Gunsmithing Grafting a barrel to a stub

[rg1911]

I've been doing some testing of longer and higher-quality bullets in an M1 carbine and have concluded that the slow rifling used by all carbine barrels needs to be faster: 1-in-12 or 1-in-14 would be appropriate. I was thinking about boring and lining my Criterion barrel.

Then I remembered that a few months ago I read an article about shot-out/damaged .30 caliber barrels being "fixed" by cutting them down to stubs and then grafting on a 1903 .30 barrel. I *think* this was done to Garand barrels, but may well have been done to M1 carbine barrels.

The advantages (as I see them) are that rather than boring and lining my good (and expensive) M1 Carbine Criterion barrel, I could use one of the de-milled short barrels I got from Fulton Armory. The barrel to be grafted on could be a good take-off. So the stub could be bored and the barrel to be grafted would just need to be turned-down enough to fit the length of the stub.

I have the reamer and gauges.

Has anyone heard of or done this?

(I realize that trying to get accuracy from an M1 carbine may be an exercise in futility, but I've been playing with this for several years, off and on, and this is the last possible solution I want to try.)

Thank you,
Richard

 

[Red_SC]

No idea on an M1 carbine, but that's the standard method for rebarreling Swiss K31's because of the mill work required on the chamber end.

 

[rg1911]

No idea on an M1 carbine, but that's the standard method for rebarreling Swiss K31's because of the mill work required on the chamber end.

Interesting. Would you happen to have a source for specific information about this that I could give to my 'smith?

Thanks,
Richard

 

[ORD]

You might check the CMP forums for more info.

Also, Criterion makes current production M1 Carbine barrels...though they are only offered in the original 1:20" twist as a regular production item. You might check with them since they seem to have the tools and the know-how to make M1 Carbine barrels to see if they couldn't spin you up one with a faster twist. They produced other .30 cal tubes with 1:12 twists and it may be possible to "special order" one if the money is right!

 

[Red_SC]

I don't have details on how they do it, but here's a link to a smith that does it:

gunsmithing.htm

Because of the complex angles and cuts at the breech end of the K31 barrel, a bushing must be made from the old barrel in order to fit the new barrel. This adds an additional cost to the initial rebarreling of the rifle. This is a one-time cost and does not have to be repeated for any subsequent rebarreling.

That's not to say this is the correct course of action for this situation, just saying your idea can work. When you think about it, it's not that different than the barrel extension on an AR.

 

[rg1911]

You might check the CMP forums for more info.

Also, Criterion makes current production M1 Carbine barrels... They produced other .30 cal tubes with 1:12 twists and it may be possible to "special order" one if the money is right!

I asked Criterion a year or so ago, and they won't do a special order for that.

Richard

 

[summitsitter]

I dont' know about M1 barrels but I've seen quit a few Encore barrels stubbed on. Pretty simple process to do one of them.

 

[Clark]

I got a 16" twist roughly tapered 22LR barrel off Ebay for $33 with a narrow shank.
I had a 1903 8x57mm Turkish Mauser from Century for $45.
I cut the rear off the Mauser barrel and bored it out.
I Silver soldered on the stub to the 22 barrel.
I reamed the chamber to .223.
I went to the range and took it along 11-30-2007
I temporarily loaned the rifle a 40X Leupold scope

33 gr Vmax .223 mixed brass 15gr Blue Dot, 2.170" OAL.

.75" 3 shot at 50y
.95" 5 shot at 100 y
1.125" 5 shot at 100 y
1.1" 5 shot at 100 y

It is ~~ a 1" gun without an extractor. I used a cleaning rod to extract.

I could have used Loctite just as well.

I was hoping I would have given that rifle away by now.