Can You’S hould You’Re pair a Blown-Up Pistol?

Over the years, I’ve run into very few truly rare guns, but I have seen my share of oddballs. As a result, I assume nothing’not even the caliber of the handgun being examined. (You remember, I’m sure, the old saying about what happens when you assume.) Case in point: One of my recent learning experiences involved a Orbea Hermanos double-action revolver based on the Smith & Wesson Military and Police series.

The owner was fond of the revolver, and claimed to have been successful in hunting rabbits and squirrels with it. He brought it to me because of an unexplained problem with swelling cases. The handgun had not been fired in some time because affordable ammunition was not available. When Black Hills introduced a cowboy load, the owner broke out the old revolver, and ordered a supply of the new ammo.

The Black Hills 115-grain Flat Point load in .32-20 reportedly shot well from the gun, except for the problem with the swelled cases. After more research than the revolver was probably worth, I learned it was chambered for the 8mm Lebel. How this oddball ended up in America is a mystery to me’and to the owner. These Spanish revolvers were marketed in France for the 8mm French service cartridge, a cartridge also used in various Velo Dog revolvers and the like, while a .32-20 version was marketed in America.

I informed him that Fiocchi offered the correct 8mm Lebel ammunition. I don’t think he believed me and is probably still terrorizing small animals with the .32-20 load. The .32-20 cartridge cases are semibottlenecked and expanded all the way up to the neck and a bit beyond any chance of resizing and reloading. At least the swelled cases keep him from souping it up with handloads too dangerous for the old Spanish Steel. The point here is obvious: Don’t make assumptions.

You wouldn’t think the ubiquitous 1911 would be prone to such misadventure. After all, it’s pretty clear if the piece is a 9mm, a .38, or a .45. But have you ever seen a 1911 in British .455 Webley? (They exist.) Not long ago I examined a 1911 that was marked ".38 Super," but it clearly was not a .38 Super. And while I don’t know the exact history of the gun, it’s a history well worth anyone’s time and effort to explore. Blow-Ups: What Happened?

Recently’s peaking of making assumptions’I saw a photo of a blownup .45-caliber 1911. What blew it up? Probably it was the .40-caliber case that was stuck in the chamber’and possibly another one wedged in the barrel. I also examined a 10mm that fell apart due to a too-liberal barrel throating. While the pistol can be 45 ACP and one with the .45 GAP. The swelled case (left) was fired and ejected normally from a ramped-barrel Kimber. This is a load on a very dangerous level.

The other case (right) is a typical blowout from over-pressure. repaired, the owner has yet to part with the cash for anew barrel. Such problems are fairly common, and serve to keep the gunsmith’s life interesting. One of the most interesting handguns to cross my bench lately was the Colt Super .38 shown in the accompanying photo. This is an example of a darn good gun that fell into the hands of someone who didn’t understand it as well as he thought he did.

But I have to give him a pass on this one, because few of us would have caught this problem unless we knew what we were looking for. The story of this particular 1911 began many years ago, before custom barrels were generally

available. At this time, folks like Jim Clark, Sr., welded up Colt barrels and fitted them to slides as a matter of course. These gunsmiths even silversoldered new chambers into barrels. One trick was to produce bull’s-eye guns in .38 Special. Clark produced one of the first ramped barrels by welding it himself, and worked extensively with .38 Special 1911s. Many began life as .38 Supers, and were scroll-marked .38 Super on the slide. I’ve never seen an example remarked .38 Special.

Feed problems are always a consideration when attempting to work a rimmed revolver cartridge into an automatic pistol. The Army Marksmanship Unit had the resources and skill to produce a special National Match pistol in .38 AMU. The AMU is simply a .38 Special with a .38 Superlike case rim. The Super has a case rim that was originally designed to provide headspace unlike the .45 ACP, which headspaces on the case mouth.

The .32 ACP shares this trait with the .38 ACP, in that it headspaces on the case rim, which is largely a product of their early date of introduction and the ideas that prevailed at the time. Later, the .38 ACP barrels were changed to headspace on the case mouth, but only after Bar Sto Precision had been producing the proper case-mouth-headspaced barrels for years. In any case, the .38 AMU was moderately successful in mid-bore competition in the old NRA .22/.38/ .45 matches.

Many of the .38 AMU guns were built with GI Government Model frames. These frames were marked "U. S. Government Property" like millions of others. The slide was marked ".38 Super," but the barrel was actual- Right top: Firing a .38 Super round in a chamber sleeved for .38 Special is a step in the wrong direction pressure-wise. The result is illustrated.

Right bottom: Salvaged after the blow-up, the repaired Colt, now chambered for .38 Super, turned out to be an excellent and reliable shooter. ly a .38 AMU and, of course, the springs were intended for the caliber. Some of the handguns had Stevens rear sights, although these were relatively early sights used on National Match pistols. The original barrel was a .38 Super with a sleeve brazed into the chamber to handle the .38 AMU cartridge. These sleeves worked well.

