Just fantastic news and good on Bar-Sto!

Ok SVT28. Maybe I am a little impatient here but two questions

1. Have you got the barrel yet??

2. Have you got your gun apart yet?

Sorry but lately i have had two much time on my hands.

Charlie

Well today was the day I was supposed to receive my replacement barrel. Unfortunately, the measurements that I sent over (4.60 inches from breech face to muzzle - not including comp) were not double checked and I received the 5+ inch barrel from one of the other full size PC 40 guns. I think it goes to the gun on the right in the picture below. I also took a few pics of the barrel.

I've already sent Barsto an email with the pictures and my concern. This really took the wind out of my sails but I'm praying the shorter correct barrel for my gun is available for exchange. So back she goes into the darkest depths of my safe and a glass of Laphroaig is poured to ease the pain of disappointment. Guess its back to the waiting game tomorrow...

SVT28


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Perhaps the barrels were all made in that length initially and cut down during the fitting process - better too long than too short?

Well dangit, if the old barrel were out and we could see if it goes together where the comp ends up as non-functioning window dressing, I would call that a "win" myself, although others may disagree.

"I don't know what's wrong, I cut it twice and it's still too short!"

Seriously though, my thought was along the same lines. How difficult would it be for a good gunsmith (the kind you'd trust to work on this gun) to cut down and recrown the barrel?

__________________
Can open, worms everywhere.

Key thing now is finding the right smith to do the work. You only get one shot.

__________________
USS ZELLARS
DD-777

Update: Crisis averted. Connected with Barsto this morning and squashed the small miscommunication. They sent me the longer barrel so that my gunsmith can cut/crown/thread it and fit it with the comp. A shorter already threaded barrel was not available. Apparently Smith did the work at the factory.

I just left Wright Armory who does a lot of custom barrel and compensator work and it looks like they are confident they can get the gun apart and put back together with the new barrel. Wait time will be about 3-4 weeks and they will be keeping me posted on updates. I see the light, we are almost there!

SVT28

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Great update. I am glad things are finally working out. Just saw the crack in the barrel from your latest pics. That was a wicked looking crack. Good luck and just keep us posted.

Charlie

I love the looks of a new Bar-Sto barrel in the morning, it looks like...victory!

The final phase of this epic journey began today. I just got off the phone with my gunsmith who had some very very interesting things to tell me.

- He was able to compress the barrel just enough to pull the slide back, and cut the barrel in half.
- Once the chamber half/portion was removed, it was discovered that there were 3 cracks instead of 2 in the barrel, all starting at the breach face, and all of the cracks nearly extended down the entire length of the barrel.
- The factory Federal aluminum case was removed and it had ZERO cracks/bulges or flaws.
- In turn, it was determined that the barrel was most likely overly heat treated at the factory and that this was going to happen eventually no matter what ammo I was using (except for maybe extremely light handloads)
- The construction of the comp, as well as how its fixated came as a surprise. The comp is actually 2 pieces, soldered together, and also soldered to the barrel. They took heat to it to pull the remainder/unthread the barrel out which was futile, so they are going to use some more persuasion tomorrow to get it all apart. ($$$)
- He did note that only the barrel has been affected with the failure. The slide, comp, bushing, guide rod, spring, trigger/parts, frame, grips etc all came away unscathed.


So next steps wise, they are going to get it completely apart, fit the barrel bushing on the new barrel, cut/crown/rethread (if that's how the barrel connects to the comp) and put the two pieces of the comp back together. Upside is, this gun will be able to be shot again. Downside is, my gunsmith bill (as expected) doubled from the initial estimate that was given to me... The silver lining is they assured me they are going to get it back together and get as close to 100% original as possible. They also said that if the new barrel decides to give up the ghost, that a second repair will be much easier since they will not be using the same almost irreversible process Smith and Wesson used to build this gun.

******PSA for others who have this gun or other limited edition/PC Barsto Smith and Wesson Comp guns - the mothership 'may' have been a little overzealous with the heat building these comp guns with mating the barrel to comp - so shoot these cautiously and do not use overly hot ammo. Your results may vary...******

SVT28

That's good news. Much better than what you originally feared was going to happen.

__________________
Can open, worms everywhere.

You’re getting close! Keep us posted.

So 200 bucks for the barrel and 500 bucks for the fix?? LOL, ain't that somthin?? or am I LOW! Dang!

@BillyMagg

Haha - you're shooting a little low with that estimate.

