Re-lining antique revolver barrels?

jethunter

jethunter

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I see alot of antiques that are in nice shape except for the bore - black powder, corrosive primers, and years of neglect can take a heavy toll.

Is re-lining the barrel an option?

For example only - a .455 MKI - could it be relined? is there enough material in the barrel to install a liner? Anyone have any experience with this?
 
What about relining to a smaller caliber?

Like .32rf to .22mag?

Of course you would have to do something to the cylinder, but is it even a remote possibility?
 
camerl2009 said:
most antique revolvers dont have much meat for re-lining unless you can find a thin wall liner for that cal
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Kinda what i thought. The .45 colt liners i see are .625" OD, and the barrel on the MKI is about .6" at the narrowest ID. Hard to make that work, but i had a guy tell me he's seen it done. Would have to mighty thin walls and i really can't see it being possible.
 
BrotherRockeye said:
that's funny...
it's not against the rules to reduce the od of the liner to fit the barrel... ;)
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Of course. The wall thickness on a 5/8" OD .45 colt liner would already be thin - about .085", or about 1/12". How much further would you take that down?What would you consider min wall thickness for the liner in a .45 colt or .455 webley cartridge? Share your experience in this matter. :)
 
well rember you have to ream out the barrel and then turn the liner down you can go thin for both barrel and liner the bigist problem is not going too deep on the threads

or you could do what people do with real bad sniders use the old barrel as a sleeve over the liner

unless the pitting is real deep (if its light you could lap the barrel) then you could just have the barrel replaced and restamp the markings on it
 
BrotherRockeye said:
that's funny...
it's not against the rules to reduce the od of the liner to fit the barrel... ;)
Click to expand...

Agreed. The pressures produced by antique rounds can easily be handled by thin walled barrels. I had a well known gunsmith tell me a modern 30-06 barrel with withstand thinning down to .018" before blowing through after about 100 rounds. Modern steel liners are much stronger than their predeccesors.
 
tactical870 said:
Agreed. The pressures produced by antique rounds can easily be handled by thin walled barrels. I had a well known gunsmith tell me a modern 30-06 barrel with withstand thinning down to .018" before blowing through after about 100 rounds. Modern steel liners are much stronger than their predeccesors.
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That's encouraging. OTOH I've been told by a few reputable gunsmiths that they will not use a liner in a high pressure modern cartridge like a 30-06, because they don't think it is inherently safe. Which is off topic anyway, and not of interest here.

The .018" dimension is amazing, i would have thought it would be nearly impossible to turn the wall down that thin, that's 1/3 the thickness of a dime. I would have guessed the tube would be weakened and start flexing so that the cutting tool on a lathe would push it out of the way instead of cutting. Very interesting.

IIRC one of the regulars here had a revolver with an uninstalled liner up for sale on the EE a while back - a WG, maybe? Anyway it was with him in mind that I started this thread, it would be interesting if he detailed what size the insert was to be turned to, what ID the barrel was to be bored out to. Inquiring minds want to know. :)
 
i bet you could go as small as 1/2" or so with a .45 liner

new liners are made from 4140 chrome moly steel thay will stand up to BP PSI at that size

rember your lining a barrel so your adding to the liner when you solder it in
 
Bits of peices in BC said they could do it on a old 44russian I was looking at and for a reasonable price to.
 
I think that the liner does take most of the strain. Can add strength, isn't just a way of getting new rifling or bore size. A thin liner and a slender barrel would require very careful work, to avoid a ruined barrel. I would be inclined to bond a liner in, rather than soldering it. I think that a better mechanical fit can be obtained, and there is no chance of spoiling any original finish or established patina. Incidentally, a liner can be installed in such a way that it does not show at the muzzle. Not a bad idea with an antique. Makes the work very unobtrusive.
Good tooling is a must, if the risk of spoiling the barrel/cylinder is to be minimized.
 
Ive done some 44 russians that ended up with a really thin wall before I lined them. Just measured everything out, bored the barrel, turned the liner down to what I needed ot to be on the lathe put it all together (simplified obviously).

I'm actually working on a 44 spl right now.
 
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