Hi Sam, I was told a few years ago that it was near impossible to change the old barrels out. AND it is "NEAR IMPOSSIBLE" the first time. But if you buy a good quallity repro barrel you can change it yourself if you have some prior gunsmithing "know-how". It is risky and you must be careful not to bend the receiver forks. ( I couldnt afford to have mine done professionaly. My father and I do all the repairs on our guns, so it seemed pretty standard.) Until you try to get the old barrel to turn, Thats a pain. We made a tool from a block of wood to hold the receiver without damaging it (broke first wooden tool). Finally it came loose and then we screwed in the repro barrel. It had to have the shoulder filed to get the extractor slot to line up (used gunsmithing files from Brownells for trimming by hand, a LITTLE at a time.) Once it was tightend we checked the headspace and it was OK. It shot great! I have since tried differnt lengh barrels, but settled with a six inch. I dont like doing it this way, but if you are as broke as me (cant remember what a five dollar bill looks like), Then try it at "YOUR OWN RISK" because you might ruin the gun, or yourself if you try to fire it without the proper headspace.
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