Is my barrel worn?

[.308]

I just bought a used colt agent .38 special and I noticed that if I stick a round in the muzzle it's a loose fit. On my other gun and friends guns I can't fit a bullet in the muzzle. The gun is in very good shape and doesn't look like it was fired much but I could be wrong? Is this an indication of a worn barrel or is this normal for this gun? I fired a box of lrn ammo at the range and couldn't tell if it was the gun that wasnt accurate or if it was from me not being used to the gun and the sights.

 

[cdpsrjc]

I have a Colt Detective Special, and a round will not fit in the muzzle. In my experience, Colts are VERY accurate. Not sure what the deal is. Are you sure your ammo is .38 Special?

 

[earplug]

Excessive Cleaning?

I'm guessing someone was cleaning rod happy and moronicly ran a rod down the barrel to clean it.
Many military rifles suffer from this muzzle wear.
Shoot it some more with lead bullets and see if its you or the gun that has a problem with accuracy.
All my colts had smaller bores than S&W.

 

[Virginian]

The miltary issued rifle cleaning kits with steel cleaning rods, but I can't imagine anyone doing that much damage to a snubby revolver even with those. Something isn't right here, and it isn't barrel wear, either. I would have a gunsmith look at it.

 

[rcmodel]

Are you trying a loaded round, or an actual bullet?
Many .38 Special bullets are not bore size where they come out of the case mouth, and should fit in the muzzle all the way.

The bore diameter part is still inside the case..

rc

 

[jjohnson]

Unlikely Theories

Okay, I'll go home and check MY Colt Agent tonight.

Thing is - this being an alloy-framed, light duty snubnose, it's not likely to be shot out (I don't know anyone who loves snubbies enough to shoot them THAT much). I can't imagine somebody cleaning it to death, either. The Agent should be showing lots of other wear in alloy places (more than the steel barrel) if it were shot or cleaned to excess. And... I don't think Colt would have manufactured them to loose tolerances to account for what you're seeing.

I have seen military rifles that show this sort of thing, but they're generally the ones used in boot camp and have been shot and over cleaned hundreds of times more than most firearms will ever experience.

How's it shoot? Any other signs of excessive use? And if you take a "recovered" bullet and drop it in from the forcing cone end, what does it do?

 

[BADUNAME37]

Perhaps the gun was nefariously used and the owner ran sandpaper on a drill to eliminate the lands to "try" to cover his bu#.

Either that or they shot it 50,000 times.

 

[Oyeboten]

As far as I know...a .38 Special Bullet should not be a finger-press-fit into the Muzzle of a .38 Special Revolver.

If a Cartridge has a Bullet in it, where the Bullet has a narrower Head sticking out...the Head might fit in all the way to the Cartridge mouth, easily...but, the the rest of the Bullet should be Bore diameter, and, in the Rifleing, the Lands of the bore are smaller diameter than the Bore...so...

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Are you trying a loaded round, or an actual bullet?
Many .38 Special bullets are not bore size where they come out of the case mouth, and should fit in the muzzle all the way.

The bore diameter part is still inside the case..

If it happened to be a Remington golden sabre or a RN FMJ, thats not suprising at all for the reason rc mentioned. Try it with just a slug.

 

[BADUNAME37]

If you have a caliper, measure the inside diameter of the lands.

Or, slug the barrel and measure the grooves in the slug.