Pistol Barrel Length Change?
I have a .22 pistol with .22LR and .22 WMR cylinders with a tired 6" barrel. Shorts, LR, and WMR all keyhole at very close ranges. I bought a newer 4" barrel on the auction side that has better rifling.
Will installing a 4" barrel on a gun that came from the factory with a 6" barrel be legal?
Is there anything I need to do to keep it legal?
Will installing a 4" barrel on a gun that came from the factory with a 6" barrel be legal?
Is there anything I need to do to keep it legal?
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I'm not aware of any law that prohibits you from changing the barrel length, either longer or shorter, on a legally owned handgun. If you were cutting a rifle down to a pistol, that would be a different story. 0 -
the is no reason you cann't do this, barrel length has no bearing on legality. 0 -
There are Anschutz match rifles and some High Standard match pistols with well over 200,000 rounds through them, still shooting. A barrel being bad on a .22 is as rare as hens teeth.
Have you checked the crown on the muzzle for a burr?
Has the bore been worn out through bad cleaning methods?
Just wondering? [:)]0 -
Its perfectly legal to swap out the barrel on a PISTOL to any length you like. In fact, there are several relatively common pistol models that are designed to let you easily swap out barrels to ones of varying lengths, eg:
Dan Wesson revolvers
Smith 22A .22 auto pistol.
Thompson-Center Contender pistol, etc.
As to barrels, there are plenty of .22s with bad barrels out there.
Its not shooting .22s that wears them out, but rather neglect (eg rust) and vigorous cleaning that can damage the bore.0 -
Experts: Might a barrel reliner be fitted to a pistol? 0 -
Thanks to all on the legality. Somewhere I saw someone tell another that he would have issues with the same deal. EDIT: Now that I think about it, it may have been on a CA specific site. Whoops.[:I]
The gun looked good when I bought it 7-10 years ago, but I did not check the bore, as I was still very much a novice. The gun is a cheap QFI, now made as a Heritage Arms buffalo Scout. The rifling is almost gone, though you can see the marks in the bore. It is not a burr that caused the issue, as CCI shotshells patterned very well from the worn barrel, terribly in the new. I am keeping the old barrel for that reason.
I wonder if the bore is a .221 for 22LR and the previous owner used all .22 WMR (.224), and the excess pressure wore the barrel out prematurely. Could tha tbe the case? I ask because I plan on shooting 22WMR in this gun. I can't find much info on the specific model i own though.0 -
quote:Originally posted by MBK
Experts: Might a barrel reliner be fitted to a pistol?
Yes, that "can" be done. But in this case, I doubt that it would be cost-effective to do it.
The "Buffalo Scout" is a low end German made (Herbert Schmitt) gun. The exact same gun was imported then distributed under a variety of other names. (There have been a few threads on these, you can do a search using the GB search feature). Steel quality on these is low; it doesn't surprise me that the barrel is worn.
If in tip-top condition (which this one isn't), the gun is only worth at most $150 and that would be WITH the .22 magnum conversion. Consider that the "Heritage" .22LR/.22magum SA revolver is basically the modern rendition of this older gun, and those only cost $180 brand new in the box.
Meanwhile, here's a spare barrel for one for $25:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=158674593
The point is, it probably doesn't pay to spend too much to fix up this low-end gun that is a pure "shooter" with no collectors value.
Also, for what its worth, fitting a new revolver barrel usually isn't as easy as just screwing it in, since the barrel-cylinder gap has to be set correctly, with the front sight set vertically, but I think that's still got to be easier than re-lining an old barrel.
We've already established that a damaged muzzle/crown isn't the culprit here, but if it were, a cheap and easy fix might be just to have the muzzle counterbored. Cutting down the barrel or a simple re-crown could also work, but the front sight might have to be re-installed afterwards, and that isn't necessarily easy.
Edit: Older thread on this here:
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3844350 -
I lucked out with the new barrel, in that after installation, it had a tighter cylinder gap than the barrel I took off.
Mine also has a pressed-in barrel, not threaded. I think the newer guns have threads, but mine does not. It was just pinned. Some heat from a propane torch on the frame and the barrel came right out after removing the pin.0
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