Are Colt police positive barrels "timed" to the frame?

[tdmidget]

I have a Colt Police positive that has been in the family over 100 tears. It has a large pit in the bore just ahead of the threads. Used barrels are available. Are they :timed" to thread in and be oriented properly?

 

[nihilistic]

They should be timed when made but sometimes there are errors. This can be corrected in a number of ways. With the police positive sight it can be as simple as bending the front sight to adjust for the error. Other fixes can include teflon tape to adjust the resting point of the threads for example. I dunno if your pistol has a rear sight but you can also adjust the rear sight to account for the error as well.

 

[Wundermech]

I don’t think the barrel threads are “timed” like M1 Garand barrels that have the threads milled in at a specific orientation. Unless you’re super lucky and the replacement barrel just happens to wind up with the front sight aligned and proper barrel/cylinder gap falling within spec, you’ll likely need to touch up the barrel shoulder, rear barrel face, and maybe the forcing cone.

 

[maynah]

I'm going to guess they are timed. I've only taken a few Colt barrels off but going by old Winchesters and Marlins which are, I'm thinking Colt's are also.
Mind now, it's just a presumption.

 

[trevj]

I'll bet my buck that these were intended to be fitted by someone that knew what they were doing. First, to get the indexing correct, then, to get the cylinder to breech face clearance correct.

I think the term you see a lot is "Some fitting may be required".

 

[Sharps1874]

I have a Colt Police positive that has been in the family over 100 tears. It has a large pit in the bore just ahead of the threads. Used barrels are available. Are they :timed" to thread in and be oriented properly?

I'm sure you know what you are doing, but what will you use this for if it had a nicer barrel? I also have a Police Positive of about the same vintage that came down through my wife's family. It's a lovely little revolver with just one significant flaw -- a rust pit in the forcing cone. I could replace the barrel, I guess, but experience tells me that I would value it less if I did. Just me, but worth the thought I think.

 

[jmm03]

I agree with what Sharps said above. It is a family heirloom and really, when it comes down to it, how much are you going to shoot it. No criticism, curious though, have you shot it as is and how does it shoot?

 

[72bwhite]

Eh not really that rare pitted barrel or new barrel probably a toss up value wise
depends if the barrel is serialized or not.
Worst case you have to make a minor adjustment.
they were mass produced so …
what changes were made in the long production run.
so maybe

 

[MilGunsmith]

I recall reading in one of the older gunsmithing books about making a tool out of a pipe cutter for pushing the shoulder back to get the timing right. The two rollers and the cutter were replaced with hardened rollers and then run around the shoulder area to displace metal. You would still have ensure that the cylinder gap was correct.

 

[MauriceEley]

Having had the barrels off several when I was actively working on guns for a major part of my income.... they're not really timed, but are sort of timed. I think most or all got put into a fixture for threading which more/less started at a very similar spot but.... production being what it is, final fitting of the shoulder, with crush factor was done by hand at assembly time. Same for the cylinder gap, after the barrel was fitted for vertical orientation.

If fitting by hand sounds like a chore, it is if you only do one. Think about the worker who has done it over and over. They can soon tell how much material to remove based on how things line up. They are fitting many barrels a day. For them, the first few "by the book" soon gave way to having a personal connection with the process, and being able to do it well, and rapidly. Same holds true on a P frame, etc.

 

[MilGunsmith]

When you are assembling many a day, you will have a large amount of barrels to choose from. You get a good idea how a barrel will torque in when you first thread it on. If it looks like a problem, put it aside and grab another. With manufacturing variations in both frames and slides, you will be able to match up most without much fitting.

 

[4575wcf]

I just went through this experience with one of the family heirlooms, an Official Police. I was with the Old Man when he bought it at a pawnshop, probably very early eighties. It is an 80% police turn in with the four inch barrel. I am a fan of the longer barrels, and I always was on the lookout for a six inch in the same gun. When I went up to my old village gunsmith, now quite aged, he helped me put the 8 x 54 KJ barrel into my Mauser, and he had a very nice six inch barrel in stock for a Colt Army Special. We pulled the barrel out of the OP very carefully, and I put it away. I fitted the Army Special Barrel under his guidance. The thread was identical, but the new barrel extended through the frame a bit further and the cylinder would not go into battery. He equipped me with a Sharpie marker, and a piece of emery cloth, using the smooth side to keep the file off the frame. Then it was just patience and spotting in until the cylinder went in with the squarest and smallest gap possible. Once we were fitted up to his satisfaction, he sent me out to shoot it on paper behind the shop. We put torque on and off the barrel, turning it in and out just the least fraction, until the group was centered on the bull. That is all you can do with the fixed sight revolvers other that file the front site in for POI. Mine stayed vertically right on the money. I took off a bit of value, and I will need to put the four incher back in if ever it is sold, but man did that ever make a pistol out of it.