Colt official police 32-20 barrel

[161]

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I'm in trouble I have a 5 inch colt 32-20 Official Police with a split barrel. I called Colt they don't work on them anymore. Can anybody tell me where to find a factory barrel? Or who would instaul a custom barrel?

Thanks

[Outpost75]

You may be able to find a barrel at Numrich. John Taylor or Grant Cunningham work on Colts.

[Rainier]

I've never dealt with these folks before but they are recommended by Colt for some work. If they can't help you they may know where to send you.

http://customshopinc.com

[Guesser]

I've had Glenn Custom in Phoenix repair 2 Colt double action revolvers for me in the last 6 months. Great service, great pricing and fast turn around. he answers emails in a timely fashion too.
I'm thinking, after thought, that a 32 Police or 32 N.P. barrel will work also. I have all three and the bore and twist is the same, but the markings would be "off".

[161]

The truth of the matter is, I ruined this gun. It was made I think in 1929. It went almost 90 years and I had to screw it up. I had shot it 12 times with Blackhills new ammo everything was great. I loaded it with a cylinder of my reloads that I loaded about our month after open heart surgery. I'm 52 years old and have never done something this stupid. I handed it to a guy who likes guns but isn't a big shooter. He's 6 foot 4 I'm 5 foot 7. I held my hands over my ears and watched the target. I'm not making excuses. I just didn't hear the squib because of the height difference and covering my ears. Then he stuffed the next 5 on top of the stuck bullet. It was all my fault I should never been messing with reloading that soon after open heart surgery. I think I'll see about a custom 6 inch barrel from the names you folks gave me. I still fell like throwing up over this deal
Thx

[rintinglen]

Call Numrich and ask nicely--they currently are sold out but they get stuff in all the time, and if you get lucky something may pop up.
The other chance is to go to ebay and register and create a couple of searches. In addition to (Colt 32-20 Barrel) Try some broader ones, "Colt parts" say, or "Colt gun parts." There are a lot of guns that are Destroyed by having their frames cut up, but the barrels and action parts are sold to defray costs.

[rintinglen]

Yet another thought is to get a 38 Special Barrel and have it relined. I have seen quite few Colt OP 38 barrels over the years, perhaps one will turn up for you and you can get it relined and put back on your Revolver.
Third and final thought is to buy a 38 cylinder and barrel and have them fitted to the frame. Be advised that unless you find a barrel for sale, you are looking at some pretty healthy spending. I bought my 32-20 Army Special a year and a half ago for 345 bucks. You may find it easier to replace the gun than to get it fixed. Besides, the walking at the gun show will do you good.

[Guesser]

Relining a 38 barrel is an option I had never considered, but why not? I've seen 73 and 92 Winchesters that had relined 32-20 barrels.

[161]

What's the difference between the army special and official police

[161]

I've had Glenn Custom in Phoenix repair 2 Colt double action revolvers for me in the last 6 months. Great service, great pricing and fast turn around. he answers emails in a timely fashion too.
I'm thinking, after thought, that a 32 Police or 32 N.P. barrel will work also. I have all three and the bore and twist is the same, but the markings would be "off".

What barrel length and price are we talking

[Guesser]

The difference in AS & OP is age. The AS became the OP in 1928

[bob208]

yes you can reline the barrel. I know a fellow that lined the barrel and cylinder of a well worn op. he made it a .25-20 just to be different.

[Drm50]

Is the damage such as you could save it by shortening the barrel? If the gun has no sentimental
value it would be cheaper to find another gun. I like 32/20s I have 3 S&Ws at present, it's a
common calibre in this area. I see a lot of parts guns for sale, they go for $150, Colt and S&W.

[161]

Thanks for all the help. The current barrel is split about midway and then back to the frame. I'm hopping the frame isn't ruined. If I find a barrel what are the chances the cylinder gap will be Correct? Who would be a good contact to reline a barrel if I find one?

