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Old October 25, 2004, 04:51 AM   #1
celtic
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Join Date: October 25, 2004
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barrel shortening the mod. 19

i own a s&w mod.19 with a six in barrel and would like to shorten it to 4 and one half in. do i replace the barrel or shorten the exsiting one?
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Old October 25, 2004, 10:26 AM   #2
Clemson
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If you must have 4 1/2 inches, shortening is the only route to go. You can buy a replacement barrel in 4" length.

It is likely that a gun trade would be more cost effective than a barrel swap if you want a 4" barrel.

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Old October 27, 2004, 04:37 PM   #3
PzB41
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Clemson is right.

Although cropping the barrel is possible (and has been done many times before), the better of the two choices would be barrel replacement. Unless you are having much more work done to the piece in addition to the barrel swap, it's not cost effective. The gap between the cylinder face and forcing cone is critical. Too little space, the cylinder will drag and bind and disable the firearm. Too much space, you risk topstrap cutting, loss of velocity, shaving/spitting, etc.

At the S&W factory, they install barrels that are, literally, too long. You cannot close the cylinder because the barrel protrudes too much. A reverse cutter is inserted into the barrel from the muzzle and the breech/forcing cone end is shaved away with the barrel installed until the desired gap is reached, tested with feeler gauges. Swapping the barrels isn't like sticking on new grips. It's a big deal. Best to just buy one with the desired barrel length as is.

Pz
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