HomeSmith Trainwreck: Muffin Top

[Shotguncoach]

I had some time on my hands while She Who Must Be Obeyed was at a crafting camp, so you know what that means: Trainwrecks!

Project name: Muffin Top

Muffin Top is a 1952-ish K38 Masterpiece. She has all the right curves in all the right places, plus one extra curve that really doesn't belong. About an inch from the muzzle there is a ring in the barrel and a rather unsightly bulge.

Muffin Top arrived with two of the three T's. The target hammer and trigger are there but the target stocks are not. If fact there are not any stocks at all. For testing I slapped on the first set of goodyears on top of the pile.

Over the years Muffin top has accumulated her fair share of "honest wear" in the form of scratches, buggered up screw heads, thinning finish, and a random number 4 just below the address.

I've shot some .22's that had ringed barrels and still shot just fine but that's not the case with Muffin Top. I have shotguns that throw tighter patterns than this poor girl. At 15 yards I couldn't even keep 6 shots on the paper.

 

[LittleAugieMo]

If that were mine....would seriously be looking to find someone to Bob the bbl to 3".

 

[Shotguncoach]

The first order of business in my new, air conditioned Trainwreck Qwality Controle Laboratory was to tap out the barrel pin with the appropriate sized cup tipped punch. Then it was off to the garage where the big vise is to begin the major surgery.

In The Highwayman thread I mentioned having to fit the N frame bushings to the MGW action wrench. The K frame bushings were spot on as delivered from the factory and required no fitting.

Muffin Top was locked into the estate sale Wilton bullet vise using the same $6 Amazon V-shaped soft jaws that were used for The Highwayman and the MGW action wrench was installed. My test push to check the tightness of the barrel resulted in the wrench moving and bloop.....off comes the barrel.

Now it was time to figure out what barrel would go onto the frame and how Muffin Top would go forward in the world. How about a nice svelte model 15 barrel? Maybe go strong with a model 19 barrel and cylinder? Let's find out....

It turns out that there are many more variations of Smith & Wesson frames than I knew. The model 15 barrel looked great, right up until you looked at the huge square blocks and all the extra material on the end of the frame that would normally align with the the Masterpiece barrel. I suppose I could blend all that with a file but that combined with the need to set the barrel back a full turn (it over indexed) meant that the model 15 barrel was off the table.

Next up was the model 19 barrel. This rib and barrel contour matched up perfectly with the frame, indexed well, and was a serious contender until I noticed that there is a difference between frames intended for shrouded barrels and non-shrouded barrels. The model 15 barrel had problems on top, the model 19 barrel had problems on the bottom. I pulled a "real" model 19 out of the safe for comparison and yep, the magnum frame with the ejector rod shroud is different.

 

[Shotguncoach]

I guess that means that Muffin Top will continue in the world as God intended: as a 6" K38 Masterpiece. I had a correct barrel in the pile but it was scabby and nasty looking. Meh. I've been here before....it's just another Trainwreck.

Out came the 800, 1200, and 2400 grit sandpaper and sanding block. About 30 minutes of scrub-scrub later I was ready to use my new Grizzly dual shaft buffer. Since I don't have 3 arms I wasn't able to get any pictures of the barrel being very lightly polished, but it happened.

As long as I was going to be setting up the bluing apparatus on the back porch, I went ahead and stripped Muffin Top down to the bare frame and gave the frame and sideplate a once over with the sandpaper and a light polish on the buffer. I realized as I was taking the picture that the rear sight was still on...that came off before anything else happened.

Side note: the frame stub that is on the barrel in most parts kits makes a great hanger when you're bluing a barrel

With all the pieces degreased and coated with Brownells rust bluing goop and my redneck wind chimes hung up on the back porch, it was time to wait............and that meant I could start another project!

 

[Shotguncoach]

Sometime between reaming the yoke and stoning the sides of the cylinder stop for Wonder Twin #1, all the pieces of Muffin Top finished their last boil and were ready to be carded.

I think it turned out pretty well, considering how munged up the replacement barrel had been. Here are the pieces after being carded but before an hour long soak in 30W to kill any remaining rust process.

 

[Shotguncoach]

With Wonder Twin #1 finished and #2 still rusting, the pieces of Muffin Top were ready to come out of their 30W bath and be put together.

All of the oil was cleaned off with special attention paid to the threads of the barrel and frame. Once again, installing the barrel was finicky but not really difficult. I think I had the frame wrench on and off 6 times before I was satisfied with the barrel alignment. The whole "Is it straight?" thing was starting to eat at me because I still hadn't been able to test The Highwayman yet and I really wasn't sure I was doing everything right.

The cylinder gap with the new barrel came out at .005" which was actually better than the original barrel. Like Twin #1, after the barrel was on everything else just kind of fell together. Muffin Top has already had an action job (done by someone else) so it was really just reassembly of all the bits and pieces.

So far so good...

 

[Shotguncoach]

So did it work? Was our barrel centered properly? Will it keep 6 shots on the wall of a barn?

Yep, it works just fine.

The front patridge sight on the new barrel is quite a bit narrower than the previous sight blade. I'm going to have to shoot it for a while to see if I like that much light on the sides of the blade.

The goodyear stocks that have been on Muffin Top for testing aren't great for target work. When I got home from the range I stirred the pile for a bit and a pair of stocks floated to the top that seem appropriate now.

Now it's time to just shoot it a bunch.....

 

[Mercury]

That's a really nice restoration that you did for Muffin Top!
You have skills and it shows.

 

[stansdds]

Making lemonade from a lemon!

 

[raljr1]

nice work.

 

[StrawHat]

Very nice work on this one.

I might have considered cutting to 5" but you had a few spare barrels.

Kevin

 

[Greyman50]

Outstanding save on a very nice revolver.