My first revolver barrel replacement (Ruger SRH .480) - please advise!

[480guy]

This is my very first time looking into the mechanics of revolver barrel replacement. I have absolutely no idea how this is done or what is required, so I would very much appreciate it if someone here could give me a thorough idea of what the procedure involved is and how feasible in this particular case, and also an approximate idea of the costs involved.

Basically, I have a well-used Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .480 Ruger that came with the standard factory 2.5" barrel with a 1:18" twist rate. I would like to replace the original barrel with a new one, 4.75" long, with a 1:10" twist rate. My reason for wanting to do so is that the new twist rate and barrel length are calculated to produce the best accuracy possible with the boolit and load that I plan to shoot almost exclusively in this revolver: a 420 gr. LBT style WFN at around 1,000 fps, to be used as a side weapon handy enough to be carried all day, shootable without excessive blast and recoil and yet sufficiently powerful, for personal protection against dangerous animals while hiking and camping in the wilderness, including Alaska.

I started a thread in this forum that has helped me establish/confirm the ideal barrel twist rate for this project and that, for those interested in reading the details, can be viewed here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-900-1-000-fps

I was advised that PacNor sells a .475 barrel with 1:10" twist. At this time I'm not aware of other barrel makers with similar offerings from whom I could purchase the barrel I need. How do I go about locating a suitable barrel and then having it installed on my gun? Is it as simple as having a local gunsmith do the work or does it require highly specialized skills? I would like to understand the details of the procedure and learn what my best options are. Looking forward to your ideas, explanations and suggestions..

[leftiye]

Rebarreling revolters can involve some issues. S&W revolvers have the underlug that houses the front part of the lockup (for instance). This lug causes major machining problems if you plan to manufacture a barrel complete with one. This is not to mention the sight rib on top, and the front sight base. I have little experience with Ruger double actions, but I seem to remember them having some complicated stuff in that area. Otherwise one needs a barrel vise, and a frame wrench to unscrew and replace barrels. Timing the barrel involves removing a few thousandths at a time to approach torqued conditions at the proper position with the front sight perpendicular. Also of course you must then shave off a couple of thou. at a time until the cylinder will close to battery with the proper cylinder gap. One answer to the non- cylindrical barrel (underlug, and front sight) is to bore out the original barrel, and use it as a pressed on sleeve with front sight and underlug. In your case you would another ruger barrel of the desired length to bore out.

[Mica_Hiebert]

I personally suggest selling the Alaskan and buying the long barrel model and have a smith whack and crown the barrel to your desired length and reinstalling the front sight. Factory twist will stabilize the 420 grain just fine.

[Virginia John]

I understand you wanting to change the barrel and I am sure that on the Ruger Forum site or You Tube there is probable some very good advice. Good luck with your project.

[Preacher Jim]

you need the proper wrench to hold your frame i suggest you visit brownells and buy the wrench or you will twist the frame and destroy your gun

[480guy]

Rebarreling revolters can involve some issues. S&W revolvers have the underlug that houses the front part of the lockup (for instance). This lug causes major machining problems if you plan to manufacture a barrel complete with one. This is not to mention the sight rib on top, and the front sight base. I have little experience with Ruger double actions, but I seem to remember them having some complicated stuff in that area. Otherwise one needs a barrel vise, and a frame wrench to unscrew and replace barrels. Timing the barrel involves removing a few thousandths at a time to approach torqued conditions at the proper position with the front sight perpendicular. Also of course you must then shave off a couple of thou. at a time until the cylinder will close to battery with the proper cylinder gap. One answer to the non- cylindrical barrel (underlug, and front sight) is to bore out the original barrel, and use it as a pressed on sleeve with front sight and underlug. In your case you would another ruger barrel of the desired length to bore out.

Thanks so much for your feedback. Is the type of barrel replacement on a Ruger DA, with the complicated stuff (underlug, front sight) you mentioned one may have to deal with, something you would entrust to an average gunsmith, or does it require, in your opinion, the highly specialized skills/equipment (and stiff price) of a custom gun maker? I'll try and post in the Ruger forum so as to get specific advice for this specific revolver. I'll also look into your suggestion of boring out the original barrel, it might be the most convenient thing to do in this case, I'll have to find out.

