Can't remove barrel from slide in 1911

[Lights]

I just tried to field strip my RIA 1911 with a Ed Brown SS match barrel. Well the barrel will not come out of the slide. The barrel bushing came out nice as always. But the barrel comes to sudden stop just before the thick part of the barrel gets to where the back of the bushing would be in the slide. See picture, That is as far as it will come out of the slide.:cry: I have never had this problem before. I did not have any squibs or extra heavy rounds like a double charge. It is a fairly new barrel that has only been in the gun for 2 months. I have dis-assembled and cleaned it 5 times in the past after shooting. What may have went wrong? Did I bulge the barrel? My loads are 6.0gr of W231 over a 200gr TC boolit(Accurate 45-200C) I worked this load up and have no signs of over pressure at all. I have inspected all spent cases. I am a Toolmaker/Machinist and the only way I see this two coming apart is by cutting either the barrel or the slide. I really do not want to cut the barrel to get it out. But that may be my only choice. That will set me back another $170.00. Ouch:-( This thing was shooting awesome today. I had a guy at the range see my target and he asked if I was sandbagging it. Should have seen his face when I told him nope, offhand.

Lights

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images/misc/progress.gif

[Lights]

Well After further inspection of the barrel bore. It has a bulge. I have no Idea how it happened. Nothing felt wrong or sounded wrong at the range. Man it really sucks that I need to buy another barrel. This one was shooting awesome. Just lucky no one got hurt.

[375RUGER]

6.0 g of 231 is definitely a +P and maybe +P+ load. (without knowing how deep your boolit is seated)
Use a load manual so you know when you are approaching a MAX standard loading and when you are exceeding it. 5.5g W231 is max for a normal loading.

[Lights]

6.0 g of 231 is definitely a +P and maybe +P+ load. (without knowing how deep your boolit is seated)
Use a load manual so you know when you are approaching a MAX standard loading and when you are exceeding it. 5.5g W231 is max for a normal loading.

I am using a load manual. The Hornaday 8th edition. It has a max load of 6.2 for a 200gr LSWC. It also has H38 with a max load of 6.5gr. Bullets are seated .290" deep into the case. I have been loading for over 25 years so not new to the process.

[KCSO]

Most likely your bullet was pushed into the case by the feed ramp and this can double pressures. Good luck cuttng the bulged barrel out of the slide.

[Lights]

Most likely your bullet was pushed into the case by the feed ramp and this can double pressures. Good luck cuttng the bulged barrel out of the slide.

I think that is exactly what happened.

[DCM]

What is you C.O.A.L. and length of the actual Boolit?
QL shows 6.0g 231 with a 200g gold dot @ 1.275" COAL to be just over 15,000 psi with 21,000psi as the max for 45 acp.
A lead Boolit should be less PSI unless you are seating them too deeply.

[Lights]

The COAL was 1.175" the boolit is .575" in length. Cases are .890" That means they are seated .290" deep.

[MtGun44]

The "standard" way of bulging a barrel is to stick a boolit in it and fire a
round behind it. I seriously doubt that a push in or double charge will
do this, since they normally blow out the case back bottom at the feed
ramp area. I have seen a number of these and done it once. Think hard,
because it was 99.99% certain a no powder round with the primer pushing
the boolit about an inch into the bbl and the second round shooting both
out - but putting a bulge where they met.

Bill

[Lights]

Hi Bill, I have had a squib before and did not fire a second shot. I know what they feel and sound like when they happen. I do not double tap are rapid fire my pistols. This really freaks me out because I would be the first to say I screwed up and had a squib. But For the life of me I can not say that this time. I only fired 32 rounds the day that this happened. The only hiccup was the two FTF that I tapped the slide home on. Scares the hell out of me now the more I think of it. Just am thankful nothing worse happened.

Barrel is now out of the slide thanks to my milling machine. I needed to mill the bottom foot off and rotate the barrel several times to machine down the bulge to get it out. New barrel is on the way already.

