Dieseltech56
Member
Last year I picked up a 64-5 DAO round butt from a local store, I rarely shoot anything double action but this gun just stood out to me. I don't believe I had ever seen a DA forged hammer before but later on after I got it home I realized these guns were pretty common. NY used something similar at one point. When I got the grips off I found a decent amount of pitting at the grip line.
Right off the bat I hated that it had a MIM trigger but I never swapped out a trigger before so I looked around for what might be needed. While reading I came across some info stating there was a better chance of having these parts drop in if they came as a matched set.... basically from the same gun. I found a forged hammer/ trigger set on ebay from a 10-10 and installed them with the original hand. Everything worked perfectly, I no longer had a DAO 64. Around this time I also switched out the MIM cylinder release for an old style one.
After I had done some successful minor gunsmithing the wheels started turning. What else could I do? I have wanted to do my own barrel work for some time now and I envision turning some of my common guns into ones I can't find. I think we all do that, not for profit of course, just for personal gain. I convinced myself to start gathering barrel tools. I got some frame wrenches, barrel chamfer and endface cutters, even the brownells barrel setback tool. I was about ready to start experimenting.
Before that though I needed some parts. When I went hunting for a 3" 64 barrel I actually found a 3" 65 barrel instead. Now the end of the barrel that protrudes from the frame is shorter on a 65 than a 64. This is to allow the longer 65 cylinder to fit. I quickly found out that midway stocks a 65/66 cylinder. Now I'm thinking this is coming together.
I got the 65 barrel, cylinder and laid out the plan. First I pulled both my 65-5 and 64-5 all apart to compare the two. From one gun to the next there is no difference anywhere in the frames or yokes. There is no signs of heat treating from one gun to the other. Since I am fitting a new magnum cylinder I am not worried about its metallurgy.
Now that I have all the parts and tools I believe I'll need to get started I have to figure out the hardest part. Removing the barrel from the frame. My first attempt failed. I made barrel blocks out of 2x4 pieces of pine. The wood was too soft and I had the grain going parallel to the barrel. The blocks broke apart before I even put half the pressure needed to remove the barrel.
Next I cut some oak blocks with the grain running perpendicular to the barrel. This was the ticket. The barrel unthreaded with a decent amount of effort but thankfully the frame and threads survived.
Now it was time to see how the new barrel fit. I hand tightened the old barrel onto the frame to see where it indexed. When I removed it and put the new barrel on I found it indexed short of where the old one did. I decided to use the barrel setback tool to get my new barrel closer to the old one. I only had to trim a few thousands off the new barrel and I decided to make it hand tighten a little bit past the original one. I am suspicious of the thin K frame threaded portion of the barrel. I would say I was about 1/10 of a turn shy of 12 o'clock with the barrel hand tightened. I was referencing the Kuhnhausen book while doing this.
As I found out when installing the barrel the rest of the way I am glad I chose to index it were I did. The barrel was definitely tight going on. I managed to get it lined up perfectly the first time. Beginners luck I suppose.
Now came time to install the new cylinder and original yoke. I really didn't know what to expect here. Surprisingly the cylinder closed but it was tight up against the barrel. I used the Brownell's 90 degree end face cutter to trim the barrel back 3-4 thousandths to get me started.
Now the cylinder closed good but it was bound up when cycling the action. I was convinced I messed something up but I came to realize through trial and error that my new cylinder just wasn't as deep as the original. My yoke was too long.
When I installed the cylinder and ejector into the gun with no yoke the action cycled fine so I knew the ejector rod length was okay. When I installed the old cylinder back onto the ejector rod and put it in the gun with the yoke the action cycled fine too. The new cylinder and old yoke weren't liking each other, my endshake was zero.
I did wind up filing a few thousandths off the yoke face to get the cylinder freed up. Several times I put black sharpie on the yoke face and cycled the action a bunch of times to see where to file. I have already ordered a yoke alignment gauge to make sure nothing is going on there but I think it's okay.
Right now everything seems good but I am not ready to shoot this gun yet. I still need to get a range rod and make sure the chambers are in alignment. The eyeball says it looks okay but I want to make sure. I also have not done anything with the forcing cone. The factory cone is most likely okay but a little shallow, I'll leave it if the match range rod passes. Otherwise I'll go with a 5 degree chamfer. The thin spot at 6 o'clock on the barrel makes me think it's not wise to go with too big of an angle. Factory I believe is 7-8 degrees but no one sells a cutter or gauge that angle.