[480guy]

I personally suggest selling the Alaskan and buying the long barrel model and have a smith whack and crown the barrel to your desired length and reinstalling the front sight. Factory twist will stabilize the 420 grain just fine.

Initially, I thought of that as it would make the whole thing so much easier, but in order to get good accuracy with a heavy boolit (a .475 420 gr WFN in this case) at a velocity of 900-1,000 fps at up to 100 yards, a faster spin than that provided by the original barrel is needed. It's not just a question of more or less stabilizing the boolit, the fact is that groups open a lot after 50 yards with heavy boolits at medium velocities, unless you have a fast enough twist rate..which is precisely why I would prefer a 1:10" twist rate for this project. So if I can find a cost-efficient way to rebarrel with a twist rate that I know will maximize accuracy with the cartridge I intend to shoot almost exclusively in this revolver, why not?

If anyone cares to take a look at the numbers involved, please refer to this short post by a fellow who has devoted decades to perfecting his accuracy in revolver shooting and understands pretty well the relationship between accuracy, velocity and an appropriate twist rate..this post sums it up nicely:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post3597100

In the post below (same thread) I talk in detail about the end result I aim to achieve with this project:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post3607097

[480guy]

I understand you wanting to change the barrel and I am sure that on the Ruger Forum site or You Tube there is probable some very good advice. Good luck with your project.

Thank you, and I appreciate your suggesting it, I'll soon join and post there too.

[480guy]

you need the proper wrench to hold your frame i suggest you visit brownells and buy the wrench or you will twist the frame and destroy your gun

Thanks for the info. But, are you suggesting that this can be a DIY type of thing, something someone not a gunsmith can do in the garage work area, at home, with a few specialized tools?

[DougGuy]

Does the term Carpenter Steel mean anything to you? The barrel on your SRH is not the typical Ruger steel used in revolvers designed for lesser pressure cartridges. The frame, cylinder and barrel of the SRH .480 is some very specialized stuff that took Ruger a long time to develop by trial and error and watching stuff fail before they settled on the Carpenter Steel alloy used in the SRH .480.

Anything weaker than the same alloy Ruger used for this revolver may suffer the same fate as their early on attempts at bringing it to a marketable state.

I agree you would be better off selling the Alaskan and buying another SRH and having the barrel shortened.

[480guy]

Does the term Carpenter Steel mean anything to you? The barrel on your SRH is not the typical Ruger steel used in revolvers designed for lesser pressure cartridges. The frame, cylinder and barrel of the SRH .480 is some very specialized stuff that took Ruger a long time to develop by trial and error and watching stuff fail before they settled on the Carpenter Steel alloy used in the SRH .480.

Anything weaker than the same alloy Ruger used for this revolver may suffer the same fate as their early on attempts at bringing it to a marketable state.

I agree you would be better off selling the Alaskan and buying another SRH and having the barrel shortened.

Thanks for your feedback, DougGuy, it is much appreciated. I just started a new thread in the Ruger Forum on this topic, in their gunsmithing section, so as to get more (expert) opinions. If it is as you say in regard to Carpenter Steel, then I'll definitely have to abandon the idea of a custom barrel with faster twist rate in the SRH.. As I said, I know very little about this type of work, which is precisely why I'm asking questions. So, I look forward to more responses in both forums before talking to a couple of local gunsmiths, and then I'll take it from there.

[480guy]

So, in conclusion, I've asked questions in forums and talked to people.
Doing the custom work I envisioned, I've found, involves prices that are well over my budget for this project and the kind of work involved goes well beyond what I, at first, guessed it would be possible in a much easier fashion. As it was mentioned above by DougGuy, there is the problem of the special steel used in .480 and .454 SRH's, which makes it risky and extremely difficult to work with..I'm told it could all result in a big mess even when throwing a whole bunch of money on it.
All considered, and I admit I say this with a bit of disappointment (because of the impossibility to get the faster 1:10" twist rate I really wanted), getting an extra SRH with standard barrel and cutting it down to 4.75" seems the most reasonable option at this point for this project. Which means being stuck with the standard 1:18.75" twist rate.