The rest of the story is that a shooter who obtained one of the these handguns was unaware of the story I just related to you, and he fired off a .38 Super cartridge in the chamber. The result was pretty spectacular. In typical 1911 fashion, the barrel was wrecked and the magazine was blown out of the bottom of the frame. Fortunately, the shooter was relatively unscathed. Before attempting to repair the handgun, it was important to learn what in the world went wrong in the first place.

The slide was marked ".38 Super," so we can assume it should be safe to fire .38 Super ammo in the gun, right? Wrong! My historical research into early ".38 Super" pistols gave me a clue as to what had happened. Practical inspection confirmed my suspicions. I don’t think I need to repeat my warning about making assumptions. Although I’d never seen this particular mismarking problem before, over the years I’ve examined quite a number of other blown-up 1911s.

I can recall only a few pistols that could not be repaired and put back into service, despite the fact that many of the offending rounds must have been double charges. A careful handloader will see pressure build and spot-flat-

tened primers long before the pressure becomes dangerous. But double the powder of even a modest charge and you can expect to wreck practically any handgun’except, perhaps, for the 1911. Most often, the case ruptures and the magazine is blown out. This is what happened in the case of the mismarked ".38 Super," except that this time the barrel was wrecked. At about the same time as the above incident, I examined a Kimber .45 that had endured a double charge.

Interestingly, the case had not ruptured and the magazine had not blown out, leading me to conclude there is something to be said for the ramped barrel. In this incident, the shooter actually fired two double-charged rounds. He was using a chronograph and when the 230-grain bullets averaged 1300 fps, he knew something was wrong.

Although there were no injuries with the guns discussed above, we can never ignore the potential for injury’especially to the face and eyes’ or the potential for a blown gun that’s been repaired to blow up again. If you’re the one who does the repair, you’re assuming a certain amount of liability for what happens with that gun later on. (There’s that nasty word "assuming" again.) This has led me to establish a procedure for checking a handgun after an overcharge.

The obvious signs of a frame or slide crack are the first things to look for. Next, I check the slide closely. Several times I’ve found that the extractor tension is ruined after such a blow and the extractor doesn’t work. In another case, the ejector of a 1911 was ripped from its mooring and was higher than before the blow. I also examined one pistol with a very loose trigger that I suspect resulted from such a blow.

I don’t really know how this could have happened, but there is a lot of pressure ripping through a handgun during an overcharge. After carefully checking the frame, slide, barrel, and trigger for signs of cracks, stress, or looseness; and checking the extractor, ejector, and safety for function; if nothing serious is found, I consider the pistol safe to rebuild. Rebuilding the infamous "mismarked .38 Super" detailed above presented some special problems because of the damaged barrel.

The chamber sleeve convinced me it was .38 AMU, although there is a possibility it may have been .38 Special. In any case, short of coming up with an identical original barrel, the pistol could not have been restored to original condition. This meant the pistol’s value as a collector was gone, but the owner had never intended it to be anything but a shooter. Since the pistol seemed tight and otherwise passed the tests I mentioned earlier, I agreed to order and install a Bar Sto barrel.

The Bar Sto is available in both "dropin" and "gunsmith-fit" variations. (The drop-in often requires at least a little fitting due to the variations in 1911s.) The gunsmith-fit barrel will usually give better accuracy, though most guns will be improved to some degree even with the drop-in barrel. If you ever run across a .38 AMU pistol and are contemplating a conversion, I can tell you that the .38 Super barrel was compatible with the Colt frame with no modification or special fitting required.

I’ll go over the fitting technique in a moment. But first it should be noted that a custom-fitted barrel reduces slop and decreases wear. The firearm will be more accurate, as the lockup is more consistent. Before we actually fit the barrel, let’s look at the lockup points. There are the locking lugs, the barrel bushing, the sides of the hood, and the bottom lugs. A quality barrel will arrive oversized for a good fit. The barrel hood is larger than the breechface opening. This hood must be filed

to conform to the breechface by the file-and-try method. Go slowly; if you get too happy with the file, you’ll end up with a poor fit. You must have .003-inch clearance on each side, and the hood must remain parallel to the breechface sidewalls for good fit and function. This means attention to detail. The barrel extension is also oversized and must be measured with a hood gauge (from Brownells) and be properly shortened. This is usually done on a lathe.

The hood will end up about .003 longer than the hood-gauge measurement. Next, carefully file the barrel lugs until the barrel slides into the slide slots with no excess movement’a good tight fit. The rear cut of the Bar Sto barrel controls upward motion and demands your attention during fitting. The method begins with placing the upper lugs in the slide slots and carefully tapping the bottom lugs with a brass hammer. Tap toward the muzzle for proper fit.

Filing the barrel allows it to move more fully into contact in the locking recess. Be certain your filing strokes are even. Metal will be filed away and evenly moved. You’ll eventually reach the point where the barrel rests in its locking lugs without springing away from the locked position when pressed into place. In short, the barrel must be properly fitted and perfectly centered in the slide. With care, this is not difficult, but pay close attention to every step. Sometimes, problems come up.

For example, the bottom lugs may bind on the slide stop. This is not common, but seems to occur most often with the heavy oversized slide stop. With the custom slide stop I used, this binding did not occur. The barrel hood must be centered and the bottom lug must not bind on the slide stop, but ride smoothly against it and be squared properly. There has been some confusion concerning the proper length of the link. This is not rocket science, so I’m surprised it is not understood more thoroughly.

