1892 44WCF bulged barrel

[Pat C]

I picked up a 44WCF SRC barrel other day for cheap because of a bulge under rear sight dovetail . Mainly bought it for curiosity sake and to use as pattern to make a replacement for my Rio Bravo project.
Been contemplating using it ,bore is light pitting scattered but rifling intact. Patina matches receiver and other pieces.

Really trying to resist the urge to make a die and use the press to reshape back close to original. Probably place a mandrel inside which will have to be drilled out later.
Then lead lap bore.

Other part of me says dress up exterior and fix sight dovetail ,use it as is.
This build is suppose to match Wayne's rifle as it appears today,which is well worn patina look.

I've got about everything except wood furniture to build this, still need to fab the large loop to add to original lever.Been studying pictures of Wayne's rifle and will use a picture generated template for contour of loop.

[AmBraCol]

If you have a way of pressing that back into shape, you could then bore it out and reline. Keep the patina, etc and have a fresh, new bore.

[JimT]

I watched my Dad turn down a bulged Colt 1911 Gold Cup barrel. Belonged to a friend. His kids were shooting it and had one stop in the barrel. They kept shooting and it locked up the gun. Dad got it apart, turned down the outside of the barrel so it was the proper diameter, and then we went out and shot it. Even with the "egg" in the middle of the bore the gun would still shoot under 2" at 25 yards. My friend used it for a while and eventually got a new barrel. The "egg" in the bore does not always wreck accuracy though unless you turn it down on the outside, it looks like stuff.

[GunnyMack]

You won't know if it will shoot until ya try it. Put it on & shoot some groups. If its good enough then don't bother with it. If it sucks then like AmBraCol says, iron it out and reline it.

I bulged a fantastic Shirley. 22 barrel, learned to NOT shoot Russian ammo. Anyhow it went from 3/8" at 50yd to patterns lickety split. Broke my heart to loose that barrel!

[Pat C]

Reline is not possible for 1892 carbine ,barrel O.D. is only .590 to .640 first half of its length.Barrel liners are .590"o.d. same size.
It will be fine for the project as its mainly a tribute piece .
For $63 plus ship I'm happy ,all I need is wood and fabbing lever loop.Stay tuned

[flightsimmer]

A friend of mine once showed me a 1918 45ACP Colt revolver that had a bulged barrel, I removed the barrel and proceeded to remove the stuck bullet.
Turned out there were 3 or 4 bullets stuck in the bore.
I got a used barrel from Numeric Arms and got it back in working order.

[Grizz]

i have a miroku 92 with bulged barrel. it was bad enough that it was shaving lead, i figured cracked internally. it still shot straight though

still in a box waiting until i retire. wait a minute, i did retire. where'd i put that box?

[AmBraCol]

A friend of mine once showed me a 1918 45ACP Colt revolver that had a bulged barrel, I removed the barrel and proceeded to remove the stuck bullet.
Turned out there were 3 or 4 bullets stuck in the bore.
I got a used barrel from Numeric Arms and got it back in working order.

Somewhere on the 'net there's a picture of a barrel from a S&W Victory Model that's been sectioned. It shows the barrel stuffed from breech to muzzle with 130 grain jacketed bullets from the old military loads. It was taken off a VietCong that didn't need it any more after he popped a couple of shots at a US GI who took offense at such things and settled his hash. The GI scooped up the resolver, tossed in his pack and kept on going. It was later that he found out the barrel was jam packed.

[JimT]

From a couple years ago ... .357 Magnum single action ...
Muzzle end of the barrel

357b.JPG

Breech end of the barrel

357c.JPG

I removed the barrel .. here's another look at the muzzle and breech

357d.JPG

357e.JPG

Took me a lot of work to get the bullets out .. turns out there were 3 bullets in the barrel ... 2 rifle bullets of 200 + gr. weight and a 158 gr. bullet.

357l.JPG

The barrel was bulged and I replaced it and had the gun working again.

[Sixgun]

Jim,
Your a man of patience......anybody who has done it knows that sometimes a jacketed bullet wedges itself in there....especially if the bullet sat in the "bulged portion".

Were they hard to pull out once you got the screw in there?......seems to me you would have needed some kind of a slamhammer.

[Grizz]

it is difficult to envision a scenario that would produce that result!

although i think i might recall a test of the rolling block action where "they" intentionally tried to break it, and filled the bore with bullets without damaging the frame.

[PatientWolf]

I have a Browning B92 Centennial that I purchased not realizing it had a bulged 20” barrel. It took me forever to find a take-off barrel, but I eventually found a 16” take-off barrel. Now I have a very handy little carbine.

[JimT]

Jim,
Your a man of patience......anybody who has done it knows that sometimes a jacketed bullet wedges itself in there....especially if the bullet sat in the "bulged portion".

Were they hard to pull out once you got the screw in there?......seems to me you would have needed some kind of a slamhammer.

I screwed in the big decking screws, locked the barrel in a vise, used a "collar" on the decking screws and a 4 pound sledge hammer to drive them out. They were in very very tight. It took awhile. I was surprised by the 158 gr. bullet!

[Sixgun]

Interesting....many years ago in my 20's I was experimenting and stuck a jacketed bullet in a model 27 Smith...it would not hammer out as I was stupid and used a smaller-than-bore punch which only drove the bullet into the rifling harder.....so,I loaded a case with 3 grains of unique and tried to shoot it out.......this is all going on in my gunroom.......didn't work so I added a half grain at a time until it did work and if memory serves me it was about 6 grains until it did.....yea....brought a lot of attention to the people upstairs.

September 30,2016...I was shooting 1 gr. Bullseye loads for determining groove diameter......(don't have to explain it to you).....and as the Lord as my witness this is the only time this happened so,I took a pic. Model 53 Winchester 25-20 with a forward mounted "no drill" scope mount..

(Look in the background...notice that 1886? )

[JimT]

I usually oil the bore lightly ahead of firing ... still I have stuck plenty. Living in the country I just load a light load, step out the shop door and shoot straight up. Normally they only go up 30 feet or so, though if they go out of sight I step back inside and wait for the sound of the bullet strike.

I have fired into the air and caught the bullet in my hat before it hit the ground quite a few times.

[GunnyMack]

If and when you run into a bullet lodged in a barrel try putting the barrel/ gun in the freezer overnight. Steel, lead, copper all expand & contract at different rates/ percentage. Sometimes a bullet will push right out.

[JimT]

If and when you run into a bullet lodged in a barrel try putting the barrel/ gun in the freezer overnight. Steel, lead, copper all expand & contract at different rates/ percentage. Sometimes a bullet will push right out.

Ha! I never thought of trying that! Old dogs CAN learn new tricks!

THANKS!

[Bryan Austin]

There is a chance that there could be a crack in the dovetail area. Check it real good.

[Pat C]

There is a chance that there could be a crack in the dovetail area. Check it real good.

Planning on magnafluxing it before preceding, I wire brushed it and looked through a loop didn't see anything .
But the bulge is a lot deeper under dovetail.
Nothing else its a good pattern for making a new barrel.
Green Mountain has 20 " barrels in 44-40 tapered to match 1892 for $124

[Bryan Austin]

There is a chance that there could be a crack in the dovetail area. Check it real good.

Planning on magnafluxing it before preceding, I wire brushed it and looked through a loop didn't see anything .
But the bulge is a lot deeper under dovetail.
Nothing else its a good pattern for making a new barrel.
Green Mountain has 20 " barrels in 44-40 tapered to match 1892 for $124

GMRB is what I use for my testing barrel for pressure testing.