Is this the Python that got squibbed?

[Crazy Dane]

https://youtu.be/Pik17e9zxk4

Awhile back someone posted about a Python that got the barrel shot full after a squib. Is this it?

I tried finding the original post.

[FrankB]

Now that’s a leaded barrel! 😁 The gunsmith didn’t say why it would need a new barrel…????

[RevolverRob]

Baldanders

[TCinVA]

Now that’s a leaded barrel! 😁 The gunsmith didn’t say why it would need a new barrel…????

It appeared to be packed with bullets from muzzle to breach. Removing that much lead would likely damage the barrel badly enough to make it a pointless endeavor.

[FrankB]

It appeared to be packed with bullets from muzzle to breach. Removing that much lead would likely damage the barrel badly enough to make it a pointless endeavor.

I’m always up for a challenge,and would have to give it a try. Having said that, a new barrel for my M686+ was only $135.

[farscott]

It appeared to be packed with bullets from muzzle to breach. Removing that much lead would likely damage the barrel badly enough to make it a pointless endeavor.

I do not understand this. Lead alloys melt around 625 to 750 degrees F, which is a level that should not impact most steel heat treatments. Is there any issue with heating the barrel in a lead melting pot and allowing the lead to soften and melt? Just softening the lead should make mechanical removal easier. If most of the lead can be made molten and drip from the bore, could the rest be removed through typical means?

Another way that was once common was to use mercury. The issue today is the hazardous waste as well as the risk of mercury and lead poisoning. Not recommending this method as mercury poisoning is bad news. Mad hatters were a real thing and not at all pleasant.

[Crazy Dane]

The owner apparently requested a new one according to what was said in the video. I don't see how you could stack em the barrel like that and not do some sort of damage.

[TCinVA]

I do not understand this. Lead alloys melt around 625 to 750 degrees F, which is a level that should not impact most steel heat treatments. Is there any issue with heating the barrel in a lead melting pot and allowing the lead to soften and melt? Just softening the lead should make mechanical removal easier. If most of the lead can be made molten and drip from the bore, could the rest be removed through typical means?


That's a good question...one I'm not qualified to answer.

I can say that the steels used in most revolvers is extremely mild. I'm not sure what heat treating they are using/used on the barrels or the frames of the guns as I believe both were forged and then machined down to the final dimensions. What they did after the rifling was cut to the bore I can't say.

It is a fair bet that the barrel was exposed to significantly higher pressures than originally intended with that many bullets stacked in it. The barrel is intact...which is a testament to it being overbuilt and probably being shot with mild wadcutter loads...but there's no telling what violence has been done to the rifling in the barrel by all that foolishness.

This is probably one of those scenarios where someone could clear the bore, but the odds of ending up with an inaccurate or unserviceable barrel are so high that it makes sense to just buy a new barrel rather than incur a lot of extra expense for an iffy outcome.

[FrankB]

The gunsmith seemed to be saying he couldn’t find a barrel. He has a drill press, so drill out 75% of the core, and use a wooden dowel to drive out the remaining sleeve. The first 2-3 rounds might have cause a lot of pressure in the barrel, but the pressure from the remaining rounds probably bled (mostly) through the BC gap. I don’t want to sound too judgmental, but maybe the owner should be using a cap gun. 😁

[OlongJohnson]

Looks like the one to me. (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?48420-My-friend-at-the-LNGS-calls-this-work-of-art-quot-Almost-quot)

I would turn a bushing for an aircraft drill and another one for a tap, to keep them centered and aligned. Then you could just thread some rod into them one at a time and draw them out using the threads on the rod. Would be fiddly and time consuming, but they would come out. Probably wouldn't save the barrel, but would be fun to have the exhibit and see how bad it really was. Better to pull them out back toward the forcing cone, as Python barrels taper slightly (~0.001" is what I've read) from forcing cone to muzzle.

[FrankB]

Here’s the same gunsmith removing two squibs from a 686 barrel:

https://youtu.be/266K_p2ifGs

[CCT125US]

Certainly the gunsmith could remove the lead. The quote to do so may very well be close to the cost of a new barrel. Throw in possible damage and now the customer is looking at more shop time and a new barrel anyway.

Great example of just because you can, does mean you should.

[SWAT Lt.]

I am familiar with a 4 inch S&W Model 28 that had 5 bullets stuck in the barrel, the last one was in the barrel cylinder gap similar to the Python in the video, back in the late 70s. A local gunsmith was somehow able to remove all 5 without damage to the gun. The bore looked pristine and the gun returned to service with the owner.

