Realy bad pistol kit

[jimrbto]

The widow of a friend of mine that passed away two years ago just sent me a kit he had but never built. It is a "Kentucky" type made by "Markwell Arms Co." and stamped Spain. The lock parts look as though they were taken from a rough grinder without any further work and case hardened (?), the tumbler has a full cock notch deeper than the half cock. No amount of trigger pull is going to fire this thing.
The barrel looks as if it were drilled with a bad drill and then was NOT reamed to smooth it out, when a not too smooth button was pulled through the bore it left a large bur on the edges of the lands.
I can clean up the lock and make it function but don't know what to do with the barrel to make it at least shoot well enough to hit the ground.
There are no instructions or parts list so don't know for sure if any parts are missing, there are no barrel pins and it seems the barrel is held to the stock by a screw (missing) through the muzzle cap and another through the tang/trigger guard
I can make any missing parts including adding a barrel pin or wedge but need help on what to do about the barrel, - - -ream it? fresh it? or lap it?
I will finish this kit because......
Any and all help will be most appreciated.
Thanks
Jim

 

[tkendrick]

I would start by lapping. I have had pretty good luck over the years salvaging "ruined" barrels with an aggressive use of lapping compound and muscle.

I remember Markwell from the late 60's (I think it was). I recall their stuff being poorly finished with questionable heat treatment, but incredibly cheap. If you're not allergic to some time spent and a lot of finish work, they generally turned out be at least serviceable.

 

[jimrbto]

tkendrick,
I'm not afraid of hard work which is why I like to build from as near scratch as possible. This barrel poses a couple problems before I even start. One - there is a patent breech plug installed that will have to be removed. Two - there are large burrs on each side of each land plowed up by the rifling button when it was pulled through the bore. I think that these burrs will remove a lot of lead from the lap providing that I can even get it moving smoothly through the bore. I just wonder if there is some method of removing these burrs before lapping begins.
Jim

 

[clang]

If you're going to be investing a good deal of work into the project, why start with sub-standard parts?

Use that barrel for a tomato stake and build a gun from a higher quality kit.

 

[jimrbto]

Clang
There is no question about the quality of the parts, however the source of the parts is what is important to me and that won't change. If this kit had come from any other source I would have trashed it as soon as I examined it.
What I need and have asked for is some constructive input on how to solve the barrel problem. I guess there are no experienced barrel people here so will have to muddle through alone. Time to get the books out.

 

[DuncanSA]

Use the wood for barbecue and the metal for fishing sinkers!

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I have had a similar experience with a no-brand name
and no-address kit. The barrel was smoothbore.

I have built CVA pistol kits back in the 'seventies, a
Colonial Pistol, a Derringer and a Pepperbox. This kit
was nowhere near the quality of the CVA kits.

I basicly finished it as a wall hanger only.

 

[Freightman]

Wall hanger! good idea. Solves the problem of the one you got it from and solves the safety problem. There is that problem with poor quality steel.