First post here but I have been buying S&Ws for forty years. I have a Brazilian 1917 beater that I have tried several loads in; factory, cast and reloads. The best I can get from a rest is 12” at 25 yards. The gun is rough on the outside and the bore shows faint rifling. However, the trigger on this thing is a thing of beauty. I want to replace the barrel and shoot this old beast. I’d prefer an original barrel but they seem pretty scarce. Would other barrels fit? If so which ones?

They are out there for the finding. You might check eBay and the various gun auction sites like GunBroker, also there are a lot of gun parts houses, the largest being Numrich. Someone reading this may have one. If you do find one, unless you have the tools and experience to swap barrels, you probably should have it done by a gunsmith, and that won't be cheap.

Welcome to the forum.

All Smith N frame barrels have the same thread. But to look good you want a pre war or very early post war barrel w/o a rib.

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

There was a large batch of Brazilian Military Industries replacement barrels that came to these shores several years ago... they were pretty cheap then and will probably be the most abundant and least expensive to buy now. They had initials on the side like IBMI or some such IIRC, and were of uniformly good quality. I used a couple on projects myself back in the day.

Froggie

I think IMBL or IMBEL - Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil (Brazilian War Material Industry)

You might try slugging your bore and measuring the chamber throats.
The solution, at least for acceptable groups, may lie with larger dia
bullets. Cheaper than a new barrel installation.

You could have the original barrel relined. Get lead bullet rifling.

Have you taken the gun to a gunsmith? There might be other issues that need addressed. You might be getting into a money pit. I had that with my 1st 1911. Bob