[Lucky]

What's a reasonable price to pay to have a barrel changed on a K-frame? Not including the price of the barrel.

[Old Fuff]

Changing a barrel requires special tooling, and a mistake can ruin a frame. Your best bet would be to contact Smith & Wesson's repair department and ask for a quote.

[SnWnMe]

Most smithys will charge in the neighborhood of $150 to $200. The barrel will probably run you $100 to $150 dependent on the desirability of the length.

Plan on at least $300.

[Lucky]

Wow, I thought i might have been taken at $100. Thanks. Out of curiosity, I'm pretty new, do gunsmiths always work really slowly?

[SnWnMe]

You don't want to walk on that minefield.:)

[Old Fuff]

I'm pretty new, do gunsmiths always work really slowly?

Some do and some don't, but that misses the most important point.

Very few gunsmiths are qualified to remove a Smith & Wesson's barrel and fit a new one. And to do the job correctly they have to have special blocks for both the frame and barrel (and barrels come in different styles, each requiring they're own blocks). Without these blocks it's easy to warp your frame, and there goes your whole gun.

When a new barrel is screwed into a frame the front sight may come up at say... 7:00. So the barrel needs to be put in a lathe and the shoulder turned back. This again may require a special fixture to hold the barrel. Then if the barrel is screwed in too far to get the front sight up to 12:00 some metal at the back will have to be turned off to adjust the barrel/cylinder gap, and a new forcing cone cut in the back. A mistake and the barrel's ruined.

There is one place that has all of the fixtures, jigs, special tools and expertise to do the job right, and that's the Smith & Wesson factory.

You may find someone who will do a cheaper job - but you also might end up with a ruined revolver.

[Lucky]

Thanks again. It's not quite that simple, the revolver is 'prohibited' because it's 4" barrel is under the 4.1" limit, so they're going to re-register the revolver with the longer barrel and I'll be able to buy it (new shooters cannot get prohibited statues, it is grandfathered only to people who already had it).

The smiths have mentioned the same words you used, turning the shoulder and such.

Perhaps it is too much work for a simple $200 .38 special? They don't sound like they're any closer to starting then they were a month and a half ago, so perhaps they're hesitant to do this job and ruin the gun. I wonder if they'd be relieved or upset if we called it off?

[gezzer]

Time depends on how much work the smith has in advance. Good smiths plan on 6 months or so. It is not instant like the internet.

[Old Fuff]

Lucky:

I would contact Smith & Wesson (www.smith-wesson.com) and see if they would: (1) do the work, or (2) recommend a service center located in Canada. If this is a Militaty & Police model you could buy a 5" barrel from Numrich/The Gun Parts Corporation, at www.e-gunparts.com

I don't know about Canada, but in the United States a barrel is not a restricted part, and can be shipped to anyone. Someone in Canada must do Smith & Wesson's service work.

[The Real Hawkeye]

What a horrible law. :uhoh:

[Standing Wolf]

I'd send it to http://www.cylinder-slide.com

[carpettbaggerr]

Wouldn't it be simpler to just weld or silver-solder on an extension to lengthen it -- a bit of weld around the outside edge of the barrel and you could leave the rifling untouched. Make it a .1'' deep step crown. :)

[Lucky]

Not a problem moving barrels around, that's how I got the 5".

I'll look into a permanent barrel extension, but I doubt it's likely since the law was written with incrementalism in mind - 'what can we ban first that won't polarize all owners to unite' - for pistols it was guns less than .32 calibre and muzzles less than 4". That also co-incided with the period of time when most police forces were moving from revolvers to auto's, so those used revolvers wouldn't be available to the public.

Geezer I was quoted 3 weeks, told the job would be simple and the time would be taken up with paper work. So I'm starting to wonder if they bit off more than they can chew.

Fuff, Wolf, due to complicated laws moving the gun around is better avoided.

I'll see them tomorrow and ask if they'd rather just put me on a waiting list for when a comparable revolver comes in.

[Colt46]

Yes. Supply and demand. If a smith has a great reputation then he can be quite backlogged. Sometimes, members of the press, or celebrities, even repeat customers get preference over the average joe.
I had some work done by a smith of high regard and the 5 month's turn around turned into 51 weeks. When the original deadlines(I wanted it for hunting season) came near and then passed he told me that he was busier than normal. I happen to frequent another firearms board that was working on a group project from that particular smith. I knew that the group organized and shipped their guns after mine was recieved.
They got theirs way before I got mine. I was disappointed, but everything he did was A+ work and the revolver shoots better than I do.

The best advice I can give is this:
Don't send away a tool to have altered for a specific reason on a specific date. Murphy's Law will intervene and gum up the works.
Would I use the same smith again? Yes, the man does excellent work at a fair price.

[Lucky]

Well, I suppose that they'd end up giving me a pistol in great working order when they're done, and that's something any other pistol wouldn't have going for it. I guess there's no rush, I'll just learn patience.

Now that I see they're probably not treating me worse than average I'm not as suspicious.