question about officers model design

[ViktorF]

Obviously the bull barrel design is the way to go for a 3" barrel, but if a person wanted to add a longer barrel and vent the part sticking out past the slide- could a bushing be added to the slide? :confused: There don't seem to be any longer bull barrel's available and it would seem to be allot easier to get a full length regular barrel and vent it, but then you run into the bushing issue. Just an idea I've had rolling around in my head.

[Hawkmoon]

The Officers ACP doesn't have a 3" barrel, so your question isn't properly titled. The Officers ACP uses a 3-1/2" barrel. The Defender (and similar pistols from innumerable other makers) uses a 3" barrel. I don't think it's really accurate to call it a "bull" barrel, though. Perhaps I'm wrong, but to me a bull barrel is extra large in diameter over the entire length, with the intent of adding weight for recoil control and accuracy.

The 3" 1911s use a "cone" type barrel, that starts out at normal diameter near the locking lugs and then flares out toward the muzzle. This is sort of necessary because of the linked barrel design. Once the length gets as short as 3", there isn't enough movement to allow a constant-diameter barrel in a fitted bushing to swing down as the barrel unlinks. This would be the same problem no matter how much barrel protrudes beyond the end of the slide. The problem lies in the geometry limitations of the 3" slide.

There are cone barrels available longer than 3". The Officers ACP barrel is coned, and so (I believe) are the barrels in most of the 4" compact models offered by those manufacturers who choose not to build a true 4-1/4" Commander. But they won't help you. A cone barrel has to have the widest point of the flare at the muzzle to engage the slide. Use a longer barrel and you'd need to have the barrel reach maximum ("lockup") diameter an inch or more short of the muzzle in order to engage the slide.

[ViktorF]

mmm...ok; thanks for clerifying that.

Some background into the project---due to local restrictions, barrel lengths need to be at least 4-1/4" but Id like to use some custom officer pieces with a longer than stock barrel and simply port or vent the extra 3/4" visible barrel. But the Officers cone shaped design is an issue; because of the flare/slide contact issue. I just wasn't sure if a bushing could be integrated into the officers slide to allow for a longer; non cone shaped barrel.

thanks for your opinions.

[John]

If you can get a full-diameter barrel from someone like Barsto or whatever, you can machine it to any shape you want. The barrel can grow to the internal diameter of the slide, at the point where it mates with the slide, and continue at that diameter forward for the extra length you want. But that's a custom barrel you are looking at, not easy to find. Someone has to make it for you.

[Hill]

Hawkmoon,

The makers/sellers usually refer to the type of barrel in question as a "bull barrel".........witness:http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/catsearch.aspx?c=2071&p=4815

[Hawkmoon]

Yeah, but they aren't really "bull" barrels, and thinking of them as such in this instance confuses the issue. They are tapered barrels, that do not carry the large diameter farther than perhaps 3/16 or 1/4 of an inch. To accomplish what Viktor wants to do, he needs a barrel that's effective the same profile as a Defender barrel out to the 3-inch mark, and then maintains that diameter for another 1-1/4 inch beyond the end of the slide.

[RickB]

Kings Gun Works does, or did, make an extended, vented barrel for the OACP. It appeared to be 4" long, with two angled slots running across the top of the exposed part. I think it required a bushing, though.

[Hawkmoon]

But Viktor said he needs a minimum of a 4-1/4" barrel to meet local restrictions. So a 4" barrel won't quite make it.

Looks like a custom barrel may be the only solution.

One other possibility might be a standard Commander barrel with a custom barrel bushing. I don't think it would deliver optimal accuracy because it probably couldn't be fitted super-tight, but if the shoulder in the bushing were reamed so that it's round only at the very front, and slightly oval in the vertical axis toward the rear, that would allow for the barrel to swing during linkdown without causing barrel spring. Or perhaps the Briley spherical bushing, which uses an internal ring that pivots on the horizontal axis. It's available for Commanders. Whether or not it provides enough angular movement to work in a shorter slide would have to be investigated.

[RickB]

A Bull barrel for a Commander might work, depending on where the taper is located. I bought a 6" bull, to replace a similar barrel, and the cylindrical part of the new barrel extended about an inch farther back than on the old one.

[rodinal220]

Have you thought of just buying a Commander size gun?This would meet your 4.25" requirement and not have to deal with some of the problems using a ported weapon for self defense use.

If you really want a ported weapon have you looked at a carry comp? Wilson Combat offers one and other smiths over the years have built them,but I do not know how many still offer these.

http://www.wilsoncombat.com/p_carrycomp.asp

[gans]

No can do.

If you install a standard inner diameter bushing for a non coned barrel, the bushing will hit the chamber area of the barrel when the slide cycles. The Officers bushing inside diameter is larger than that part of the barrel so that it will pass through the bushing.

You could install a compensator on the Officers barrel, but I don't know if that would be considered as additional barrel length .

[ViktorF]

Ok, I think gans post points at the problem with the bushing install idea--- even if I could shoehorn a bushing into the Officers slide it will bottom out when it cycles. darn. But the link to the barrels at brunells does have several cone/bull barrels that adapt 5 or 6" sized gun so that it wont need a bushing. Perhaps a bit of modification to one of these will work.(cutting it back to 4 1/4") as long as it seats at the right point in the slide.

thanks for all your help guys.

[gans]

Ok, I think gans post points at the problem with the bushing install idea--- even if I could shoehorn a bushing into the Officers slide it will bottom out when it cycles. darn. But the link to the barrels at brunells does have several cone/bull barrels that adapt 5 or 6" sized gun so that it wont need a bushing. Perhaps a bit of modification to one of these will work.(cutting it back to 4 1/4") as long as it seats at the right point in the slide.

thanks for all your help guys.

Nope. Those bull barrels will have the largest diameter of around .700" The Officers diameter would be around .767" when the bushing is removed.