[rintinglen]

The cylinder gap should be set by the Gunsmith doing the work. It may require some lathe work to face off the shoulder where the barrel meets with the frame to allow more protrusion into the cylinder well to allow the rear of the barrel forcing cone to be milled down to the correct length.

[Outpost75]

It is fairly standard when fitting a used barrel to set the barrel back a full thread, correct any end-shake in the cylinder and then face the barrel extension to properly set cylinder gap, and then recut and polish the forcing cone. In a new fit-up you want cylinder gap to pass 0.003" in a full cylinder rotation and hold 0.004" in which the cylinder will not rotate with rear gage in place and any endshake taken up by the 0.004" front gage. If you don't have headspace gages the cylinder can be fitted using empty brass and that is acceptable. Just perceptible endshake, about 0.001" is OK, but you don't want more than 0.002".

[161]

Thanks guys I've found a 38 barrel. When does a good job lining barrels?

[45workhorse]

Have you thought about Doug Turnbull? (Spelling?)

[161]

Have you thought about Doug Turnbull? (Spelling?)

He turned me down. Right or wrong I ordered this. If I can't make it work I'm not out much.
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/588450.htm

[Dan Cash]

Thanks guys I've found a 38 barrel. When does a good job lining barrels?

John Taylor. He is a member of this board.

[Rainier]

Don't know if this will help you or not...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8yC6RVKwMw

[kywoodwrkr]

161,
PM sent with a consideration.
Thanks.

[onceabull]

Now ,I'm wondering what(other than the markings) what would be the diff.twixt a 38 Sp. Off.Police Barrel, and the one marked 38 short colt..?????????? onceabull

[161]

Don't know if this will help you or not...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8yC6RVKwMw

It was helpful.
Thanks

[9.3X62AL]

32/20 revolvers have a reputation for having squibs occur firing factory smokeless loads. I run 3 revolvers and a rifle in this caliber, and watch for it at all times. Once solution for this trait was to use SR-4756 powder, per Ken Waters in "Pet Loads". I have fired at least 2500 rounds of 32/20 in wheelguns using between 5.0 and 6.0 grains of 4756 (110-120 grain cast bullets) and have yet to experience any squibs or weak ignitions. CCI 500 and WSP primers get the call.

So don't beat yourself up over the squib and following rounds. You could have done everything right and still had it happen. I had ONE, using Unique in my Colt Bisley. A few taps with a brass rod later, it was back in business. As said, I watch for such things in my 32/20s. It's what they do. Some of these blackpowder calibers did not make the transition to smokeless powder as gracefully as others did.

[Outpost75]

A frequent problem with older .32-20 revolvers is that barrel-cylinder gaps were often large, over 0.008" and frequently as large as 0.010" which when combined with jacketed bullets in factory softpoint loads typically being .310" and cylinder throat diameters in old revolvers often as large as .315", you have a recipe for gas loss, failure to build enough pressure to overcome the greater bore drag of jacketed bullets, and high risk of a bullet-in-bore (BIB) malfunction.

The key is to use lubricated lead bullets which FIT! Typically .313" IF chamber necks in your cylinder are generous enough to accept the larger bullet.

[161]

Well guys that makes me feel better. I tore down some of the shells I loaded and found nothing wrong. I weighed the rest of them as loaded ammo and found them consistent in there weight. Everything you said about squids makes sense. It was an 85 grain xtp and RX7 with a Small Rifle Primer
Thanks
Warren

[9.3X62AL]

Outpost--In the case I cited, one of those factors is/was present--cylinder/forcing cone gap is a bit wide, .007" via feeler gauge. The Unique powder was half-burned, and made a yellowish mess inside the case, cylinder, and bore behind the bullet. Bullet was a home-cast 92/6/2 flatnose plainbase, sized to correspond to the Bisley's throats (.314"). Primers were either WSP or CCI-500, and the pin impression was normal. My guess at the time was "Weak primer impulse", but that is much as I can say.

