Cutting down a revolver barrel

[txgunsuscg]

So, if I have a slightly beat up Speed Six in .38 with a 4 inch barrel and I wanted something a little shorter, bobbed, and pocket-ish, is it possible to have a gunsmith cut down the barrel, or does it need a new, factory 2.5 inch?

I ask because Numrich is out of 2.5" barrels, but they have a new 4" that I could have cut down...

Thoughts?

 

[Iggy]

Probably be cheaper to find the gun you want.

 

[dfariswheel]

Cutting the barrel and re-crowning it is not a huge job.
The only tougher part is installing a new front sight.
The better method is to have the top rib slotted and a new sight pinned in.
Any competent gunsmith with a milling machine can slot the barrel and install a new sight.

Shortening is often better than re-barreling because of the difficulty in finding a gunsmith who has all the special tooling needed to change a barrel, AND who knows how it's done correctly.
The "Done correctly" is the hard part because a surprisingly large number of gunsmiths really don't know all the steps to do correct re-barrel work on revolvers and don't have all the correct tooling.

 

[1 old 0311-1]

Cut, re-crown, and silver solder a new front sight is the cheapest way. Since it's "slightly beat up" you won't have to worry about refinishing.

 

[txgunsuscg]

I'm pretty certain in my gunsmiths abilities, he specializes in revolvers and I've seen some of the work he's done.

 

[Lucky Derby]

A so called professional gunsmith bent the frame on a 629 I had doing a barrel swap.
Either cut the barrel that is on the gun, or buy/trade for the gun you want.