6" .30 Luger barrel, 1900 style

[ithacaartist]

I decided to replace the 7.65 mm, mis-matched, really ugly 3 7/8" barrel on my lesser '06 AE with a 6".

What I desire is the early style/Swiss style barrel configured with "pencil" profile, non-ramped sight block, and notched sight blade.

Ed Tinker has graciously sold me a nice barrel he's acquired, and it's on the way. However, it is of standard P08 configuration--no pencil taper, ramped sight block with appropriate sight blade.

Ed's having a little sellers' remorse and I'd undo the deal if I could find another in decent shape to conform to my wild desires, possibly from an early DWM commercial? Not sure if a Swiss would interchange without the potential work necessary if it does not headspace or clock the front sight properly. But I'm uncertain if such a beast even exists. Was such a barrel ever made originally?

If not, or if it's unlikely I could ever find one, I'll go ahead with the P08 bbl. It will probably take a while for the barrel change project to arrive at its place on the runway, so in the meantime I'm reserving the barrel from Ed as backup in case of total bad luck in achieving 100% of my wishes.

No response yet to my WTB posting, so apparently I need some more creative means of shaking one of these barrels out of the trees.

David Parker

[Edward Tinker]

I am 'fine' I just got a 6 inch barrel.

great to see you got it

[DavidJayUden]

I assume that you have checked with the LugerDoc?
dju

[wlyon]

David
Have you looked at the 6" barrel on ebay. It is item # 150963736074. It closes in 10 hours. Presently at $89. Bill

[ithacaartist]

Yes, but someone wants it more than I do. Very blurry pics in this listing, impossible to see/assess the "freckling" the lister speaks of. It is the same configuration as my purchase from Ed, which I have decided not to fool with/modify to be "pencil" style. But one that is damaged on the outside, well, that'd be a more likely candidate for the lathe and mill, that's what I need if not possible to come up with one already old style shape.

[ithacaartist]

Well, here's the eBay one. Less than an hour to go. It's just over $200, what's it worth? I hate these non-pictures...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Germ...70959164675%26

Update: Auction ended, sold for $222.50. I didn't bid again.

What would be a fair price to pay for one like I want? Is my $150-200 range unrealistic? It might just as well have been, in this case.

[ithacaartist]

Here is a pic of what has been done to the standard configuration barrel so far. I found a local machinist who worked to my specs and a 4 3/4" barrel on the upper of my other '06AE--and VERY reasonably. He also milled me a set of tool steel bars from which to slice individual extractor blanks for the Erma KGP68a.

Ed or Hugh, I cannot for the life of me find the pic of this barrel as it was passed on to me. If either of you still has it, could you please post it here, for comparison? Thanks in advance.

David

[sheepherder]

That is indeed quite interesting...I have a hypothetical question, which may interest other members as well...

Would he be interested in 'profiling' a six inch 7.65 Luger barrel blank??? Specifically, one with the threads & chamber already cut, and the front sight base 'indexed'??? But the bulk of the barrel exterior left at approximately 1.25" diameter???

Purely hypothetical...

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by postino

That is indeed quite interesting...I have a hypothetical question, which may interest other members as well...

Would he be interested in 'profiling' a six inch 7.65 Luger barrel blank??? Specifically, one with the threads & chamber already cut, and the front sight base 'indexed'??? But the bulk of the barrel exterior left at approximately 1.25" diameter???

Purely hypothetical...

Postie,

He might do it again. The work cost me $100 plus materials, and this included milling 2 bars of tool steel to Erma extractor profile, slicing a few blanks from one bar, and turning a couple of little plungers that help the retractor's spring interface with a small notch on the back of the extractor. I thought it was a great bargain and was pleased to have found him to do this kind of work. The profile actually has an area towards the breech that is not straight. He turned the front end of the barrel first and left a portion of straight turned cylinder shape towards the back in order to hold onto it better while milling the barrel band down. Re-establishing the continuation of the tapered cut is where it's off, but I'll be able to straighten it out on my own equipment. He said he'd do a project or two in the future, but basically has shifted his interests from guns to clocks, and would prefer to work on them instead. Go figure.

