S&W barrel exchange

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straightshooter47

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has anyone sent their M&P 15 22 back to S&W to swap out a non-threaded barrel for a threaded barrel?

i would like to buy your old barrel that S&W returned to you.
 
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Dude, just find a competent machine shop and use the drawing I posted a few months ago. Thread the barrel yourself. Might cost $40 at a machine shop.
 
You dont even need pictures, most smiths should be able to do 1/2x28tpi threading in their sleep.
 
from what ive read actually, there are only a few competent shops that people trust to do barrel threading because of how critical the alignment is. not sure if s&w would swap it out but if you search, i believe theres a list of shops you can contact.
 
w0ady said:
from what ive read actually, there are only a few competent shops that people trust to do barrel threading because of how critical the alignment is. not sure if s&w would swap it out but if you search, i believe theres a list of shops you can contact.
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Machine shop or gunsmiths? I honestly wouldn't let a machine shop work on anything that wasn't purely cosmetic.

A gunsmith should have the equipment to centralize the thread properly, generally it is all part of the equipment you need.

KBK
 
Agreed, ADCO has an excellent reputation for all manner of custom gunsmithing. Of course, if you're looking for a genuinely stock rifle, then a factory threaded barrel is what you want. If that's what you want, you need to contact the S&W Performance Center for more information.
Precision Gunsmithing - Smith & Wesson
 
Ive been doing it for guys on here for years and these guys are right you do need a tool to align the bore for threading.
I dont charge extra for R&R of your barrel or the 11* target crown I add.
 
FWIW, around this neck of the woods, it's $75-$100 for barrel threading by a qualified gunsmith.
 
Hmmm, I had mine done for for the equivalent of $73, so that must be the "standard" going rate for something like that.

Belt Fed, what is the R&R?

KBK
 
Remove and restore is correct. I do it for $50 + shipping
 
sorry gentlemen, getting a threaded barrel, or threading an exisiting barrel is not what i'm asking for. what, or who, i'm looking for are the few individuals who may have done this when S&W first started offering the threaded barrel models.

i wanted to offer to buy the barrels that were swapped out since S&W will return the old barrel and ejector to the owner after the swap. i have several uppers that i need barrels for...

i have corrected my original post and hope it clarifiys the situation.
 
straightshooter47 said:
sorry gentlemen, getting a threaded barrel, or threading an exisiting barrel is not what i'm asking for. what, or who, i'm looking for are the few individuals who may have done this when S&W first started offering the threaded barrel models.

i wanted to offer to buy the barrels that were swapped out since S&W will return the old barrel and ejector to the owner after the swap. i have several uppers that i need barrels for...

i have corrected my original post and hope it clarifiys the situation.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I didn't know S&W did that. I just assumed (dangerous, I know) they kept the old barrel.
 
Kayback said:
Machine shop or gunsmiths? I honestly wouldn't let a machine shop work on anything that wasn't purely cosmetic.

A gunsmith should have the equipment to centralize the thread properly, generally it is all part of the equipment you need.

KBK[/QUOTE

Im not trying to start an argument, but.....

Uh......"machine shops" built virtually every metal part in your gun. They made the molds for the plastic lower. The springs were most likely made by a spring manufacturing specialty shop.

I'm not taking anything away from 'smiths, but any machine shop with a competent lathe guy can cut a barrel thread. It's not rocket science. Its not gunsmith science. It's simple machining 101. My guess is that many 'smiths simply hand the barrel off to a local machine shop to do the work.

I doubt most gunsmiths have the proper equipment to correctly and accurately measure the concentricity ( or total runout) of the thread with respect to the bore diameter.

Also, a typical flash hider ( at least the ones i have seen in stores and gun shows) has an internal diameter such that you could easily allow .05" concentricity ( that's about two miles in the machining world) of your barrel thread and still have plenty of clearance for the round to pass thru.

$50 is a good and fair price to have the thread cut if you walk into a shop and tell them what you need..... And if you know what you're asking for.
Click to expand...
 
Maybe because suppressors are more easily available here than they are there most of the threading work done here is not for a flash hider.

Most threading tools come with a self centering die anyway, so yeah, if you have the tools on hand there is noting stopping a machine shop making it.

However I disagree with your statement that a machine shop built the firearm unless you are talking WWII era PPS-41's and Sten guns. A dedicate machine shop specializing in firearm production, a gun manufacturer you could say, made the gun.

I'd happily get a machine shop to make precision instruments and machining for something that isn't firearm related. Can a shop do it? Sure. They can probably do it well.

I would think a gunsmith has done it before tough.

I also don't know what training a gunsmith gets in the 'States, but here they are generally specialist machineists anyway. I know for a fact my local guys do their own machining. I've seen them do it. I watched them machine my .22 pistol. It was interesting.

