Barrel a lost cause?

[arrowfrog]

Hello everyone. I ran into an issue that has prompted me to stop lurking and jump into the fray. I'm posting this at another forum as well, so I apologize in advance to any of you who have to see it twice.

I recently came into a Ruger that I assumed would become a project gun (i.e. the deal was just too good to be true). It is an MKII Target Bull Barrel that was worked over by SOCOM Mfg when they were in business, and it is in surprisingly pristine condition. This would be because the fella who had it before me somehow managed to run the front sight screw clean through the barrel and never got the chance to shoot it much. The protrusion is very minute, but it is clearly there. I'm OK with cutting the barrel back or replacing it if I have to, but I am hoping that I can make it into a serviceable plinker in it's current state.

Any tips on fixing a problem like this? Would it be reasonable to try and remove the protruding material and polish? The rifling appears undamaged. I would try and pull the screw and polish it that way, but I swear they must have used red Loctite. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thank you very much to those of you who took the time to read my post, and thanks to all for building such a great forum!

Adam

p.s. Here's a pic

 

[dfariswheel]

This is going to be almost impossible to "fix".

If you remove the screw and try to shorten it, you'll either get it JUST a little too long, or just a little too short.
To long and you still have protrusion.
Just a little too long or short, and it'll probably shave bullets, affecting accuracy, and possibly leading at that point.

About all I can suggest is shortening the screw until it's just minutely too long, then have the barrel lapped to make it smooth with the bore.

You might try shooting some fire lapping abrasive coated bullets, but that will affect the entire bore, not just the tiny area of the screw, probably ruining the barrel more than it is.

My suggestion: New barrel installed by Ruger.

To get the screw out if Loctite was used: Warm the sight and barrel to just over 300 degrees to get the Loctite to degrade.
Note I said WARM. People hear this and heat things up near red-hot.

 

[nicholst55]

In all honesty, you would probably be just fine doing this on a .22. The front sight may launch itself into the wild blue yonder some day, but I would be surprised if it did.

Try warming the front sight up with a heat gun; that should allow it to break free. If it doesn't, you may need an impact driver or screw jack. Be careful about what and how much you polish, or you may destroy the pistol's accuracy potential.

I'd see about getting a thread protector to put on the muzzle; for aesthetics, if nothing else.

 

[1911Gunslinger]

You might also check into getting a liner installed. Most are stainless which will give you longer life and better corrosion resistance.

 

[koginam]

This is a simple fix, if you have access to a lathe just bore the barrel past the screw and your OK, it wont affect the accuracy as long as the new internal crown is square. Otherwise take it to a smith and let him fix it for you.

 

[rcmodel]

That right there is the best suggestion so far!

 

[arrowfrog]

Thanks for all the input!

I imagine that I will try to subconsciously blame any fliers on a known imperfection rather than on the goof holding the gun, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to try this in phases. I will shorten the screw until I am happy with it and then run through a brick of ammo. If it groups well after 500 rounds then I will leave it as is. If not, then I think I'll bore past the screw and re-crown like koginam suggested.

Thanks again,
Adam

 

[krs]

500 rounds?

That's a lot of shooting an inaccurate pistol, if inaccurate it is.

Those pistols should be an easy job of boring because the receiver can stay with the barrel. I'd chuck on the barrel with the receiver past the chuck, indicate it to center and bore it right past your screw. Make a clean crown in there and you'll have a protected muzzle for the life of the gun and it'll shoot as well as any of them.

 

[Norsecat]

Barrel fix

It would be easy to shorten the barrel to just behind the screw hole.
Then give it a a recessed target crown. Then mill a new screw hole, a quick sad and reblue.

 

[frogomatic]

it was said previously, a barrel liner combined with a slightly shortend screw will do the job correctly and safely.

 

[ralfus]

As long as the screw is not protruding into the bore you should be fine. One small hole in the bore will not hurt anything. A lot of surplus rifles have bores with pitting that would be worse that the screw hole in question.

Any of you ever notice the hole in a Garand barrel? AR/M14/FAL/anything with magnaporting?

 

[BullitHolz]

Gas tube ports in AR's are bored right into the top of the barrel and they shoot with a very high degree of accuracy. I would shoot the gun off a rest with a variety of ammo and then decide if it's really worth all of the trouble to "fix" it.

 

[langenc]

Put the screw in just so that it dont protrude and it may well be 'fixed'.

 

[contenderman]

If screw presently protrudes into the bore ... remove screw (as outlined above) then using appropriate size washer(s) or made up spacer from shim stock to prevent screw from going that deep into the hole, re-insert screw.

If the screw does not protrude into the bore then don't worry about it unless it is clearly effecting accuracy and if that is the case there might be a minute burr that you will need to polish down. Under size (worn) brush cloth patch and valve grinding compound (any auto part store) and some elbow grease.

 

[WardenWolf]

It used to be common practice with many rifles to bore out worn or damaged rifling near the tip of the barrel. This was called counterboring. Effectively it turns the last bit of barrel into an unrifled sleeve slightly wider than the bullet. This is what you need to do on your .22. You just need to counterbore it back past the damaged bit. If you do it right, it'll be nearly as accurate as it was when new.

 

[Clipper]

Good grief...Comp guns are ported, rifles are ported...All you have is a clogged port, as it were. Pull the screw out, shorten it on a grinder and rechamfer, and replace it! Geeze guys!

 

[Shweboner]

How much trouble would it be to just flat out replace it with a new one?

I dont know how the bbls fit into the reciever, but it cant be all that difficult... even if you were not so inclined, a 'smith couldnt charge too much for that kind of job.

 

[LightningMan]

If you slug the barrel and stop pushing your lead slug under the screw hole, then put the screw in untill it stops against the lead slug, you know you have reached the proper depth without protruding into the bore. Just an idea to try, at least that what I would do first. LM

 

[StrawHat]

If it were mine, I'd counterbore it and use it.

Rebarreling will cost a bit as it is not as simple as it seems. Same for relining.

And the plain blue barrel will outlast all of us using modern ammo.

Are you handy with tools? If so you can probably do it yourself.

 

[rcmodel]

Mr. arrowfrog hasn't been back since Nov 3rd., so we can assume he either shot it and found out it didn't make a bit of difference. (My guess)

Or, he has already moved on to custom Harley-Davidson's or something!

rcmodel

 

[Walkalong]

Tactical Solutions

 

[tractorshaft]

Options...

Relining is "Typically" used on older guns where replacement parts , EG: Barrels, are not readily available or a traditional "Rebarrel" would detract or diminish the asthetic, "Collector" or "Sentimental" value of the gun. Silly thing to do on a MKII Ruger....22, but there are those out there who would gladly take your $$ for the "Job". The money would be much better spent on a case of Winchester Wildcat

If the said hole is in a Groove there is even less to worry about, if on a land, not too terrible either, this fact is given that you are not going to be shooting jacketed bullets. If the hole is "catching" a piece of both groove and land you could always buy a little jar of JB bore polish from Brownells or Midway and give it a good going over.

To put your mind at ease, If you can manage to run a long thin cotton tipped swab or piece of one, into the bore, passing it gently over the hole, and then looking to see if any of the cotton fibers "Catch" on the hole, if not you can rest relatively assured that the "Port" will not affect accuracy in any way.

This is also a good test for barrel crowns, gently passing a cotton tipped swab around the very edge of your crown where it meets the rifiling can determine if it too needs a little polishing if any portion of these areas "Grabs" a cotton fiber from the swab.

All in all, It seems you are attempting to correct a non-problem. As previously mentioned, get yerself a cap for the suppressor threads, or not..Go to the range, woods, creek or desert, load several clips of your favorite boolits and shoot the hell out of it (Repeat as necessary). Chrome don't get ya home

As a footnote:

Subassembly #67 is easily removed from the frame and does not require the sometimes more difficult task of barrel "Removal". This fact alone will save you $$ should you desire to "Fix it right" and take it to someone with a lathe, any neophyte machinist can whack off the "Holy" piece and cut you a nice pretty recessed or 11 deg tapered crown on the end of your now "Kustom" length MKII barrel! Heck, if you were in Connecticut I would do it in 10 minutes for a 12 pack of Old Milwaukee .