Once the barrel’s lower lugs are properly filed and smoothed, with a proper fit to the slide stop, measure the length from the linkpivot hole to the area that has been polished. Next, measure the area between the two holes of the swinging link. These measurements must be the same. If not, the link will not fit properly. When using a larger-diameter slide stop this measurement becomes critical.

I’ve had to use the Chip McCormick oversized slide stop on occasion with off-specification 1911 pistols in order to ensure proper function, and, while not related to barrel fitting, to snug up certain upper-unit caliber conversions. You have to understand the relationship between link length and the barrel-to-locking-lug to slide-stop measurement to do this. When the upper assembly is placed on the pistol and checked for smoothness and function, any drag will normally be the lower lug against the slide stop.

This is addressed by filing and smoothing. The Super turned out very well, with no problems to speak of. When I was done, the Bar Sto barrel and 147grain Cor Bon Performance Match .38 Super loads produced remark 1.25-inch five-shot groups at The adventure was not ov very easy to convert the .38 Super to 9mm Luger, and 9mm 1911s are very popular in competition at the moment. In IDPA single-action, 9mms Among other problems, the slidelock latch was blown completely out of the pistol.

While an examination of the barrel showed significant lead deposits, there was no evidence of an obstruction. are placed in a class with High Powers and the like. A 9mm 1911 is easy to use and has little recoil. Plus, the ammunition is relatively inexpensive in a time of soaring ammunition costs. I bought a second Bar Sto Precision barrel in 9mm Luger and planned on performing much the same fitting as before. This was a drop-in barrel and only slight filing on the bottom lugs was needed.

The fit in the slide was good from the beginning. A note of caution here: The conversion from .38 to 9mm is simple, but 9mm to .38 is a different story. The 9mm guns have a .384-inch breechface. To convert a 9mm to .38 Super, the breechface must be opened to .405 ent on all 1911s, of the Colt converm barrel, I obtained Metalform magazines in 9mm Luger. They are reliable, of high quality, and fairly priced. All went well. Sometimes, fitting of the extractor is

needed in a 9mm conversion, but in this case it was not needed. The owner of this previously blown-up pistol now has a reliable and safe handgun capable of spitting out 115-grain .38 Super bullets at nearly 1,500 fps and he can switch to inexpensive 9mm ammunition. Accuracy is not quite as good with the 9mm cartridge, with Cor Bon Performance Match ammo turning out 1.5inch groups at 25 yards. This is still plenty accurate for a 9mm, and better than most Hi-Power-type handguns.

A Typical 1911 Train Wreck I became involved with another 1911a High Standard G-Man’re cently after a rather spectacular blow. The gun owner was an over-50-yearold shooter, with along history of handgun and reloading experience. That doesn’t mean he’s immune to mistakes. He reported that the cartridge explosion sounded twice as loud as anything he heard before. The gun bucked in recoil and his hands were blackened but otherwise uninjured. His face was peppered with brass.

The Metalform magazine was blown out the bottom of the frame. Several cartridges were strewn around the ground and one bullet was jammed into the case. (I believe this was probably the next cartridge in line in the magazine.) The base plate was blown off the bottom of the magazine, and the magazine spring was never found. Binder Ad (p/u from page 22, AGM-August 08) The slide stop was partially blown out of the pistol. The offending cartridge was found to be still in the chamber, burst at the head.

Upon initial examination, the obvious cause was a heavier than normal charge. The case was ruptured and the primer was flat. Perhaps a poor crimp had allowed the bullet to be pressed into the case on feeding, allowing the pressure to skyrocket. The frame was blackened. After a thorough cleaning and examination, the pistol seemed to retain its structural integrity. Nevertheless, I was very concerned with the feed ramp and barrel, and the ejector was loose.

I tapped it back into place and it seemed to retain its position. The extractor retained tension. I don’t mind telling you that the first live-fire test was done from a fixture’with me standing at a safe As cleaning progressed, it became obvious that the Alumigrips had probably prevented significant injury to the shooter’s hands. distance. Everything went well with a relatively mild load, the Cor Bon 230grain Performance Match.

Not only did the pistol seem safe and unharmed, but it retained its previous gilt-edged accuracy. The shooter got lucky on this one, but, of course, this is not always the case. Still, the ruptured case peppered the shooter’s face with cartridge fragments. His wife had the honor of carefully plucking the tiny shards from his cheek. Fortunately, he was wearing Hansen Eagle Eyes shooting glasses.

I’m also certain that the aluminum grips from Alumigrips were responsible for saving his hands from injury, as the force of the blast found its way around other openings in the frame. Conclusions The lack of attention to detail in producing handloads causes most of these problems, and most can be avoided. When a blown gun finds it way to your shop, the first consideration should be safety’not salvaging the value of the gun.

Assuming the gun is worth repairing and the parts are available, err on the side of caution when determining if a gun is safe to fire again after parts replacement. Don’t let the shooter’s error be compounded by an error of your own. I