JDBoardman
US Veteran
Is it feasable to rebore a .357 Manum barrel to .45 ACP?
Barrel Reboring
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I would think it depends on the barrel. Can you be more specific?
It may be possible, (if you could get someone to do it), but it wouldn't be economically feasible.
OP
JDBoardman
US Veteran
I am looking at boring a 4" Model 27 barrel to .451" and rifling it (.45 ACP). It may be better to use a .45 ACP rifled liner; I don't know.
The man to ask:
BARREL RE-BORING
Alan Siegrist
8752 Turtle Road
Whittemore, Michigan 48770
989-873-3929
BARREL RE-BORING
Alan Siegrist
8752 Turtle Road
Whittemore, Michigan 48770
989-873-3929
austintexas
Member
I had a m-28 barrel and cylinder converted to .45 Colt about 1977 before smith&Wesson started making 25-5s, I had no problems shooting it, I had to shoot semi wadcutter ammo because factory .45 Colt stuck out the end of the cylinder. Seems that the 357 mag cylinder was a tad short.
SWCA 892
SWCA 892
"...wouldn't be economically feasible."
Really? So you know what the original poster's budget is? You know what his goal is? I rather doubt that, and even if you do it's not really your call.
At any rate, if it's an N frame .357 barrel then yes, it's completely feasible to have it rebored to .45 caliber.
Protocall_Design
Vendor
I had 3 686 barrels rebored to .40 cal. and made 646es with them. The few 646 guns I could find for sale were priced way over my budget. It cost (years ago) $150 a barrel + shipping to get them done. Got a custom reamer from Manson and reamed the cylinders, then cut them for moonclips. I made a 4" and 2 6" and sold one of the 6" barrels. The 4" one is my IDPA gun and works very well.
This was a 38/44 barrel that was bored out for a 45 ACP project. I believe it was the gentleman up in MI that did it.
StrawHat
Member
Yes, it can be done.
In the 80s, I had a 4" M28 rebored to accept the 45 ACP. Dick Nickel (now deceased) did the work and said he had seen M28s and M27s with muzzles too thin to bore out.
You will hear folks say sell what you have and buy the factory model. Nonsense! One of the amazing things about this country is we get to do what we want. You want a fancy 45, nice. Keep us posted on your progress.
Kevin
In the 80s, I had a 4" M28 rebored to accept the 45 ACP. Dick Nickel (now deceased) did the work and said he had seen M28s and M27s with muzzles too thin to bore out.
You will hear folks say sell what you have and buy the factory model. Nonsense! One of the amazing things about this country is we get to do what we want. You want a fancy 45, nice. Keep us posted on your progress.
Kevin
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Green Frog
Member
I have experience both with reboring a revolver barrel (Project 616) by the late Jim Dubell, and a rifle barrel from Alan Siegrist (a 33-47 barrel for a high wall Winchester.) If a particular barrel has enough steel left after, boring is certainly an option. It wouldn't be that hard to measure your barrel and figure that out.
Siegrist has a good reputation for barrel work among the American Single Shot Rifle Association shooters, and we are a pretty discriminating bunch when it comes to barrel quality!
Froggie
Siegrist has a good reputation for barrel work among the American Single Shot Rifle Association shooters, and we are a pretty discriminating bunch when it comes to barrel quality!
Froggie
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Al Siegrist rebored my Heavy Duty Barrel and a Model 28 barrel to .45 for me. He has also done a 4" 520 barrel and a 4" Model 28 Barrel to .44, a Model 28 6.5" barrel to .41, a 686 Mountain Gun barrel to .44, and a Model 29 to .512 - that last lives on a custom Ruger Bisley Blackhawk in .500 Linebaugh). I had the caliber designations on all welded up and remarked before sending them, since some got pretty thin and I didn't want to risk warping them after the rebore. Al's rebore's are cut rifled and as high a quality as you can get. Feel free to ask him for a lead time - just add three months to that before you check on your barrel for the first time.
Your post got me to thinking...so many forum members talk about "IF" S&W would just make an L-Frame 10mm revolver, most of us would beat a path to their door. I wonder if a 686 would be able to handle the pressure of a mid to warm 10mm load, how hard would it be to bore a barrel to .40/10mm and ream 6 chambers to 10mm? And can you go from .357" to .40" on the chambers with just a reamer, or would they have to be bored also? I've only used a finish reamer on semi-auto .40 chambers to deepen them to 10mm and that was pretty easy. Having a 10mm L-Frame snubby would be sweet!
I just looked at my 686. The space between the chambers might not be safe if cut out to 10 mm, particularly with a hot load. You might need a custom 5 shot cylinder. Full power 10mm is not a low pressure cartridge.
I hand load that cartridge and have seen signs of higher pressure while still at the high end of some of the published loading charts. I've stopped using brass more than 3 times and have had no more suspicions.
I hand load that cartridge and have seen signs of higher pressure while still at the high end of some of the published loading charts. I've stopped using brass more than 3 times and have had no more suspicions.
Are Eric and Alan the same person or brothers, etc?
The process is, you find that ultra-rare gunsmith who rebores barrels, send it to them, and then wait. And wait. And wait.
I had two barrels rebored by the late Jim Dubell and each one took about a year. The bottleneck (at least for him) was that he did batches of barrels of a given caliber at a time. Makes sense - the setup for a caliber has got to take some time and it makes more sense to do all the rebores to .32 you have on hand at once, then the .38s, etc.
I sent a barrel to Alan Siegrist in October. I might call and check on it in June or so, but not any earlier. Or who knows, I might get lucky and have sent my barrel just as he was getting ready to do my caliber.
I find nothing wrong with barrel boring, especially if there's no alternative!
Honestly I'm pragmatic about it; it's my last resort due to cost and wait time. Finding a correct replacement barrel is usually easier, but not in every case! Then I'd look into reboring before giving up on a project.
Honestly I'm pragmatic about it; it's my last resort due to cost and wait time. Finding a correct replacement barrel is usually easier, but not in every case! Then I'd look into reboring before giving up on a project.
Green Frog
Member
Green Frog
Member
Cost is usually not as bad as buying a rare barrel.
I was all set with plans to rebore a Model 17 to 32 caliber for my recreation of a K-32 and would have if the NOS Model 16 barrel I got hadn't literally fallen into my lap. I was figuring on 6-12 months wait time, but that's just the way it would have to be. The advantage of a rebored barrel from someone like Jim or Al is that it's going to be custom done individually, probably to closer tolerances than a factory barrel. 
If the desired barrel were readily available and cheap, chances are the gun it would go on would be cheap and readily available as well, so building one custom wouldn't be necessary. It seems like everything I want starts with severe alteration or replacement of the barrel and goes down the money slide from there.
Froggie
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