I don't understand why you'd say a gunsmith wouldn't have the correct tools to thread a barrel, it is like saying they won't have the right tools to tap and thread scope mounts. Its part of what they do, and I'm willing to bet they are more likely to have firearm specific tools than a machineshop.

But whatever. If you want a machineist to do it, get it done. I'm not going to stop you. However I am personally willing to pay more for specific experience.
 
A gunsmith knows the details of firearms. Some of them are a bit rough using hammers, punches and files without the finesse of a master machinist.
A machinist knows the technical stuff to work metal, but little nuances like a target crown or the length of thread on a barrel are something they may have to look up.
There are different demands for different trades, even within the machining world. A job shop machinist would have a tough time doing tool and die work. A T&D machinist would have a tough time making plastic injection molds. It goes on and on.
You have to tell them what you need and you have to know what you're asking for.
If somebody comes out with a threading die, take your stuff and run. The threads need to be machined on.
 
tacticool22 said:
A gunsmith knows the details of firearms. Some of them are a bit rough using hammers, punches and files without the finesse of a master machinist.
A machinist knows the technical stuff to work metal, but little nuances like a target crown or the length of thread on a barrel are something they may have to look up.
There are different demands for different trades, even within the machining world. A job shop machinist would have a tough time doing tool and die work. A T&D machinist would have a tough time making plastic injection molds. It goes on and on.
You have to tell them what you need and you have to know what you're asking for.
If somebody comes out with a threading die, take your stuff and run. The threads need to be machined on.
Click to expand...

AMEN Brother!!!
 
This has been a good, well intentioned discussion, gentlemen. Slightly differing points of view, but civil, and generally all in agreement.

Thanks, sincerley.
 
Well i agree alot smiths are rough. But its mostly because their training is limited to gun repair not machining. I spent 5 years and just over 10000 hours getting my T&D Journeyman's card. Then another 10 years doing it as a living. About 5 years ago i started working for a weapons manufacturer and now im in the process of getting my own license to manufacture.

When i said before a local machine shop would need a special tool to align the bore. I didnt mean they couldnt make it i ment most people wouldnt be willing to pay for the thread work and the making of a alignment tool.

With that said unless the machinist was into guns he wouldnt know to align the bore and may assume the I.D. and O.D. are true to each other which is false. People tend to make assumptions about tolerances for jobs that come in off the street cause usually it doesnt matter.

I also agree that some flashiders on the market are so far out of spec it should be illegal to sale them. But its not, i thread all my barrels as if they were intended for use with a suppressor and ill tell you why. When i first started working on guns with the manufacturer a man brought us a target rifle he had built and a really high end suppressor because he thought the can was misaligned. After chucking it up and indicating it in i found the barrel or can wasnt out of align because the shoulder of the barrel and can were square. But the threads on the barrel were loose enough to allow the can to set off center just a few thousands. This was enough to allow the baffle design to "push on the bullet making the bullet to become unstable causing the in accuracy. I simply cut the barrel down and rethreaded to a tighter tolerance and the problems went away. Ive seen ar-15 barrels threaded way worse than this target rifle but an ar 15 owneray have never noticed the difference between groupings depending on how the weapon was used. So the moral of the story is take it or send it to someone that knows what they're doing or know what you need when you go to the machine shop
 
I bought my 15-22 when they didn't offer a threaded barrel model. Belt_Fed threaded it for me. He does excellent work and is a really good person.
 
Belt Fed, that is a great way of putting it.

I was talking to the gunsmiths where I get all my work done, as I was interested in learning the ins and outs of guns. They basically said they don't take on help unless they have a couple of thousand hours of machining time because they don't want to waste the time teaching them how to machine when they need to be teaching them how to machine on guns.

They said you can learn to machine at any machine shop, but a gunsmithing shop isn't where you learn the basics.

I pretty much had to bow out of the conversation there because what I know about machining will fill a very very small thimble. I take my hats off to people who can do it and I stand there going "Ooooooh" when things as simple as lathes turn on.
 
just buy 1

Majorlk said:
Interesting, I didn't know S&W did that. I just assumed (dangerous, I know) they kept the old barrel.
Click to expand...

i just spoke with a friendly cs agent at s&w, he said i can keep mine and as long as do it myself(i can)and ordered me up a threaded(from factory threads) will be selling non threaded as soon as it gets here... had tried multiple times to contact beltfed, no reply at all (i gave up)
 
neverenoughguns1 said:
i just spoke with a friendly cs agent at s&w, he said i can keep mine and as long as do it myself(i can)and ordered me up a threaded(from factory threads) will be selling non threaded as soon as it gets here... had tried multiple times to contact beltfed, no reply at all (i gave up)
Click to expand...

Congratulations on getting the new barrel.
 
That is something that I personal would like to see, factory parts available to us. There was a bit of debate in another thread about the 18" PC barrel and the pro's & con's of it. I would like the option of the 18" fluted, without having to pay the PC firearm price, then again I just like fluted barrels, cost would have to be reasonable
 
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