Milkmaster
December 30, 2007, 07:47 PM
Well next time I plan to look a little more carefully at a used barrel when buying.
I went to a yard sale and was surprised to find 28" mod barrel there for an 1100 laying among the other junk. I sighted down the bore and it was clean and straight best I could tell. I really could not find anything wrong with it at all. The woman wanted $40 for the thing, and I talked her down $5 more bucks and went away thinking I had a steal. I installed the barrel on one of my field grade 1100's easily. The fit was good and all seemed just dandy. I made a trek out to a farm to shoot it a little and see how it would perform. It took a few shots for me to figure out what it was I was seeing fly up every time I would fire. I even checked the oring and seal assembly to make sure I put it in correctly. After about a half dozen shots I finally discovered the culprit. Whoever installed the mid bead on the barrel had drilled the hole through the raised rib and through the top of the barrel as well.
The hole doesn't seem to keep the shot from being accurate as long as you expect seeing the little waver of gas that comes out when you shoot it. It looks more like a temperature inversion during hot weather to me. I only bought the thing because it was a treasure find at a yard sale. Maybe this story will at least remind myself and others of an additional thing to look for when buying a used barrel.
I went to a yard sale and was surprised to find 28" mod barrel there for an 1100 laying among the other junk. I sighted down the bore and it was clean and straight best I could tell. I really could not find anything wrong with it at all. The woman wanted $40 for the thing, and I talked her down $5 more bucks and went away thinking I had a steal. I installed the barrel on one of my field grade 1100's easily. The fit was good and all seemed just dandy. I made a trek out to a farm to shoot it a little and see how it would perform. It took a few shots for me to figure out what it was I was seeing fly up every time I would fire. I even checked the oring and seal assembly to make sure I put it in correctly. After about a half dozen shots I finally discovered the culprit. Whoever installed the mid bead on the barrel had drilled the hole through the raised rib and through the top of the barrel as well.
The hole doesn't seem to keep the shot from being accurate as long as you expect seeing the little waver of gas that comes out when you shoot it. It looks more like a temperature inversion during hot weather to me. I only bought the thing because it was a treasure find at a yard sale. Maybe this story will at least remind myself and others of an additional thing to look for when buying a used barrel.