Roto4M barrels for 1911 Commander pistols?

[Ithaca Gunner]

Anybody have experience with these? I never heard of them before, made in USA and very inexpensive. I've tried the Swenson barrels from Midway USA for around the same price and found one barely useable and the other wouldn't even take a link, the hole was drilled off that far. I'm wondering if these Roto4M barrels are junk like Swenson's or just plain cheap.

[lefty o]

have a good barrel fitted to your pistol.

[knifemaker]

Try a Kart match barrel and bushing and you will be happy. You can see my 25 yard target with 8 rounds in the thread titled " the 1911 is not dead". first post on page 2 with the S&W 1911.

[Ithaca Gunner]

For .45 I use Ed Brown barrels from Brownells and have not been disappointed. I was looking at a .400 Corbon and these are all that's available. If they're junk, (and I suspect they are at this price) I'll rethink my caliber choice for my next build.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I recall seeing these barrels advertised in "The Shotgun News" some years back, I stopped buying that rag some years back so can`t say they still are there. Remember there is a town in Japan named USA, this was done back in the `50`s to distract buyers of cheap imports with a Japan stamp on them. Buy a named brand barrel and your problems should stop.Robert

[bob208]

what is your intent ? for a barrel that shoots good and works they are good I have used some to rebuild some of the argentine colts when they came in. if you want shoot matches then you will need a match barrel.

[9.3X62AL]

No dog in this fight, but it appears that afternarket gun parts are in the same short supply that a lot of our reloading componentry has been in for the past few years (or is it DECADES??) I suppose my patience with such conditions is wearing a little thin......

[Ithaca Gunner]

No dog in this fight, but it appears that afternarket gun parts are in the same short supply that a lot of our reloading componentry has been in for the past few years (or is it DECADES??) I suppose my patience with such conditions is wearing a little thin......

I believe you nailed it. I rally want to build a 10mm Commander, however just try and find parts! A .357 SIG is easier. I'll just wait it out, finish the frame, and see what comes along.

[MtGun44]

Shot a 6" Rotoform in my Gold Cup with ports added to the extra inch for about 10-15,000 rounds
back in the 80s. Worked fine, but the ports (slots, more) eventually caused cracks at the ends and
I pulled the barrel. It was shooting fine. Never tried much real target shooting with it, but it did fine
for IPSC and was reliable. Nothing fancy but perfectly functional.

Bill

[Tackleberry41]

I have not seen much good said about these barrels. If Swenson has issues making a decent barrel at $70, its really hard to say a cheaper one will be better. Seem to remember reading somewhere that alot of these low end barrels are made by the same company, they just use different names as people learn about the quality.

I bought a Swenson barrel, drop in was a strong word to use. After much cursing just bought another barrel. Learned my lesson its hard to get a ready to use pistol barrel for under $100.

[DougGuy]

You would likely be better off buying a stock barrel from fleabay than the Swenson. I don't know about the Roto. I put together a GI .45 from various sources, just like the military armorers would have done, frame and all internals are Auto Ordnance from Gunbroker, slide is a late WWII Remington Rand, barrel is a vintage US issued HS (High Standard) from who knows, it could be WWII to Vietnam issue period, and I assembled it all and went to shoot it. This is the first group I got out of it at about 10yds or so.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/1911A1/HS-LongThroat_zps8rbolkau.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/1911A1/HS-LongThroat_zps8rbolkau.jpg.html)

Having two HS barrels and one Colt barrel I took the one used HS barrel and long throated it in the same fashion that some of my customers wanted, having sent along some dummies with various boolits seated out long. It has .165" of 3° tapered freebore before the leade in to the rifling and it outshot the other two barrels by an easy margin.

The best Commander I had was a Caspian lower, and a 50s or 60s Colt upper with stock barrel, and a Briley barrel bushing. This thing was a tack driver. The Briley spherical bushing was the bee's knees buddy, let me tell you. Both these guns are excellent shooters with stock barrels.