What is the best way to remove a 3rd generation (pressed in) barrel bushing on a model 1076?

I have a new in the box pistol that has an improperly fit barrel bushing, the barrel can be moved around quite a bit with a finger on the muzzle. I have a new bushing but I am wondering how to remove the old bushing with marring or scratching the pistol.

Are the bushings installed with any kind of Locktite or adhesive or are they just pressed in?

Hopefully Mr. Fastbolt will stop in...for some hints.

Sorry, just an armorer, not a gunsmith. The factory used a heavy press. I was told (I asked once) they weren't meant to be removed/installed outside the factory.

You'd have to contact some smiths who have the right equipment, a willingness to tackle the chore and hopefully experience in such work.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

So I am not clear on this OP’s question. I have a 1076 and it does not have a barrel bushing. It has a bulge at the end of the barrel that acts as a sort of bushing that cannot be replaced. My Performance Center guns have a bushing that can be replaced. So what are we talking about here? Pictures?

I'm 99.9% sure my 1076 doesn't have a bushing either. I'll get it out for a photo if it happens to have one though.

I do seem to recall that one of my 3rd gen semi-autos has a brightly polished stainless steel bushing in the slide, but I was thinking it more like a TSW model.

I may have to go downstairs the safe and look so I can go to sleep tonight. It's got me wondering now......

Standard production 3rd Gens definitely have a pressed in bushing.

It's the wide ring around the barrel at the muzzle.

Look at it from the side, close-up, & you'll see where it's not part of the slide.

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Some Performance Center models have the removable Briley bushing.
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Waiting for the break of day

If it is new in the box, first I would call the factory about warranty.

However, I have done a couple on pistols I was repairing.

They are pressed in, but are not "gorilla" tight.
I found no evidence of a locking compound on the bushings when I removed them, but I put a little locktite on them whem they go back.

I was under the impression that the barrel bushing was a "factory installed part" and was not available to the public.

If you have a new bushing and it seems very tight going in to the slide, you may elect to dispense with the locktite.

The "tool" I used was a socket head bolt and nut of appropriate size to fit through the bushing.

A brass sleeve, slightly larger in i.d. that the bushing, and of sufficient length to clear the bushing (3/8"-1/2") fits against the muzzle end of the slide, while the nut and bolt pass through a washer larger than the sleeve on the outside and a washer with a larger o.d. than the i.d. of the bushing on the inside of the slide.

Tightening the bolt and nut presses or pulls the bushing from the slide.

Reverse the "tool" (bolt, nut, sleeve, and washers) to press the bushing back in.

I've only done it in extreme cases when I was restoring a slide and never for accuracy reasons.

If you are absolutely certain that you have an unacceptably loose situation and that is your only solution, then it can be done.

Be careful.

John

Hello all, thank you for your replies.

Yes it is a new in the box gun, no indication that it had ever been fired and still had the inspection sticker on it, made about 1990 or so, it came from an estate sale. I am not the first owner, so I do not know the history of this pistol.

Yes, the bushing is a very loose fit on the barrel. With the slide closed, there is about .045" or so of movement at the muzzle, you can easily move the barrel around in the bushing with your finger. In fact, there is so much slop in the barrel/bushing fit that moving the barrel at the muzzle also moves the slide back a perceptible bit on the frame as the chamber is also moving.

The bushing on the pistol shows evidence of polishing or honing inside and this polishing was well done and concentric, like it was done with a machine. The barrel itself shows no evidence of polishing or fitting.

I own a 645 and a 1006 and neither of them have a loose fit at the bushing like this 1076 does.

Yes, the bushing is not supposed to be available to the public, but I was able to find a new factory part. It fits properly on the end of the barrel with very little movement, just like I would expect it to fit.

Wow, that is a sloppy bushing. The old bushing will need to be pulled out of the slide, not an easy task. Then the new bushing needs to be pressed into the slide, again, not a particularly easy task. Odds are S&W can still do this and they have the correct tools. I'd contact S&W before looking for a machinist or gunsmith or attempting it as a DIY project.

A NIB 1076 made in 1990 would be a pre-recall pistol. Has the pistol been serviced under the decocker recall? Look for the punch marks under the decocker when depressed that indicate that it has. If it hasn't, S&W could then evaluate the bushing when doing the recall work.

Recall text - http://smith-wessonforum.com/140321504-post24.html

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My 1076 has the two punch marks.

[QUOTE=CAR;140652311]
Yes, the bushing is a very loose fit on the barrel. With the slide closed, there is about .045" or so of movement at the muzzle, you can easily move the barrel around in the bushing with your finger. t.[/QUOTE

sounds like a 4576 slide on a 1076 frame/barrel to me??

[quote=SOTVEN;140652527]This exactly what I was thinking while reading the reply posts. I once found a new Ruger Mini 30 that would jam on the second shot every time no matter how the magazine was loaded. After a couple of phone calls to Ruger I figured out that the Mini 30 came with a Mini 14 trigger group installed.

Replacement bushings for most models are available from Numrich.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Is the slide marked "10mm" on the inside?

But, is the bushing loose on the barrel, or is the barrel loose, in
the bushing (or both )?

Might post a pic of the barrel. It should have a larger diameter
area, where it 'sits' inside bushing, with slide forward.

Yes, the slide and barrel are both marked "10MM". As I stated, the barrel and the pistol both show no signs of tampering, the pistol was purchased in the original box with tools in the original bag, paperwork, spare mag still in the wrap. The gun was originally purchased a couple of decades ago from a local dealer in Chesterland, Ohio, it still had the shop sticker on the box. There are no wear marks on the barrel or slide that you would see from shooting, the "frosted" stainless finish on the barrel is nearly 100% free of any marks from working the action, even in the locking lug area. The inside of the barrel bushing, while being perfectly round and concentric is highly polished (perhaps over polished?). I suppose a former owner could have done this but why if they had never even apparently fired the pistol? Most of the guns from that estate were like new in their boxes, I purchased an apparently new in box 469 9mm as well.

As an aside, in my research and my communications with S&W, the 10mm and 45 both use the same barrel bushing, the barrel outside diameter of both the 10mm and .45 Auto are the same.

I had checked my 645 against my 1006 and both have the some OD on the barrel at the muzzle, just the bore is different.

Here is a photo...

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That sure don't look right!

Like I said, not a particularly difficult job (not unlike a cam bearing replacement), but one best left to S&W on an unfired pistol.

Call them before you make your final decision.

John

Do you have means to precisely measure the inside diameter of your bushing? If it measures out to around 5/8" or 0.625" then I would surmise that the gun was inadvertently assembled with a short barrel bushing ie 4013 or 4516. The bulge at the muzzle on the short barrels measures around 0.624" whereas on the longer barrels, 4.25 and 5 inch, that bulge is around 0.590"

While the bushings for the compact and fullsize guns have different IDs the OD is the same so it's no too much of a stretch to imagine a compact bushing wound up in the wrong parts bin and was installed on a fullsize gun.

The bushings have a 'barb' of sorts akin to a hose barb that bites into the slide interior when pressed in. Removing a bushing might be accomplished with a miniature bearing puller or it may have to be cut out.

I agree with those above that you should contact S&W Customer Service and see about initiating a warranty claim. If indeed the gun was assembled with the wrong bushing and that got by QC, then that's on S&W to fix on their dime.

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Thank you sir, I think you solved the mystery. The ID of the bushing currently in my 1076 is just a hair over 0.625". The replacement bushing I have measures at 0.591" for ID.

The pistol is in such pristine condition that I would have to assume that it was a mistake in assembly at the factory.

Great information guys, thank you very much!