Jim, welding the areas you mentioned would would make the metal flow smoother. This project was on the back burner, not sure I wanted to spend the money on another project. Found a model 15 at a gun show reasonably priced. Walked around after I saw it thinking about the whole process and went back to buy it. The 19’s are priced higher, wanted to keep the costs down. Would have to remove the barrel to do what you said, don’t have the tools to remove it. I remember someone talked about making the shroud smaller also.

Yea, not sure about the velocity increasing if it was nitraded. Still not sure what finish it will get. Was quoted 225.00 minimum for black nitrate and would be done in a week. Need to search more on how it wears over time. S&W uses them on a lot of semi auto parts for their new guns. Can’t be too bad, Larry