[Mica_Hiebert]

I bet you will find that the factory twist will suit your needs just fine.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Thanks for your feedback, DougGuy, it is much appreciated. I just started a new thread in the Ruger Forum on this topic, in their gunsmithing section, so as to get more (expert) opinions. If it is as you say in regard to Carpenter Steel, then I'll definitely have to abandon the idea of a custom barrel with faster twist rate in the SRH.. As I said, I know very little about this type of work, which is precisely why I'm asking questions. So, I look forward to more responses in both forums before talking to a couple of local gunsmiths, and then I'll take it from there.

I would suspect that the Carpenter steel is necessary for the frame, but not for the barrel. Some pretty fierce revolver cartridges get used with barrel walls and threads smaller than the Ruger's. But I don't think "would suspect" is good enough for this job. So I certainly wouldn't trust turning a barrel to a relatively small cylinder and sleeving the complete old barrel over it. Anyway, your barrel is shorter than the new one would be.

What I have seen done with a S&W was to turn down the barrel until it would fit a lathe collet, and then enlarge the bore to a wall thickness of zero at the underlug, so that it fell off and could be silver soldered to a new lugless barrel. It could be either bored on the lathe or a counterbore tool could be used. In your case a gunsmith would probably have to make up a brass mandrel to fit into that short barrel.

This is definitely work for a skilled revolver gunsmith, and requires a lathe. Fitting a replacement barrel may not be, if Ruger will supply one. But you need to make sure of the right wrench and holding devices to avoid damage.

[w5pv]

Good luck

[480guy]

I bet you will find that the factory twist will suit your needs just fine.

Well, I won't be able to compare the fast 1:10" twist rate with the standard 1:18.75" twist of the SRH. I think, based on the research I've done, the faster twist is capable of much greater accuracy when it comes to heavy-for-caliber boolits at my intended subsonic velocities at ranges 50 to 100 yards and beyond. That is definitely not a requisite in a self-defense weapon, but it would have been nice for occasional hunting and long-range target shooting. Besides, I have a passion for experimenting with such things..

[480guy]

I would suspect that the Carpenter steel is necessary for the frame, but not for the barrel. Some pretty fierce revolver cartridges get used with barrel walls and threads smaller than the Ruger's. But I don't think "would suspect" is good enough for this job. So I certainly wouldn't trust turning a barrel to a relatively small cylinder and sleeving the complete old barrel over it. Anyway, your barrel is shorter than the new one would be. What I have seen done with a S&W was to turn down the barrel until it would fit a lathe collet, and then enlarge the bore to a wall thickness of zero at the underlug, so that it fell off and could be silver soldered to a new lugless barrel. It could be either bored on the lathe or a counterbore tool could be used. In your case a gunsmith would probably have to make up a brass mandrel to fit into that short barrel. This is definitely work for a skilled revolver gunsmith, and requires a lathe. Fitting a replacement barrel may not be, if Ruger will supply one. But you need to make sure of the right wrench and holding devices to avoid damage.

Thanks so much for your post. Was it a S&W .500 or .460 that you saw that work performed on? If yes, I'm curious to know what specific barrel was chosen for that task, in case you know.

I am still awaiting a response from Ruger in this regard..

[480guy]

Good luck

Thanks!!

[ironhead7544]

You might be able to get a 454 barrel and have it cut to the length you want. Then have it rebored to 480 with the twist you want. Not cheap, but might be the cheapest.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Thanks so much for your post. Was it a S&W .500 or .460 that you saw that work performed on? If yes, I'm curious to know what specific barrel was chosen for that task, in case you know.

I am still awaiting a response from Ruger in this regard..

It was a .45, in the sort of steel that until recently was all anybody needed to make a revolver barrel out of. The point is that no metal was removed from a turned barrel, or divided between inner barrel and sleeve. The underside was as strong as the upper side.