Colt MK IV barrel in a GI Remington Rand

[Antonio]

Hi; I live in Peru and a GI Remington Rand has fallen in my hands. Overall condition is fine except for some surface pitting on the front part of the slide and a totally wasted (Almost no rifling and very heavy corrosion damage)original Savage barrel. To make it a functional gun I`ve managed to get a Colt MK IV Series `70 tube in great shape; can this part made with modern steel create an excesive wear in the other original parts such as the slide? Replacement parts are VERY hard to come by around here and the .45 caliber is heavily restricted to only sport shooting competitions, and original GI barrels are almost impossible to get. Gun fires ok and looks awesome, but I`m afraid to wear internal parts after firing some ammo boxes with this temporary solution.

[Scott Gahimer]

I don't think you have anything to worry about by using the Series 70 bbl.
How is your old bbl. marked? I'm not aware of any made by Savage. Are you thinking of Springfield Armory instead?
Congrats on your pistol. Good luck with it. And welcome to the forum.
Scott

[Antonio]

Thanks! Probably it was an Springfield barrel, but it`s too late to re-check since I tossed it to the sea to avoid anyone from using it. Hope someday a slide & barrel in good shape appears to replace mine and return the gun to its original military configuration.

[Doran]

You probably need a HS marked barrel unless your pistol is very early or very late production. Luckily they are the most common of the WWII barrels.

[Antonio]

S/N is 24628XX; seems as a 1945 made gun; original barrels are not cheap, so it`ll have to soldier on with the colt piece `till some good oportunity shows.

[Doran]

NO.2465139 was the last Remington Rand delivered; making your's a very late one. HS or F would be a proper barrel for your pistol. Good luck in your search.

[191145]

The Series 70 barrel would work best with the Series 70 collet bushing, and the same holds true in reverse to put a pre or post Series 70 barrel in a Series 70. You use a 'standard' bushing with the non-70 Series barrel. I hated to dredge up an old thread, but thought someone may need to know.

[stans]

Welcome aboard!!!

I take exception to the premise that a Series 70 barrel works best with a Series 70 collet bushing. Most custom barrels feature Series 70 barrel contours, yet work very well with a solid bushing. The spring fingers on the collet bushing work fine as long as the barrel is properly fitted. If the barrel at lock up is putting excessive pressure on the upper finger, it will fatigues and break. This is why a great many people replace the collet bushing with a solid bushing. You definitely don't want to put a collet bushing on a barrel that is not designed for one, that is, a barrel that does not have the portion between the locking lugs and the last 1/2 inch machined to a smaller diameter than a standard barrel. As I see it, the collet bushing was little more than an attempt to get better accuracy without having to actually hand fit bushings.

[exitwounds]

.......I tossed it to the sea to avoid anyone from using it.

Did you mark the spot with a GPS? :D

[191145]

Thanks, Stan. I didn't know a regular bushing would be okay on a 70.

[stans]

Absolutely, a solide bushing works really well on the Series 70 barrels, it works best when it is precisely fitted to the barrel and slide.