Pinned Barrel pin

Ole Joe Clark

Absent Comrade
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Messages
4,091
Reaction score
12,846
Location
Alabama
I recently purchased a S&W 15-2 that Bubba had tried to drive out the barrel pin, then stopped and clipped it off.

Is this a hard fix?

The barrel is not misaligned and the gun shoots good, so I don't think he removed the barrel completely.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Leon
 
Register to hide this ad
The pin needs to be completely replaced. My question was: is this hard to do?

My apologies for not making this clear.
 
I would have to 'fix' it too. It will need two pieces of hardened spring wire that are a couple of thousands less than the diameter of the cross pin. It will also need a very firm vise to hold the gun while driving out the old. The first piece is about 1" long. This is the starter drive pin. The second piece of drive wire should be about 1 1/2" long. It is the finisher after the S&W cross pin starts to drift out. Longer on the first drive pin and it is sure to bend while being driven. Also needed is a ballpeen hammer of 10 to 12 oz. weight with a like new driving surface on the head.

With the barrel firmly clamped in a padded vise put good light on the job. Hold the drive wire with a small set of vise-grip pliers. Make sure you and your arms are in a comfortable position. Make sure the drive wire is being held in near perfect line with the cross pin. Insert the drive wire and start out the stub. Change to the finish drive pin and complete the job. A little heat applied by a very hot hair dryer sometime helps.

BTW: Are you sure Bubba was driving OUT and not driving IN when this disaster happened? What can you see looking down the hole on the opposite side? There is a chance this was a barrel replacement with a barrel that did not have the small cross pin groove milled in-place. If so, you have a different problem than described above. Now, it becomes a precision drill press job with a carbide twist drill. Let us know.

Give me a chance to go out and back to my shop and I will give you the exact measurement of S&W's cross pins, but if anyone else has it right in front of them, please jump in. BTW No. 2.....the hardened drive pin wire is available at Hobby Shops. They call it model airplane landing gear wire. .... :-) Also, Brownell's has a drive pin set of wire gage, but they are too long as received and have to be shortened because if the drive pin is too long it WILL bend before starting to move the stubborn cross pin. PM me if you need further............
 
OK, S&W cross pin is 0.068" diameter. MY landing gear wire drift pins are 0.063" diameter.

And, you should know that S&W drifts pins IN from the right and OUT from the left side of the handgun when looking at the handgun from the rear. I don't know if that is going to help or not in this case.
 
Thanks, I have made notes concerning the diameters of the pins. The pin end is flattened on the right end, and is about 3/16" short on the left end, looking from the rear. Will get to Hobby Lobby soon to acquire the wire.

BTW, I'm not the Bubba involved here. :-)
 
I will be looking for "spring wire" that might be sold at hobby shops. Drill rod is not normally heat treated until it is machined or shaped to size. Dowel pins are normally already hardened. Spring wire is probably tempered when purchased.

P.S. Problem solved. I carried the revolver to a local gunsmith that i used to do a little work for. He replaced the pin at no charge.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top