Yep, they do press them pretty darn good. Anyway, my point is that a barrel won't move as easily as one may think. Walther PP might be a better example of a pinned barrel, once you remove the pin you can tap the barrel out with hand tools. It still holds up well to .380, and I don't think the barrel would come loose shooting 9mm either.

It would actually be interesting to put a test assembly together with a hand tightened barrel and see what happens when you shoot it... :)

Olle,

I bought a police turn-in S&W Mod. 66 revolver from a friend that said he couldn't hit anything with it. This gun is not a pinned and recessed model. On close examination, the barrel was unscrewing and the front sight was way off!! I removed the barrel and checked everything over, and the threads on the barrel and in the frame were in excellent condition. I cleaned everything up good, applied a bit of LocTite blue to the threads and put everything back together and aligned the barrel to the frame so that the front sight was aligned correctly. That was 2-3 years ago, and all is well, but I do check it every time I clean it after a range trip. Perhaps my gun was just a fluke, as I have not heard of another S&W revolver doing this.

I don't doubt that it can happen on a barrel that hasn't been fitted properly. The difference between too tight or to loose is only a matter of a few thousands of an inch at the shoulder, and I'm sure that even the factories mess up now and then. I have uninstalled and reinstalled numerous Colt barrels, and getting them off can be anything from a gentle tug to "lean on it until the workbench moves". I wouldn't be surprised if the S&Ws are the same.

barrel torque!
 

Hi to all! I would agree, that I would rather have just snug or tight, then super tight!!! But, I look for consistency and repeatability in every assembly.... Like I said, in just a couple of degrees of rotation, super tight is here!!! But, I'm sure 30 ft. pounds would be acceptable....it just seems better to me at "totally tight & right!" I truly believe at just a few thousands past hand tight, it's on forever.... We still have the ever present index and headspace to consider.. so we need to pay some attention to when all three occur in the proper proportions... :cheers:... best to all, til...lat'r....GT...:cheers: