Briley Bushings

[Shmackey]

What can you tell me about these things? Saw one, along with a Briley barrel, on a custom Colt. Looked different. Not sure it it was a spherical bushing--or even what that is, really. It seemed to have extra space on either side, looking at it head-on.

I'd post this at 1911forum.com, but it's down, and besides, Tuner's here!

 

[Jim Watson]

The Briley bushing & barrel in my gun comprise a ring about 1/4" wide made to a close slip fit on the barrel on the ID and ground to a segment of a sphere on the outside. It rides in a spherical segment groove inside the bushing proper. The extra clearance spaces on the sides are cuts into the groove so the ring can be rotated 90 degrees and taken out... or put in for the initial assembly. Works ok but I and FLG don't see any real advantage over a PROPERLY fitted standard bushing. FLG had one ring to flake off a piece of the Titanium Nitride coating and badly score his barrel. Mine has gone many thousands of rounds with no problem, however.

 

[Shmackey]

So...

If I had a line on a pretty nice custom Colt that happened to have a Briley bushing and barrel, it sounds like I wouldn't want to shy away from it just because of that.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Jim Watson]

Certainly not a reason to pass up a good deal.

S&W uses the Briley rings set into grooves in the slide nose of some of their PC autos.

 

[JoeHatley]

The Briley spherical bushing is a very slick unit. It allows you to get a "match" fit, without having to pay a gunsmith to fit a solid bushing. They do however cost over twice what a solid bushing would.

I've had one installed on a kitchen table Frankenpistol, I put together many years ago. It has fuctioned perfectly.

If you buy the Colt and don't like the bushing, a solid unit can always be fitted.

Good Luck...

Joe

 

[m1911joe]

I have built 2 1911's and have used the Briley bushings in both.

For the kitchen table gunsmith, like me, it is the easyest way to fit
the barrel to the bushing.

And if the barrel to bushing fit gets loose. All you have to do is buy a
new ring and you are back it the original fit.