Rebarrel 357

[any ruger]

How hard to change barrels on a single action 357 ne model Blackhawk. Have a excellent machinist at my disposal.

 

[contender]

Not hard for the folks familiar with properly removing a barrel from a frame w/o springing the frame. Then all it takes is the proper timing of the new barrel, to the frame.

Many folks use a block of wood inserted in the frame window, and a barrel vise to remove a barrel. It's better if you have a set of frame blocks which won't allow the frame to get sprung.

 

[RugerMonkey]

I did it with a 4' board cut to fit the frame window and a large bench vise to hold the barrel. I wrapped the barrel with thick (3/8") leather and pine rosin to prevent slipping. I bought the revolver from a friend of a friend for $50 with a bulged barrel. Bought a $40 barrel on eBay, so there wasn't much to lose. Turned out great. It was a 3-screw, but it had been converted and didn't come with the original parts.

 

[any ruger]

How do you know how much torque on the barrel ?
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[Hvymax]

How do you know how much torque on the barrel ?
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It's more about the indexing. You want it tight but it needs to be straight. If you cut too much and need to go to the next thread you might have to recut the cone as well as regap with the cylinder.

 

[RugerMonkey]

I did have to file some to get the gap right, but it was close already, so I didn't have to remove much. then I smoothed the cone with some sandpaper. As far as torque, the closer it comes to being seated, the tighter it gets. I just tightened it down until seated then tweaked it until the sights were straight. When it was done, I loaded it up with some lead bullets and fired it inside a small cardboard box with the ends opened up to make sure it wasn't spitting lead out from around the cylinder gap. Then I loaded up some full Magnum 158 gr bullets to make sure it was safe.
The gun was rough, with bluing missing, minor pitting and surface rust. The Ruger grips didn't fit the silver finished XR3-RED grip frame very good. I stripped it down and using steel wool removed the rust and using Brownell's OXPHO-BLUE® reblued it following the instructions. Used some engine paint from Oreilly's to paint the grip frame black. Replaced the grips with Zebra wood grips I got on Ebay (thought about Ivory grips but the ones in my price range looked kinda cheap). Looks brand new now and shoots great. It couldn't have been fired much, because mechanically it is as tight as a new gun.
I'm not a gunsmith by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm sure that any smiths that read my post will be shaking their heads at my foolishness, but it worked for me. My suggestion to you would be to have a qualified gunsmith do it and not do anything that I described here yourself.

 

[RugerMonkey]

The after pic doesn't do it justice. After on left, before on right (you can see the barrel bulge a couple of inches forward of the frame.)

 

[rugerguy]

you done good, it looks better than "fine".....

 

[watashie00]

I did it with a 4' board cut to fit the frame window and a large bench vise to hold the barrel. I wrapped the barrel with thick (3/8") leather and pine rosin to prevent slipping. I bought the revolver from a friend of a friend for $50 with a bulged barrel. Bought a $40 barrel on eBay, so there wasn't much to lose. Turned out great. It was a 3-screw, but it had been converted and didn't come with the original parts.

4'-? so the end of the board fit in the frame window and the remaining 4 feet were used as the lever? I paid for someone to change one for me,,took forever and cost a lot,,, in the end I dont trust the work because of the worker,,,, should have done it myself

 

[RugerMonkey]

4' wasn't really overkill either. It was tight taking the old one off and putting the new one on.

 

[gnappi]

I had a local smith replace my BH's blued 7 1/2" .357 barrel with a 7 1/2" mag-na-ported SS barrel with a FO front sight. He had to re-time the barrel and cut the gap.

The overall cost was a bit more than having the original barrel ported, having the front sight replaced and the barrel re-blued but I'm happy with the results. Having a skilled gunsmith do the work was worth the cost to me.