When do you give up on a barrel/trouble shooting

[ddowning]

Certain gunsmiths get track records of turning hammers with certain barrel makers. They also get a track record of honesty. Needle on indicator doesn't bounce, barrel doesn't shoot, barrel maker says here's another one and the money for labor to chamber it.

I have not had a barrel or any work done by UM. I would imagine, if the barrel is a dud, you would need air gauges or a barrel slug and a lot of skill to find the problem. This is especially true if everything looks good in a bore scope.

 

[TaperPin]

Just for the trivia aspect of it I’ll add one gunsmith says he won’t spend much time on a problem shooter without slugging the barrel to see where any tight or loose spots are. (Gordy Gritters?) Loose muzzle bad. Tight right in front of the chamber bad. He also said more than one gun had a tight spot right under the muzzle threading caused by excess tool pressure from a dull cutter.

I found that really interesting and will have to eventually try slugging a barrel. I don’t even know if that’s done with lead or a low shrinkage lead alloy like carosafe, but it’s nothing more than using melted lead to pour a plug an inch or two long around a cleaning jag on a rod and pull it back through the barrel.

I’d also look carefully at the muzzle - if someone inexperienced was doing any of the work it’s easy to run a rough tail stock center into the muzzle in preparation for threading, get yelled at for being stupid, do it the right way and forget to check for damage.

If the barrel is taken off and dialed in the lathe, it’s easy for a ‘smith to check runout on the chamber vs bore with a specialized test indicator with a long reach.

 

[Jimbee]

I'm going to send it back and it sounds like I'll probably be taken care of.