This has not been a particularly fun filled project. There is an odd phenomena that occurs with skilled crafts people when they progressively miss their own commitments; first they are apologetic, then they are resigned to corrective action, then they stop answering the phone or start blaming their customer. I always figure, if you really know what you’re doing, how many times can the process and outcome of a routine job be a surprise? In any event, I am now in the possession of a couple of chambered barrels, and a set of dies. The barrels are a little rough, as are the dies and forming process, but I think close enough for me to finish the rest of what needs to be done.
The P229’s original 357 SIG barrel had been drilled out, muzzle through chamber, and a .560″ outside diameter barrel liner was pressed in and permanently secured with a bonding agent; Acraglas®. This was a little bit of a departure from the approach taken with the T/C barrel, which used a liner with an outside diameter of approximately .660″. Both barrels have a 9″ twist to accommodate heavier and longer bullets, and both liners were made from short lengths of standard barrels turned down to the indicated sizes. Most standard .172″ liners are 5/16″, .3125″, OD and intended for rim fire cartridges. The liners used for this project had to accommodate the 17-357’s .424″ case diameter while maintaining as much of the original barrel’s wall thickness and support.
The P229 liner was installed, projecting from the breech end, flush with the surface of the barrel’s stop shoulder (top arrow), then the breech end of the assembly was machined to original dimensions and configuration. Finally, the insert was chambered for the cartridge. The arrows mark the outside diameter of the insert in context with the original barrel. I have to admit, after my last experience with this shop, I was a little disappointed with the work. Besides being very late on delivery, the feed ramp edges were sharp and burred, the cuts weren’t very clean, lots of tool marks, and the bore had lots of loose machining residue. The muzzle and breech were left as bare metal, but I think this omission has more to do with the bonding agent not being able to survive the temperature of a bluing tank. The barrel did assemble into the SIG and the slide cycled normally. At $130 for material and labor to modify each barrel, the price was fair, but that wasn’t why I picked the shop; they had previously done an outstanding job on a Ruger No. 1. I’m not angry about the outcome, more disappointed and probably left searching for another shop for future work.
The shallow radius muzzle is quite different from the original SIG barrel; the result of the small bore in a standard outside diameter barrel. The small eyebrow or space over the muzzle is clearance for lock/unlock barrel movement and is the same when the factory barrel is installed.
The picture of the barrel, lower right, is the modified unit with a seated case. I can actually hammer out a case, almost literally -unfortunately, and get it to fit in the barrel – without hammering, and I can get the barrel to fit in the gun. How neat is that? I figure an hour with some stones and a Dremel will get me to a nicely finished assembly, or a pile of metal filings.
I have more work to put into the forming and reloading dies. I think I need to inside case ream at the last forming step to get rid of the donut at the intersection of the neck and shoulder, then I can full length resize, then outside neck turn and trim for uniform case dimension. I may have to polish the neck expander to so it doesn’t apply too much downward force and collapse the neck at the final step. And I will look at annealing the cases to avoid splits; these cases are being formed so much they ping if you thunk them with a finger after the third or forth progressive sizing step.
Most important, I don’t have to talk to grouchy old guys for a while. I think gunsmiths and machinists should be forced to attend clown school after the first 10 years in business for the sake of their customers – “Screw you!” would sound so much nicer coming from a guy sporting a red rubber nose and getting out of a tiny car….which may be closer to reality than most of us would like to believe.
Now, I can go back to my cable movie, “I desire”; the intimate story of an apparently sensitive young woman who, after being bitten by a American vampire with a bad British accent, is now on a mission to bite only Hollywood celebrities. My guess is she works for the Bush Campaign. 1984 was a great year for movies. Be back soon.
More “The 17-357 RG – Real Guns Project Cartridge”
The 17-357 RG – Real Guns Project Cartridge Part I
Thanks,
Joe
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