I knew this was going to be a pricey ordeal but I keep reminding myself, it could be worse. I could've injured myself. The gun could've been unsalvageable. I could still be searching, or waiting for a custom barrel not from Barsto to be made. I could still be waiting on Barsto to be getting back to me. Barsto knew they had my only replacement, they could've charged me a lot more and instead they charged me normal replacement barrel price. The barrel could've been lost in the mail over the holidays. I could still be looking for a local gunsmith willing to take on this project. I could keep going... a glass half full mentality is doing me right though. That and building a match grade Savage 22 mag over the winter.

SVT28

Soooo, $1300 for the gun + another $1000? for the fix? You're still under the market value for a shooter grade Comp 40 without box/label IMO. And when it's finally fixed you can shoot the heck out of it without worrying about breaking it again or hurting it's value.

Sounds like my pickup. 3000 for the truck. A year later 2000 for a tranny. Now 5000 in a 3000 truck. But I like it. It’s mine. It’s paid for. Glad you’re getting it back together

__________________
No gold. Only lead. Bobby

Thrilled that Bar-Sto was able to come through with the barrel. Honestly a tiny bit surprised that they didn't simply send it with their well-wishes and good mojo. Considering that it was a Bar-Sto that failed in the first place and we are talking about an old stock and lost/buried/forgotten item that hasn't seen the light of day in 15 years... but alas, I am a dreamer.

I probably said it in an earlier post, forgive me if I repeat myself. If I was bankrolling the project and in charge of what gets done, I'd rebuild the pistol WITHOUT the compensator. But that's just my take, I wouldn't ask nor expect all to agree.

My last comment relates to:
I can't say I am on board with this. Unless I simply don't understand the failure diagnosis... there's no reason to believe that any other barrels from Bar-Sto would suffer from the same problem. A lemon or a production failure? Certainly can happen to ANY manufactured product and I don't believe to expect absolute perfection with every single unit (and Bar-Sto has made many tens or hundreds of thousands of barrels, perhaps MORE) and it just sounds like this one had a problem. No logical reason to suspect that another Bar-Sto barrel has the same problem. If it was a whole batch of "comped PC 40 barrels" that all went through the erroneous heat-treat problem... this would be a well catalogued and known failure.

Maybe here in 2018 very few guys are shooting Comp-40's and most just sit quietly in a dark safe gaining value... but you can bet your wallet that when these were being shipped, these were being RUN, and run hard.

That's another point -- a true compensator, when properly designed, simply REQUIRES that you run it with a load that has the volume of gas the comp is designed to run with. If you want the pistol to run... it isn't going to like puthy-boy loads and light stuff.

A lot of folks will put solid money in to an elite, gorgeous hand-built handgun and then never or rarely shoot them (and yeah, I am FINE with that plan!) and if you get this back to fully functional, you may elect to very rarely shoot it, which I also would completely understand.

But I might suggest that if you try to feed it some very, very light popper ammo, it may not run properly. I would HATE for you to think that your gunsmith, Bar-Sto and the whole project was not a success if the reason it doesn't run is because you've found some really light ammo when the compensator is begging for some horsepower.

Love the updates, keep them coming.

That would look really weird though as the comp extends the slide/frame out to the end of the barrel so you'd have a lot of exposed barrel. I suppose you could leave the barrel intact without the ports cut into it and attach the comp as a dummy.

If you want the uncompensated version (with some slight differences) you could just buy one of these though...



or these

Attached Images

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	IMG_170333.jpg (165.8 KB, 830 views)

"you could just buy one of these though..."

Yeah. Sure. I'll stop for a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk and I'll grab one of each of those.

Sevens

I always appreciate your insight and opinion. Trust me, I thought about just running the gun without the comp with the 5 inch barrel but I felt like the cinderella story could happen.

So I embarked on this journey with hopes that maybe I can shoot more than half a mag through this gun... and I'm getting close. What I didn't note in my last post is the ammo discussion I had with my gunsmith. He will need to time and run this gun to ensure proper 100% function so we decided on giving it a healthy dose of S&B brass cased factory fmj to accomplish the 100-200 rd test. If we are golden, you bet your butt I'm going to shoot this gun A LOT. And not with aluminum cased ammo or soft shooting fmj...

Others may or may not agree but I'm not sinking money, time and heartache into this one just so it sits in my safe collecting dust and value. I can smell the barn and I'm looking forward to posting its second range report soon.

SVT28

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SVT28, glad to read it's going back together.

Can you get any pictures of the disassembly and reassembly?

John

I'm glad I came into this late. What a roller coaster of a story! Hope to hear the next chapter soon.

Interesting saga. Glad to see you are getting where you want to be.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

Per request, here are some of the pictures of the carnage. Currently, the pistol can be shot, and only needs the proper threading to reinstall the comp, then the comp needs to be timed.