[Outpost75]

My experience with Unique is that it does not ignite easily or burn uniformly at very low pressures below about 13,000 psi. I stuck a bullet in a Webley MkVI .455 with Unique powder using a published Lyman load in a revolver with large cylinder gap. Fortunately I noticed the weak report, stopped and tapped the bullet out. In shooting up the rest of the box of ammo this happened twice more!

I changed to Bullseye and have had no further problems.

[9.3X62AL]

I had similar good outcomes using SR-4756. Naturally, it went out of print last year.

I wonder if any of these new IMR shotgun-speed powders run close to SR-4756 performance. I know very little more about them than that they are now on scene, and arrived after PB and 4756 departed. They seem "positioned" to compete head-on with Alliant powders. If they ignite more readily than Unique or Herco, they might be a step forward rather than the whatzis emulation they seem to be.

The Winchester primers' fuel element "magic" might find a place in such applications. As Mr. Harris long ago noted in American Rifleman, that trait was developed to address powder bad attitudes.

[cuzinbruce]

I have been using Herco in 32/20 revolvers with good results. An article in Handloader by Gil Sengel (I think) has been my guide.

[9.3X62AL]

Bruce--

When SR-4756 got discontinued, Herco was my first thought as a replacement fuel for 32/20 wheelgun loads. I already have good amounts on hand, and it does great work in 12 gauge heavy field loads--28 gauge 3/4 oz loads--and as cast bullet food in the plain-base SWC loads I put up in the magnum revolver calibers (950-1100 FPS). I already use 5X as much Herco as I do Unique, so it would make sense to adopt Herco for the purpose. I would need to re-read Ken Waters' Pet Loads article on the subject, but I seem to recall that he had some positive results with Herco as well.

[161]

A lot of good information here thanks for the help. I have the 38 short 6 inch barrel on the way. I'm kinda looking forward to relining it to .312 myself. I have a mill and a lathe and my brother is a machinist by trade. Ill keep you folks posted on the progress.
Thanks
Warren

[smkummer]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-COLT-REVOLVER-BARREL-G696-32-20-WCF-/263030865829?hash=item3d3ddc7fa5:g:4cUAAOSwceNZPDk 3 Here you go. The army special front sight may be narrower than the official police.

[rintinglen]

^^^^And that's the ticket!!!
It will be much cheaper to buy this and have it installed than to reline something else. Have it re-blued, or rust-blue it your self, and Bob's your uncle!

[161]

I put a bid in we'll see what happened. Thanks for finding it.

[smkummer]

I think you got it for .99 plus shipping, congrats.

[161]

The 99 cent 4 inch barrel I won on ebay arrived today. It looks serviceable and it looks like when I get the barrel tight it will have around .005 .006 cylinder gap. Enough people have told me that I can't reline a 38 barrel to 32 that I'm going to just to prove them wrong. I have a 6 inch 38 short barrel and 8 inchs of 1 in 16 twist 32 20 liner. I'll keep you posted.

[161]

I took the 6 inch 38 short barrel and bored it open to .3985. The OD of the barrel is .50 I wanted to be sure I left enough metal on the frame end of the barrel so the threads had something to hang onto. I cut a .002 shoulder in the forcing cone and a corresponding .002 shoulder on the liner so the liner had something to butt up against. Turned the liner down to .399 and used a file as the lathe was turning to make a nice snug fit. It took a few taps on the bench to set the lined into the final shoulder I cut into the forcing. I covered the liner with JB Weld before installing it and let it set over night. I think it looks pretty good for a redneck with no experience doing it. Apparently the 38 short had a shorter cylinder so I have plenty of metal to trim for cylinder gap. Any thoughts so far?

[Outpost75]

Sounds great to me. Looking forward to further reports!

[ddixie884]

I have had very good luck with relined barrels in N-frames. I'm sure it will work well for you.