Barrel length,

[Slowhand Bob, 24229]

Ten years or so back I frequently chose the long barrel guns for originality and I thought they just plain looked better. In the years since I have found myself shooting the Shorter barrels much more often and actually have more misses

when I do use some of my older long barrel guns, go figure?? When one has guns that they would like shorter barrels on, how expensive is it to have a qualified smith, no hacksaw specialists, shorten them, re-crown them and reinstall the original sights? The guns being considered are Uberti Schofields and possibly RM Conversions and I would just wish to ship the barrels. New barrels are not as expensive as I originally thought but wouldn't it be highly likely that a gunsmith would need to get involved anyway for fitting?

[Holden A. Grudge]

Can't answer your question but just had to say that between the cartridge conversion plans and now thinking of shortening barrels, it is good to see that somebody other than me keeps thinking up new ways to spend money

[Widder, SASS #59054]

In my experience, some of your really good smiths/machinist will not cut the muzzle end of the barrel. This eliminates them having to recrown and reset the front site.

 

ALSO, when not cutting at the muzzle end of the barrel, the smith doesn't have to drill and tap a new hole for the ejector rod housing screw.

 

BUT, some will cut the other end of the barrel and rethread, etc..... to set your barrel length to your request.

 

Give or take a few bucks, you probably could get a top notch job for $100.

 

That has been my experience.

 

 

..........Widder

[Slowhand Bob, 24229]

Thanks for the reply. In this case it would be mandatory to do the job on the front, both style guns use a an extensively machined barrel at the rear rather than a simple screw on. I figure that if the barrels are lathe cut and crowned without damage to the blue then the real job becomes refitting the sight. Am I being naive to think a barrel can be mandrel mounted and turned without damaging the finish? The sight would require a milled crescent slot in the raised top rib and a small pin hole to reattach?? The Schofield barrel even has the ejector rod housing machined on.

[J-BAR #18287]

I have more awards from using 7.5 inch barrels than 5.5 or shorter barrels.

 

I will chop a shotgun in a New York second, but not a handgun. Get the barrel length you want to start with, tweak the sights if you have to.

 

Just my dos centavos...

[Goody, SASS #26190]

I had a pair of 5 1/2 inch open tops cut flush with the end of the ejector tube, original sights reinstalled. IIRC iwthout shipping it was about $125 for the pair. In retrospect I wish I had shotgun beads added arther than the original sights replaced. Anyway, I had it done by Cowboy Shooters Supply, aka Briscoe Kid.

 

http://cowboyshooterssupply.com/

[Johnny Meadows,SASS#28485L]

I do the work on both pistols and rifles and find that it is easyier for me to cut the muzzle end and reset the sight. How's that for one long sentence.

Johnny Meadows

[SGT. ELI 35882 GUNFIGHTER]

$150 ($75 each) to do my pair of model 3 Russians. Worth every penny. The bad part about buying new barrels is actually finding them. They may show on the parts list on the websites, but that doesn't mean they have them. I had one on order for 8 months before I finally said to heck with it.

[Slowhand Bob, 24229]

Goody, thanks for the link, I will save it.

 

Sgt Eli, could you tell me who bobbed you guns and if the original sights were reinstalled? The barrels are listed at a bit under four hundred each, lots of machining required on the connection end. A huge concern is also that I do not want anything to change on the barrels rear that might alter its ability to handle black powder. Little doubt that I will sell the 44-40 now and apply the money to several gunsmith jobs that need doing.

 

Am I right in assuming that the barl is all that needs to be shipped for cutting from the front?