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View Full Version : Lining and/or boring/rifling



leftiye
02-10-2012, 08:23 PM
I've been on a long search for an 8 3/8" S&W .32 barrel (which you all know doesn't exist outside of fable. Numrich used to have them, but don't anymore. The .22 barrels that long are selling for above $225 even at Numrich nowadays.) The reason .22 LR barrels are mentioned is that Bob Hoyt will drill out and re rifle a .22 barrel to .312". As S&W .32 barrels are exceedingly difficult to find, this may be the only way to get one. Making an S&W barrel is some hard to do due to the underlug that houses the front lockup having to be welded up, machined and the plunger bore drilled. That drilling is a difficult issue, probly the easiest way to do it is to use the front of a demilled S&W frame (K in this case)and make a jig/drill guide with it to drill the underlug. That would only be possible IF one could find a 32-20 barrel or blank, which I am having trouble doing.

My reason for this post is to ask about lining a .38 special barrel down to .22 rimfire. I'm wondering if one could cut the threads off of the rear of the barrel, and use a piece of .22 barrel with S&W threads at the rear, bore out the .38 barrel so that it becomes a a shroud, thread the front of the .22 barrel, and screw a "nut" onto the front to hold the shroud tight. Probly glue the shroud on too to eliminate vibrations. One could thus make a 7" .22 cal, barrel out of a six inch .38 barrel.

This would free up one of my .22 S&W K frame barrels to be rebored and rifled .32-20(at present on another gun).

I've even figureg out a way to use two Model 14 6" barrels to make a 10 inch barrel this way FWIW.

I'm asking for your reactions on all of this. Can you give me any improvements? Perhaps you know of barrels for sale? Suggestions on lining, or machining?

Mk42gunner
02-11-2012, 09:25 AM
Why don't you just put a .32 cal liner in a .38/.357 barrel? That is if you can still find an 8 3/8" .38 barrel.

Robert

Coffeecup
02-11-2012, 12:31 PM
If you could source the parts, you might be able to convert the K-frame to use a barrel and shroud from Dan Wesson.

FrankG
02-11-2012, 12:43 PM
Green Mountain barrels has 32-20 blanks.

bob208
02-11-2012, 02:29 PM
gunner has it right just line down the .38- 357 barrel. all problem are solved that way and you are not traring apart 2 pistols.

you dont need a nut on the muzzle end to hold a liner in just a step in the breach . the bullet only travels in one dirction. breach to muzzle. so with the step it would only pull the liner in tighter.

i know it can be sone bob hoyt did an op colt.38. to 25-20. by lining the barrel and chambers.

looseprojectile
02-13-2012, 02:29 PM
a job for our own John Taylor. I have not had him do any work for me but he seems to be able to solve those little problems quite well.
After reading here of his work in relining barrels I have convinced a friend to have an old Winchester .22 relined by him.
Couldn't hurt to talk to him.

Life is good

leftiye
02-13-2012, 11:48 PM
Thanks for your answers/help. I was fearful of getting no answers as has happened in some of my other threads. I can see that this isn't a topic that inspires interest in a lot of folks.

But I wanna do the work myself! Green mountain has on their website a 12 or 15 inch .32 barrel with the 1 in 18 twist that I want, but their longer barrel was in a 1 in 22" twist. I probly should call them up and see what we can come up with.

Mk42gunner, A good idea. I might just do that.
The idea of using a Dan Wesson barrel shroud probly would run into the DW barrel being too large in diameter. Plus, the only DW .32 barrel I've seen cost $350.00.

I have an octagonal barrel that I got from Numrich. It is 8 groove with somewhat deep rifling, and is about 1 in 16 twist, but it has enough meat on it to set an underlug in a dovetail in it, and then mill the overall barrel down on the sides and leave a top rib, and a boss around the dovetail underneath. Then I wouldn't have to sacrifice a 22 barrel.

leftiye
02-14-2012, 11:55 PM
That Numrich barrel has a - you won't believe it - .321" bore and .339" groove. Heh, Heh. .32 my harse, more like .340. Hmmm, .340 Wby with 14" barrel? Maybe .340 whisper? Now with a nice silencer......

Blue2
02-15-2012, 07:41 PM
I have a gun to sell for an estate that was a S&W K-frame Victory Model , Originally a 4in. 38 S&W. The previous owner sleeved and extended the barrel with a 22lr barrel to 6 inch. Also sleeved the chambers. It fires but does not shoot well at all. The sub-caliber conversion did not work out well in this instance.

leftiye
02-16-2012, 10:28 PM
Sleeving chambers has caused me to balk some. Centeredness times six is more trouble than I can face. Rechamber A smaller caliber, yes. Maybe when resleeving down - bore chambers out straight, thread them, set solid cores in chambers, and re drill chamber bores in a pre-centered rotary table setup (or index on locking detents), then cut chambers. Maybe. I'd bet the problem is in the cylinder rather than the barrel (unless he used a junk barrel liner).

izzyjoe
02-16-2012, 11:17 PM
i've had bad luck with Numrich barrel, i got one a .22 cal blank, it's probally more like a .23 cal, and it's bent on top of that. and another that i bought from them was a 30 cal blank, and it was junk too. actully i use it as a prybar now.

leftiye
02-17-2012, 12:36 PM
I suspect that beyond that a lot of their parts might be seconds. One .32 barrel I got from them slugged .314 inch, and the cylinder had chambers .100 inch too long for the caliber.

KCSO
02-17-2012, 01:34 PM
I would just use a 32 liner. A 38 barrel lined out to 32 with a 32-20 liner will shoot just fine.

leftiye
02-19-2012, 07:06 AM
So how thick would that liner be? There's a real limit to how much you can bore out a .357 S&W barrel.

6.5 mike
02-19-2012, 09:27 AM
I think TOTW shows the OD of their bbl liners in the catalog, know I've seen it some place, just don't remember where. :veryconfu

rockrat
02-20-2012, 07:59 PM
Brownells shows the 32-20 liner at .505" OD

leftiye
02-22-2012, 02:09 AM
My comment was more about the barrel being smaller than the liner.