revolver barrel twisted slighty off center

[andy29075]

Hello all,
I've got a Taurus Tracker 970 22lr revolver with a barrel that is twisted to the slide *very* slightly. It shoots straight, works fine, etc, but the only problem is that the front sight is slightly rotated off to the left, and I'm a perfectionist about my guns... I've thought of sending it back to Taurus, but I was wondering how easily and expensive it would be for a local gunsmith to fix it. I'm really not interested in spending $30-40 for overnight shipping to Miami (Taurus), and then waiting for 4-6 weeks for it to come back with absolutely no assurance that Taurus will actually fix the problem as requested.

Is fixing this gun merely as simple as locking the barrel in a barrel vise and twisting it a degree or two? If so, I'd rather just pay a local guy to do it.

Thanks in advance for your input,
-Andy J

 

[dfariswheel]

This is a gunsmith job ONLY, and he'd darn well better have a frame wrench with Taurus-specific inserts for it, and Taurus-specific barrel vise inserts.

Attempting to do this without the right tooling is a fast way to ruin a good gun.

In addition, backing a barrel out usually means that the barrel will vibrate loose and unscrew.
Barrels are torqued in place, and once the torque is broken the barrel tends to unscrew on it's own.
When a barrel has to be backed out, it has to be set back one thread and refitted.

I could give you a long discussion on why revolver barrels require special tooling and techniques to work on, but to cut to the chase: If you care about the gun at all, send it in to Taurus for a proper fix, or run a high risk of ruining the gun.

The absolute WORST possible thing that can be done, is to lock the barrel up in a vise and use a hammer handle or section of wood to twist the frame.
Chances are, a local gunsmith who doesn't have a Taurus wrench may be tempted to do this.
Kiss your gun's accuracy goodbye, and possible kiss the frame goodbye completely.

 

[andy29075]

Thanks for the info! About my barrel/sights, (assuming "righty-tighty" threading) it actually needs to be torqued a tiny bit further/tighter for the sights to align correctly.

What is the likelihood that a gunsmith would have Taurus-specific inserts for their vise and frame wrenches?

I'm leaning towards shipping it back to Taurus, but the last time I did that, I had a horrible run-around with the FedEx folks, including a *newbie* clerk that just about crapped his pants when I said "I need to ship this overnight since it's a firearm"... He then proceeded to make up some crap about firearms being hazardous material that they couldn't ship... :banghead:
So after arguing for 10 minutes I finally had to just go to another FedEx location...

 

[dfariswheel]

"What is the likelihood that a gunsmith would have Taurus-specific inserts for their vise and frame wrenches?"

Slim to none, and Slim just left town.

Most local gunsmiths have NO revolver frame wrenches whatsoever, and if they do, they're for the S&W or possibly Ruger.

Think carefully on this one. Here's where you can ruin a good gun trying to save having to send it in to the pros.
This is sort of like the old joke; "Frank, Pay the two dollars".

 

[andy29075]

Well said... I'll send it in and hope Taurus actually bothers to read the work order! Thanks for your advice.

 

[4fingermick]

If it shoots ok, and it has fixed sights (I'm not familiar with Taurus) it sounds like a gunsmith has already fixed it. Thats how they zero fixed sights. Left or right adjustments to POI, barrel is turned in or out, they usually come shooting low, you adjust them by filing the front sight. If you are a perfectionist, you should be shooting a Smith! Good luck with it, Mick.

 

[andy29075]

Haha, I like your line about the Smith!... Food for thought for my next purchase! As for the Taurus I sent back, it had adjustable sights, so I could adjust the windage with the rear sight... Actually, what irritated me the most was that the front sight looked so odd canted off to the right. Since I had another Taurus that I needed to send in as well, I just sent them both off and saved a (small) bit through combined shipping... Strangely, a third Taurus I own (a little 357 2" snub) is just about the most accurate gun I own, even comparing against my 4 and 5 inch autos... strange....

As for the future, my new rule is to only by the exact gun that I've handled and examined before I buy it... Those two I had to send back were both special orders via FFL transfer, and I didn't get notice their problems until a week into messing with them.

 

[BBBBill]

...If you are a perfectionist, you should be shooting a Smith!...

That's funny. I've seen more S&W's with over torqued barrels than any other brand. I have at least three that came that way and I've fixed several others for guys in the local area. Yep, I've got the proper tools. Any excuse to buy a tool is a good one.

 

[andy29075]

BBBBill, I see we both have GAS (Gear/Gun Acquisition Syndrome)!

Interesting observation about the Smiths though; is under/over-torquing the barrel to the frame a common practice to adjust windage POI by other manufacturers? Because it sure peeves me off...