[Sweetpea]

I'm thinking you suffered a setback with one of your FTFs...

Happened to me once with my .40, no bulge, but a nice little kaboom.

Dropped out the mag, blew out the grip panels, and blew brass chunks into my face... Thank God for safety glasses.

I had been exploring the upper limits of pressures anyways, I don't do that much anymore.

Brandon

[Mooseman]

Oil or Excessive lube in a barrel will also cause a barrel to bulge when a round is fired...

[DCM]

OK the 1.175" COAL with a 0.575" boolit, 6.0g 231 shows a calculated pressure of 20,463.
Setting the boolit back 0.1" pushes the pressure up to 35,648PSI.
A double charge would give a pressure of 114,554 PSI and a case fill of 133%.
Purely speculation but at that pressure things should have been much worse as many solid rifles come undone at that type of pressure.
23,000 PSI is what QL lists for acceptable +p pressure.
The more setback of the boolit the higher the pressure.
I haven't figured a way to simulate what the pressure would be with something stuck in the bore.

[HeavyMetal]

Lights are you loading mixed case's?
If you are you may have hit a "loose" one which allowed your boolit to seat deeper when it hit the feed ramp. It is also possible you may have had debris in the case, I have found a lot of that over the years but always before I got the case in the press, LOL, If you load on a progressive press it could happen.

I have had the stuck boolit in the barrel followed by a fired round, a buddies 1911, in this case it left a ring in the barrel but did not bulge it. It was an early Bar Sto and he still shoots it but has learned that he needs to pay more attn during his loading sessions!

[smokeywolf]

Lights, a failure to feed warrants an immediate close inspection. It is well within the realm of possibility that you suffered a boolit set-back when you "tapped the slide home".

smokeywolf

[376Steyr]

I agree that a set-back bullet could have caused a pressure spike, but I'm surprised the barrel bulged without the case blowing out as well. My one adventure in double-charging a 45 blew out a case and wrecked a magazine, but didn't hurt the barrel. If it was my barrel, I'd send it back to Ed Brown, making it clear that the problem could have been caused by a bad reload, and let them take a look at it.

[HollowPoint]

Just a thought; from the looks of the pic you've provided, it may be that you can just cut the barrel off as close to the muzzle end of the slide as possible, then you can slip the damaged barrel out the back rather than trying to push it forward out the front.

Since you'll be replacing the barrel any way, it shouldn't damage anything else on your gun. Just be carful that your cut-off tool doesn't touch the frame.

HollowPoint

[MtGun44]

High pressure blows out the brass, does NOT bulge barrels.

Barrels are bulged by barrel obstructions.

The brass is intact and the barrel is bulged, there was some sort
of a barrel obstruction. The most common one is a boolit. Dirt
and snow in hunting guns is a common issue.

Bill

[Lights]

Ya they were mixed cases. FC and Blazer Brass. Old barrel is machined out of the slide. New barrel is on the way. My loads that I have left have been dismantled. We are going to tame them down a bit and keep an eye on every dam case after it is charged in the Lee turret press. I just hooked up an LED light so I can see into the cases better.

[MGySgt]

Sorry - But I agree with Bill - the 45 is recoil operated and the barrel is locked for the first part of the movement where your highest pressure would be - which would be a blown out case.

Only bulges in the barrel I am aware of come from some sort of obstruction that causes the pressure to spike again at the location of the bulge.

Other option is a faulty barrel.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[smokeywolf]

Although stainless does not fracture as easily as high carbon or chrome moly steels, outside of the more exotic alloys of 400 series stainless, it does tend to be softer. Is it possible that this could have contributed to a barrel bulge as opposed to a case blowout at the top of the loading ramp?

[Lights]

What ever happened the good lord was looking out for me. I got to inspecting the barrel today. It bulged right at the front locking lug. The locking lug recess cut had a visable crack in it. I am lucky it just did not let go any more than it did.