Thread: Welding A Barrel

I completely understand your point, but posting something like, "Well, talking to so-and-so, who is a 'smith or barrel manufacturer, and has done this before, states ........" would be very helpful. I, like yourself, like facts and not feelings. Thanks for responding.

Have a precision welder laser weld it, they can lay a .003" wide bead. No problems at all. It would'nt get as hot as if you fired 6 rounds in concession if he took his time.

Is the lettering engraved or stamped on the barrel. If stamped, then the metal is raised around the letters. If you just use a small flat punch and keep punching around the letters you fill them in. Then you smooth up the area which is less than a weld and restamp. It works, I had to restamp a barrel when I used the wrong stamp on. John

You could also soft iron inlay the old lettering and re-engrave the new caliber. With a little polish work and rust bluing it would blend in just fine.

You da man Mark W. Most forums are like asking a question on Main Street in a big city. Finding a pedestrian who really knows the answer is rare, but there will be hundreds of people willing to answer without knowing.

Originally Posted by The Wizard

First, the barrel is for a Colt New Service revolver. ... Fourth, the welding would be done before boring/rifling the barrel....

I had to edit some info here because I was erroneously thinking of another revolver.

Don't weld the barrel for something so trivial as to put a new caliber stamp on it. Just file it and restamp.
I bore, ream and cut-rifle revolver conversions. Changing the barrel is just part of the enormous amount of work that goes into changing calibers. If you are going to have the barrel bored out and cut rifled, the cut rifler is going to have an inconsistent cut over the metal where it was welded. That means the cutting point is either going to skip over that spot making a shallow groove, or it is going to dig in making the groove too deep.
The type of steel that Colt used in that model revolver can be bored out and would likely handle the .45 LC after the modification.