Here is the gun now with the 64 old parts
And here are the closeups
I also do not recommend doing this to save money or make a profit. I have hundreds of dollars invested in these barrel tools and a strong mechanical background. I am only doing this for myself and this gun will not be getting sold. I actually debated posting this because I do not want to see anything negative to come from this.
Right off the bat I hated that it had a MIM trigger but I never swapped out a trigger before so I looked around for what might be needed. While reading I came across some info stating there was a better chance of having these parts drop in if they came as a matched set.... basically from the same gun. I found a forged hammer/ trigger set on ebay from a 10-10 and installed them with the original hand. Everything worked perfectly, I no longer had a DAO 64. Around this time I also switched out the MIM cylinder release for an old style one.
After I had done some successful minor gunsmithing the wheels started turning. What else could I do? I have wanted to do my own barrel work for some time now and I envision turning some of my common guns into ones I can't find. I think we all do that, not for profit of course, just for personal gain. I convinced myself to start gathering barrel tools. I got some frame wrenches, barrel chamfer and endface cutters, even the brownells barrel setback tool. I was about ready to start experimenting.
Before that though I needed some parts. When I went hunting for a 3" 64 barrel I actually found a 3" 65 barrel instead. Now the end of the barrel that protrudes from the frame is shorter on a 65 than a 64. This is to allow the longer 65 cylinder to fit. I quickly found out that midway stocks a 65/66 cylinder. Now I'm thinking this is coming together.
I got the 65 barrel, cylinder and laid out the plan. First I pulled both my 65-5 and 64-5 all apart to compare the two. From one gun to the next there is no difference anywhere in the frames or yokes. There is no signs of heat treating from one gun to the other. Since I am fitting a new magnum cylinder I am not worried about its metallurgy.
Now that I have all the parts and tools I believe I'll need to get started I have to figure out the hardest part. Removing the barrel from the frame. My first attempt failed. I made barrel blocks out of 2x4 pieces of pine. The wood was too soft and I had the grain going parallel to the barrel. The blocks broke apart before I even put half the pressure needed to remove the barrel.
Next I cut some oak blocks with the grain running perpendicular to the barrel. This was the ticket. The barrel unthreaded with a decent amount of effort but thankfully the frame and threads survived.
Now it was time to see how the new barrel fit. I hand tightened the old barrel onto the frame to see where it indexed. When I removed it and put the new barrel on I found it indexed short of where the old one did. I decided to use the barrel setback tool to get my new barrel closer to the old one. I only had to trim a few thousands off the new barrel and I decided to make it hand tighten a little bit past the original one. I am suspicious of the thin K frame threaded portion of the barrel. I would say I was about 1/10 of a turn shy of 12 o'clock with the barrel hand tightened. I was referencing the Kuhnhausen book while doing this.
As I found out when installing the barrel the rest of the way I am glad I chose to index it were I did. The barrel was definitely tight going on. I managed to get it lined up perfectly the first time. Beginners luck I suppose.
Now came time to install the new cylinder and original yoke. I really didn't know what to expect here. Surprisingly the cylinder closed but it was tight up against the barrel. I used the Brownell's 90 degree end face cutter to trim the barrel back 3-4 thousandths to get me started.
Now the cylinder closed good but it was bound up when cycling the action. I was convinced I messed something up but I came to realize through trial and error that my new cylinder just wasn't as deep as the original. My yoke was too long.
When I installed the cylinder and ejector into the gun with no yoke the action cycled fine so I knew the ejector rod length was okay. When I installed the old cylinder back onto the ejector rod and put it in the gun with the yoke the action cycled fine too. The new cylinder and old yoke weren't liking each other, my endshake was zero.
I did wind up filing a few thousandths off the yoke face to get the cylinder freed up. Several times I put black sharpie on the yoke face and cycled the action a bunch of times to see where to file. I have already ordered a yoke alignment gauge to make sure nothing is going on there but I think it's okay.
Right now everything seems good but I am not ready to shoot this gun yet. I still need to get a range rod and make sure the chambers are in alignment. The eyeball says it looks okay but I want to make sure. I also have not done anything with the forcing cone. The factory cone is most likely okay but a little shallow, I'll leave it if the match range rod passes. Otherwise I'll go with a 5 degree chamfer. The thin spot at 6 o'clock on the barrel makes me think it's not wise to go with too big of an angle. Factory I believe is 7-8 degrees but no one sells a cutter or gauge that angle.
Here is the gun now with the 64 old parts
And here are the closeups
I also do not recommend doing this to save money or make a profit. I have hundreds of dollars invested in these barrel tools and a strong mechanical background. I am only doing this for myself and this gun will not be getting sold. I actually debated posting this because I do not want to see anything negative to come from this.