The gunsmith is pretty sure it's 9/16 threaded due to the soldering and what he's seeing, but in order to be sure he called the Performance Center to confirm the threading. As expected, he has not heard back from them yet. I gave him Paul's info at Pistol Dynamics to try and connect regarding the threading, so we will see if that produces any results.

Getting closer by the day!

SVT28



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Have you tried J-B Weld?

If you're joking, I'm glad you chimed in at the end of this journey. I was actually heavily considering already chewed bubble gum

If you're being serious, well...

Re: the barrel to comp threads.
Has the gunsmith been unable to separate the comp from the barrel stub?

John

Yup, the comp has been separated from the remainder of the barrel. Forgot to grab a picture of just the comp and the barrel fragments today. I'll ask them to take some pics of them tomorrow.



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You are a far stronger man than moi, that's for sure!

I was going to ask about a picture of the compensator.

That barrel looks U G L Y.

__________________
Can open, worms everywhere.

Thank you for the pictures and descriptions.

If you could, I would also like to see pictures of the chamber mouth on the failed barrel.

I have seen a similar S&W barrel (reamed to 357Sig) that developed a crack on the lower left side of the chamber at the junction of the feed ramp, the same as yours.

The barrel was inspected and the hairline crack discovered before it had grown more than 1/4" nor had it penetrated all the way through the chamber wall.

The cause of the crack was never conclusively determined but it was attributed to a combination of a higher than normal pressure pulse due to a new and therefore tighter barrel, an under powered recoil spring, and insufficient chamfering at the chamber mouth.

John

Actually doesn't look too bad without the comp on there, fingers crossed the finished article works out for you.

SVT28 I am glad you are ok after seeing the latest pics. If that would have happened to me I would probley have crapped my pants. I am glad that you are keeping us posted. all the pics you have posted are ones that I hope I never have to post. Glad you have a great mindset with this problem.

Finally got to go back to work two weeks ago. Now any more updates to post about. After seeing the barrel pics it is simply amazing. Hope to hear any more updates PLEASE.

Any updates?

Well, the day has finally come and I'm delighted to update everyone that the Comp40 is back together, function checked 100% and ready for some action!

Hats off to Wright Armory in Mesa AZ for their patience and professionalism with my pistol. Measure twice cut once could not have been more appropriate for this project...

The welds and fabrication had to be just right to not risk structural integrity of the barrel and to be fully functional. I did go a few weeks ago to pick it up and inquired whether or not they function tested their work. With my approval, they took it into their controlled environment and ran 1 magazine of factory BRASS 180 grain fmj ammo, which caused an intermittent failure to return completely back to battery. They offered to put some more time into it to ensure the reliability was up to snuff and after deburring the barrel a little, she ran the rest of the box of ammo without a hiccup.

The media they used to refinish the comp has a slightly different matte hue to it but I opted not to have the rest of the matte parts of the gun refinished due to cost and knowing this gun will be buried with me haha. All I care about is the fact that after 7 months, I get to finally enjoy this fine firearm for more than just 5 shots (hopefully). Knock on wood. Here are some pictures of the final work, as well as the barrel carnage and aluminum case.

Regardless of my prior opinion or what the root cause of the barrel crack actually was, I'll NEVER use another aluminum cased round ever again in any of my guns. For those who continue to shoot that stuff, well now there's more for you to procure. I'd rather not go down the road of aluminum vs steel vs brass again but thought I would contribute my 2 cents and lesson learned.

For all of those who have supported me throughout this saga with their kind words and well wishes, thank you.

Sincerely
SVT28





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Be sure to give us an update when you’ve fired it some more. Hope your luck is MUCH better with this new barrel.

I'm glad this worked out for you. Good to know that there are still craftsmen out there.

I am very glad this worked out great for you friend!! Enjoy your new/old special pistol! The cracks at the bottom of the barrel are kinda scary for me, and to tell you the truth, I can not imagine of how a plastic pistol frame would react to such a catastrophic failure. Also, if it was my gun, I would be really tempted to ditch the compensator, and thread the new barrel for a silencer!!!

I am happy this story ended well friend!!

Glad to hear of the positive outcome, SVT!

I guess I won't be shooting any aluminum-cased ammo out of my Comp40!

Success! I couldn't wait until the weekend to shoot the Comp40 so I went on my lunch break to put some rounds down range. I shot 100 rounds through 7 different magazines with zero failures or barrel issues. Accuracy was superb.

I will continue to keep this thread updated as the round count goes up but I'm about as happy as a pig in mud right now

SVT28



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Great news! But, is that a Glock I see? Shame, shame.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

OhMyGawd!!! It is!

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