An old friend resurrected

[JayF in AZ]

Many moons ago, I guess about 17 years or so I got into Cowboy shooting for a while. The rifle I bought at the time was a Navy Arms 1892 Short Rifle chambered in .45 Colt. It's a 20 inch full octagon barrel with the rifle type fore end. I'll attach a couple of pictures:

1892SR.jpg

1892SR-recvr.jpg

I had a lot of fun with it although it was never very accurate. I'd never worked up a load for it, just used what I had worked up for the Uberti revolver I had at the time too. Anyway, my CAS career lasted a couple years and sometime after that while I was fondling it I felt something wiggle. I thought it was the fore end but it turned out to be the barrel! The barrel was loose! I found the more I wiggled it the more I could wiggle it. I wasn't sure how that had happened but I now believe it came that way from the factory. Probably not as loose at first, but slowly worked it's way to being loose enough for even a lout like me to notice. At the time though I thought maybe the frame was cracked between the barrel and the mag tube, so I decided not to shoot it until it was fixed and I put it away. For years and years.

Sometime last year while reading up on 92s online I found a good set of disassembly instructions and took the mag tube and fore end off. The good news is there was no frame crack. I found I could unscrew the barrel by hand about 2 turns before it hung up. I put it away again, until just this week. Using a thick leather pad and vise grips I got the barrel off. After cleaning the powder residue etc out of the threads I could screw it in and out all the way with my fingers. I decided to press on with my bubba-ing and degreased the threads then put red loc-tite on the barrel threads and screwed it in. I lined up the extractor notch and let it cure, then reassembled it.

I took it out to the desert a couple days ago for a quick function check. I stuck some orange stick on targets on a box. Didn't know where it would print so started close, about 12 or 15 yards off hand. It hit a tad left and 4 inches low but put all 5 shots into one hole less than an inch across. I'd never seen anywhere near that kind of accuracy from it at any time before. The barrel stayed tight too so I guess it's good to go. So I once again have a .45 Colt firearm in my stable (the revolver is long gone).

Sorry I got so long winded on this but I hope somebody enjoys this story

[redlevel42]

Interesting story. I had the same issue with a Uberti Cattleman revolver in .45 Colt. About the third session of shooting, I noticed the sights didn't look right. Like your experience, I found that I could screw it out of the frame with my fingers. There was also something wrong with the trigger. It was inconsistent. One time it would seem to be about 8 pounds, then later it would be so light it was scary. I lock-tited the barrel and traded that sucker. It soured me on Ubertis. Worst part of the story is that I traded a perfectly good S&W .44 Special for the Uberti.

Hope you have fun with your rifle. I have a couple of .45 Colt rifles, and they are my favorites. A Rossi 92 and a Winchester 94, both Trapper length barrels.

[AJMD429]

That's wild. I would never have guessed a barrel could come loose like that...!

[rjohns94]

I haven't looked at the assembly directions but with the barrel loose, how do the sights stay vertical? Was it loose enough to make that noticeable? Glad you got it all figured out. Firearms are made to be used! Enjoy

[BrentD]

I had a custom highwall built - just shy of $4k in it as I recall. And at the first match, the barrel unrolled. Not too far, the forearm and extractor prevented it from spinning off entirely but by opening the action to retract the extractor and removing the forearm, it was easily turned off by hand. I was very very unhappy about that.

Like you, I glued it on with red loctite - and then had to heat it up to remove the barrel once for one reason or another. But in the end, the red loctite works and that is now my most accurate rifle.

It is a .45-70.

[JayF in AZ]

I haven't looked at the assembly directions but with the barrel loose, how do the sights stay vertical? Was it loose enough to make that noticeable? Glad you got it all figured out. Firearms are made to be used! Enjoy

With mag tube and fore end on, the distance it could turn was pretty small. It couldn't be turned far enough to de-align the extractor cut and I didn't notice it until I picked it up just right.

I'm pretty sure that Navy Arms had Rossi build these, FWIW.

[mikld]

Happens with a lot of guns. I have a S&W 629, I believe it was made in '80, that the barrel turned/twisted in the frame from shooting heavy loads. I bought it used and after shooting several hundred factory-level loads I had trouble keeping the groups centered. Upon inspection I noticed the barrel had canted about 3 or 4 degrees to the left so the front sight was tilting to the left! Tech at S&W said it had been shot with a steady diet of heavy loads. I sent it to the factory for repairs and now only shoot mild Magnum or Special level loads in her...

[Malamute]

I seem to recall Steve of Stevesgunz mentioning he'd seen a number of Uberti rifles that had the barrels loose from the factory.

Yeah, loctite would work, just seems like a sad way to have to deal with what should have been right from the factory.

[dennie]

JayF, I have the same rifle. I really like it, and so far have had no problems with it. I do not shoot it much but will keep an eye out for this problem. Maybe I should shoot it more.
dennie

[JayF in AZ]

Yeah Dennie, get out and shoot that thing loose

[J Miller]

20+ years ago my No 4 Mk 1 Enfield had it's barrel unscrew. It was weird watching the front sight slowly start tilting. I pulled the barrel out by hand, cleaned the threads and red loctighted it in.
It's not moved since.

When Steve Young rebuilt IJ ( 1973 Iver Johnson's imported Uberti Cattleman ) he red locktighted the barrel in. Hasn't moved a bit.

It works, so I don't worry about it.

Joe

[Griff]

Good job JayF. My 45 Colt Rossi Short Rifle from EMF is one of my son's favorite rifles. (I kinda like that it stays in my safe also)! Good little rifle and scary accurate. I'm sure it's that heavy barrel.

[JayF in AZ]

Thanks Griff. It looks like there's a lot of potential in it. It's drilled & tapped for a tang sight so I'll probably get one for it.