Question about Lone Wolf Barrel.

[DLMMIST]

Hello all, I have a question about a Lone Wolf Barrel. Ipurchased a barrel off a guy I know for my Glock 34 gen 4. He was selling itfor a good price and I reload and thought I would get it to shot PC leadbullets for practice. I was testing some dummy rounds and think I will use Lee120 grain and needed to test OAL to chamber. I noticed that the bullets seemed loseand I could wiggle the brass around in the chamber. I got my digital calliper outand measured the inside of the chamber and made sure not to measure pass intothe rifling. I’m getting .390 to .394 on the Lone Wolf Barrel, now I know thisis not scientific but when I do the barrel that came from Glock I get .385 or.386. I don’t think I want to try this barrel because I feel it may be unsafe. Whatdo you all think should I get my money back or will it be safe to use this barrel?I’m also worried the brass will expand too much and cause problems. Thank you

[lightload]

The Lone Wolf barrel has more leade or distance to that point where rifling begins. The advantage is that longer boolits can be used. Your measurements did not show information on headspace. Critical dimensions would be distance from case head to the headspace ring in the chamber. Your barrel is fine. DougGuy is one of the experts in such matters.

[DLMMIST]

Thanks lightload, my main concern is will the brass expandto much causing a problem. I looked up dimensions on the saami website for 9mmchamber and noticed my chamber is over there minimum chamber dimensions.

[dubber123]

The 9mm is a heavily tapered case, if you were measuring to an even SLIGHTLY different depth, you would get a significantly different # when comparing the two chambers.

[DLMMIST]

I did notice that at the bottom of the chamber it measures .390 to .391 and at the upper part the beginning of the chamber .390 to .394. I did not measure past the headspace ring in the chamber were the rifling starts.

[DLMMIST]

Ok I was doing a search and found this diagram on 9mm chamber. It shows the measurements of the inside chamber from the base to the neck is .387 and .381 I think I will be fine I just don't want to chamber a round and end up with a kaboom.

http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/bin/TLC357135RF/chamber/chamber01.jpg

[Beef15]

Lone Wolf barrels usually have a tighter chamber and much shorter and more abrupt leade/throat than OEM Glock. The internet is full of stories of having their throats reamed to be able to chamber reloads at a reasonable OAL and even some factory ammo.

Guessing someone reamed yours a bit aggressively. Unsafe? I dunno, but I have no interest in anything looser than a OEM Glock. Might be a better idea to cast the chambers and compare them than trying to measure the insides.

ETA: PC'd lead is just fine in a Glock barrel.

[DLMMIST]

I have had good results using PC lead cast bullets in my Ruger SR9 with no leading and the barrel is clean with PC rounds. I purchased a Evolution Gun Works Undersize Reloading Die for sizing my brass and a Lee Bulge Buster Kit with a Carbide Factory Crimp Die 9MM Makarov. I purchased them for range brass that may have been used in a Glock for brass that was bulged. I think I will try powder coated lead cast rounds in my OEM Glock barrel.

[DougGuy]

Actually I would put in a call to Lone Wolf and let them explain chamber dimensions. You could likely send them the barrel and let them look it over.

You might have gotten a barrel that someone has taken a finishing reamer to and enlarged the chamber itself OR they could have made it that way. I wouldn't assume anything one way or another without getting an opinion from the barrel maker.

On the other hand, calipers are not a real good way to get an accurate measurement. You can get close but the measurements you are posting have a lot of variance in your min and max. Two ways you could zero in on the true dimensions are with pin gages, if you have the incrementals as well as the fundamentals you could get it real accurate. Another way is to use a dead soft lead ball or egg sinker and slug the chamber and the throat, then measure this slug with a mic that reads in .0001" resolution. Or do a chamber cast and mic it.

If it plunks your assembled ammo at the COA you choose, it may be perfectly fine to shoot it.