so as I shoot it and watch for any loosening or tightening I can remove the barrel and add a shim or go with loctite if necessary. Should be fine though.

Thanks to everyone for the tips and advice!