Revolver barrel liner, Model 17

[eyegots2no]

Has anyone had any experience or knowledge of relining (sleeving or whatever you'd call it) a 22 LR revolver?
I have a 5 screw 17 with some after mkt nickel finish that has a ringed bore (no I did not do that).

 

[dfariswheel]

If the job is done correctly and to high standards, a relined barrel works very well.

These days the preferred method uses a Loctite bonder instead of the old soft solder method.
A barrel liner is turned with the largest diameter possible, and there's a flange on the rear to prevent any possibility of the liner moving forward.

The outside of the liner and the inside of the barrel are deliberately left a little rough to give the bonder a "tooth" to hold onto.

Redman sells liners and does .22LR pistol relining.......

Gun Barrel Liners – Redmans Rifling and Reboring

 

[Alk8944]

How does the gun shoot? Unless the ring is at or very near to the muzzle it is quite rare for a ringed barrel to affect shooting performance, especially in a rim-fire. Sleeving the barrel will most likely improve neither the accuracy of the gun, nor the value. As long as the gun shoots well a ringed barrel is merely a cosmetic issue!

A far more practical solution, if the ring bothers you that badly, would be to buy a new barrel for the gun. It would probably cost less than lining it!

 

[GBertolet]

I had relined a Winchester .22 rifle. It turned out pretty good. I purchased the liner and drill from Brownell's, along with some Acraglas Gel. A full length drill, liner, and Acraglas, set me back about $150. I had a .22 LR chamber reamer already. The drill has a rather large pilot, so you can just use a variable speed hand drill. Be sure to use plenty of oil. No need to be fussy, if the liner fits snugly, you are good.

For a revolver, you won't even need a chamber reamer. You will have to rig up, or buy something, to cut the forcing cone. Do that first, before gluing in the liner. I cut the chamber on my rifle, applied the Acraglas, slid in the liner until it contacted the bolt face. Perfect headspace. 8 hours later, after the Acraglas hardened, I took a hacksaw, and cut the liner at the muzzle.dressed up the muzzle with a file. Cutting an extractor groove with a jewelers file, afterwards was simple.

If I remember correctly, the drill is a 5/16", If you are handy, you could get an extended drill bit, or braze an extension on a regular bit, and use that for the shorter handgun barrel. I might even have the cut off piece from my rifle barrel left, if I can find it.

 

[eyegots2no]

Thanks for the responses.

I went and shot the gun before this post----hoping it would shoot---it was poor. Thanks for the thought ALK.

I emailed Red's----he simply said he "could not help me on this one" and did not elaborate.

I may search around for someone else to help me with the relining---or---perhaps it is best to just suck it up and find another barrel.

I'm gonna sleep on it.

I will let you know what happens.

Thanks!!!

 

[6string]

You have an opportunity to make your revolver shoot better than new.
There are a few gunsmiths who, quite affordably, reline .22 barrels for top-level Bullseye competitors. This work is often done to improve guns such as High Standard, Smith & Wesson model 41, Hammerli 208s, etc.
This is VERY different than the usual "drill and glue" approach used to fix grampa's barn gun.

Alex Hamilton of Ten-X Precision does this work. Falcon Machining used to do it. Visit target or rimfire forums for more names. Jerry Keefer and David Sams do world class as well.
You want someone who uses Lothar Walther or Lilja barrel liners.
They are truly match grade.
Much better than the Redman liners that will flood your internet search efforts.

The work will probably run about $150-200, and should include a well done forcing cone and muzzle crown. Properly done, you will have a tough time seeing evidence of the work.
Even if your barrel was undamaged, this is one job that really does deliver improved accuracy for a nominal cost!

 

[steelslaver]

You can find K22 barrels on Ebay. If you have can't email me as I have some. I have relined some 22 barrels but on Stevens Favorites and Crackshots. Even made a couple of K22 barrels int 32 barrels by relining

But, with K22 barrels easy to come by I would just replace it.

I am sure 6sting is correct, but very few of us mortals shoot well enough to tell the kind of difference he is talking about

 

[ameridaddy]

Y... Visit target or rimfire forums for more names. Jerry Keefer and David Sams do world class as well.
...

Sad to say, master gunsmith and all around good guy Jerry Keefer died of cancer in 2017.

 

[2152hq]

I would replace the bbl on a plain-jane K22.


The bulged bbl has some value to those that do Projects, so some of the cost can usually be gotten back.

An other thought is to have the bbl shortened to elliminate the bulge.
If the damage will allow,,a 4 or 5" version isn't all that bad of an option either.

It can all be an expensive trip if you are just paying for it and not doing any of the work yourself.
So look into a couple of different options before jumping in.

 

[Green Frog]

I find it difficult to believe the barrel can’t be relined. I’d guess the person you asked just didn’t want to fool with it, but I’m pretty sure if yo ask around you can find someone who will do it.

It’s a shame the gun has a non factory plating job. That will be a little hard to match if you do have to replace parts. As for the barrel itself, they show up pretty often and fairly affordably. I saw a blue K-22 “parts kit” on Gone Broker just the other day for less than $300. Maybe you could make a reverse pinto?

BTW, does the bulge show (visually or by touch) externally? If not, it might be a good candidate to rebore to make a 32 caliber barrel. I used a perfectly fine Model 617 barrel to rebore for Project 616, but if I were makining a nickel K-32, I’d jump on that barrel!

Froggie

 

[walter o]

I believe that lots of S&W singfle shots were relined to be better shooters But the good ones ewre done by some guy named POPE not the 1 in the Vatican.

 

[Eddietruett]

Thanks for the responses.

I went and shot the gun before this post----hoping it would shoot---it was poor. Thanks for the thought ALK.

I emailed Red's----he simply said he "could not help me on this one" and did not elaborate.

I may search around for someone else to help me with the relining---or---perhaps it is best to just suck it up and find another barrel.

I'm gonna sleep on it.

I will let you know what happens.

Thanks!!!

Why not just buy a barrel. Usually plenty for sale on fleabay

 

[2152hq]

Certainly the bbl can be re-lined. Plenty of them have been done in all calibers, handguns and long-guns.

If relining is what you think you'd want to do, I can suggest John Taylor in Idaho for the work.
I've had him do work in the past and it's been excellent.
He is highly rated by the rifle shooting crowd for relininging work.
He uses T.J's bbl liners almost exclusively . These are hammer forged liners, not button rifled.
When needed he turns a blank down to a custom dia for a liner.

(FWIW, the bbl liners that Track of the Wolf sells are those from T'J's as well. TOTW ups the price a bit but they are still sold 'by the inch')

He recently did a Stevens 44 rifle reline for me
from .22LR to 28-30-110 Stevens.
He already had that particular chambering reamer as well.
Excellent all around gunsmith

Here's his website:

Taylor Machine – Your source for custom machine work!

He posts quite often on the CastBoolets forum, and other Gunsmithing forums under his own name.