[Baldanders]

Baldanders

That's my gunsmith. Didn't know they had the video up....

[Baldanders]

I have the week off, and I already planned to visit Ricky and let him burn up some .32 on my dime in my wife's Cheetah.

I imagine he will be in a good mood to answer questions after that if folks want me to ask. 😉 I'll try to get answers to anything posted here before I go.

[Baldanders]

The gunsmith seemed to be saying he couldn’t find a barrel. He has a drill press, so drill out 75% of the core, and use a wooden dowel to drive out the remaining sleeve. The first 2-3 rounds might have cause a lot of pressure in the barrel, but the pressure from the remaining rounds probably bled (mostly) through the BC gap. I don’t want to sound too judgmental, but maybe the owner should be using a cap gun. 😁

My impression from talking to Ricky's stepson was that the price of the labor would exceed the price of a new barrel.

Ricky typically has a 2 month wait on jobs. He stays busy. He charges accordingly. Not expensive, but certainly not cheap.

He lit up when I told him I would be bringing in my stepdaughter's GP-100 for trigger work. I'm pretty sure he likes doing trigger jobs more than this sort of repair.

His reaction to a customer trying to get a Lorcin/Jennings repaired was funny. Not sure if he actually attempted it.

[Baldanders]

I have the week off, and I already planned to visit Ricky and let him burn up some .32 on my dime in my wife's Cheetah.

I imagine he will be in a good mood to answer questions after that if folks want me to ask. 😉 I'll try to get answers to anything posted here before I go.

Due to other issues, I didn't make it to Ricky until yesterday. I was dropping off my CW45 to sell to finance a G21, but that's another thread. Despite the fact my intention was simply to pick up a spring to do jetfire 's "redneck gunsmithing trick" on my wife's Cheetah, after he shot five rounds on the micro-range out back of the shop, now the 84bb is on his queue for work. Also, despite Ricky saying he'd never work on a Beretta again after my wife's Tomcat. That might turn into another thread.

When I get back the Cheetah, my stepdaughter's 6" GP-100 will be getting a trigger job.

So after hours I was chatting with Ricky about the subject of the thread. I told him about this thread. He says there may be another video on this eventually, but the owner is now balking at repair costs, so the Python is thoroughly disassembled now, with lockwork removed from the frame and barrel removed with 2 bullets still in it. I got to handle it. Sad.

(Sorry, left my phone in the car and was having too much fun to retrieve it. Next time.)

I should have taken written notes, but here's my understanding:

-- the bullet sticking out came out easily, I think with pliers

--Ricky then put the gun in a drill press, put a small screw into the next bullet, and pulled it out by the screw

The big problems came with the bullet stuck in the cylinder and forcing cone. Ricky was being really vague, so I pressed him for details.

He looked at me with that smile of his, and said "I can't tell you."

I have come to realize Ricky is our local "Winston Wolf" since my last post, and he takes on some business from other smiths locally from time to time. He's very solution-oriented. I can't blame him for being cagey. Those solutions mean money in his pocket.

What I do know: however the got the cylinder out of the frame, it sheared the stuck bullet in two, and bent the frame. He says repairing the bend is no biggie.

I hope this was informative, if not completely revealing.

I also got to see what happens when you double-charge max .44 mag and fire it in a Super Blackhawk. I saw the remaining half cylinder. I wouldn't have wanted to be around the hand grenade-type explosion.

Ricky also showed me a pic of a once-fired .270 brought in for repair. Unfortunately, the owner left the laser boresight in the rifle. Nice, classic "Elmer Fudd" barrel, with three twisted pieces of metal.

I started chatting with another customer who was picking up his EVO with a can, and so now I've fondled one of those. This turned into a chat about silenced. 45-70s , then talk about his favored levergun, a 336 in .35 Remington. "Easy to handload!"

I really need to get my "enabling shields" repaired before making too many trips to my awesome LNGS. The hive here ain't nothing compared to the bad ideas on tap chatting with the well-heeled folks there.

And it's less than 9 miles from my house. First world problems.

ETA: I forgot to mention that I was mistaken about damage to the lockwork on the Python. That's OK at least.

[Baldanders]

Another thing: Ricky's plan for the other two bullets (a new barrel makes way more sense) is to put the gun back in a press, drill out most of the lead cores of the two remaining bullets until hopefully the jackets become easy to deform.

Evidently, he can't put a screw into a bullet once it's more than an inch or so in the barrel.

But I don't think that's happening.