Finally I got to get out and do something on Wannabe #2. I decided the next thing to attack is the barrel. I started by making a new front sight.
Then I cut the barrel to 6", just like one of the originals.
Saw, file, sand, bevel the bore. I used one of the dovetail guiides to get a flat cut.
If you don't have one of these hand chucks, get one. It's great for places where you don't want to take too much off at once.
My intention was to make the barrel round, but the flat top made it easy to locate the center for the sight.
The next thing to do was to turn the barrel round. I took Dave's arbor design to chuck it up in the drill press.
First I filed the tops of the corners to get a head start on the round section.
I got going with a file first, then sandpaper. I did take it out occasionally and file some to true the round part where it wasn't to my liking. Then it would go back into the drill press and get more sanding. Eventually I got it round.
The bottom end of the arbor got put into a piece of UHMW polyurethane (pretty much like the stuff they put in my hip the other day). I lubed the bearing surface with break free so it wouldn't melt the UHMW.
A little bluing and there it was. The sight still needs to be soldered in but there are some markings to defarb first. I
like this 6" barrel.
I guess the next stage will be to remove the recoil shields. I would be tempted to leave it as a Leech & Rigdon but it's a .44 so that's not going to happen. Dance it will be, then.