BTW, I obviously will need a barrel change next. Seth, the original guy, has referred me to another guy, with whom I've spoken on the phone. When I meet up with him, I'll take him my pile of parts in case he can handle the job. But if I get a feeling that his capabilities are inadequate, would you like to be involved?

Originally Posted by Hugh

David,
I don't have a pic of it, sorry.
Hugh

No problem Hugh. Maybe I can find it on my computer if I look harder! Thanks for lookin', anyway...

[Hugh]

David,
I don't have a pic of it, sorry.
Hugh

[Edward Tinker]

I will look, did I talk about it or show it to you originally

I love the new look !

[ithacaartist]

When I talk to the guy about clocking, indexing, and proper barrel vise and system to hold the extension without damaging it, and finally headspacing check/adjustment, I should be able to gauge his abilities. I'm hoping, as is very possible, that the replacement will crank right on just fine, however, I'm also aware that clocking and headspacing have their own needs and remedies. If he says he has a .30 luger chamber reamer already, I'll begin to think we can do it here. He's also a machinist, and even though he might not have specific Luger experience, I think we'll be fine.

One more question: I've seen the dimensional range for proper headspacing discussed before, not too long ago. Could someone with the figures please post them? My search didn't turn up the post I wanted...

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

I've seen the dimensional range for proper headspacing discussed before, not too long ago. Could someone with the figures please post them? My search didn't turn up the post I wanted...

I don't recall seeing that thread. It seems everyone who does re-barreling/re-chambering has a different idea of what the 'proper' headspace should be.

Military headspace and commercial headspace are different. Military is much more lenient. Commercial is much tighter, and IMO more accurate.

I had an old six inch barrel blank that was left over from my initial attempts some 30 years ago. I have pretty much viewed it as a mistake, kept to remind me how not to do something. But seeing your six inch 30 cal 'pencil' barrel and looking at my 'mistake', I decided to see if I could salvage it.

It didn't come out as well as yours (I suck at finishes), and it wasn't until I read the two pages here that I realized yours is in 30 cal...Mine is 9mm...

Oh, well...It looks better now than it did 30 years ago...

[Lugerdoc]

IA, Just be aware that the threaded portion of a M1900 barrel is about an 1/8" LONGER than that of a standard PO8, so that a standard barrel will not work without a lot of work. TH

[ithacaartist]

Tom,

It's been a while since I started this thread... The frame for this AE is newer, short style. This was taken into consideration when I obtained this barrel from Ed, so the new barrel is also for the short style. The apparent 1900 style of the barrel is only manifest on the outside!

[sheepherder]

Dave -

I lost track of this thread...Have you mounted the barrel yet??? Any pics???

How/where did your machinist get a small enough dovetail cutter??? (Or did you use the existing dovetail?)

[ithacaartist]

Here ya go, Rich. I posted this pic a while ago but darned if I remember which thread it's in. This was taken before I fit the sight blade, but you get the idea...

The sight block's original dovetail was preserved. I gave my guy dimensions taken from a 4 5/8" pencil barrel on my other A.E. I had him reduce the diameters of the barrel, barrel band. Also removed the ramp at the rear of the sight block to yield the same squared style and dimensions of a 1900/06 sight block. Was it Michaelangelo who said his sculptures were inside the quarry blocks, all he had to do was chip away the excess? This project was like this, an early style barrel was within a standard configuration barrel--we just removed the excess! This is now my favorite shooter; I really like the way .30 Luger feels when shooting.

[Edward Tinker]

outstanding, I just love it - read some of my earlier postings and changed it - as I did not like how I came across. My apologies.

Excellent looking Luger!

[ithacaartist]

OK, on the left is the muzzle of my '06 A.E. long frame with 4 5/8" pencil barrel and proper style sight blade. On the right, we have the 6' pencil barrel in question. The sight blocks on these stick up higher from the barrel band because the early barrel bands aren't as big around as the later barrels. The distance from the center of the bore is, I contend, the same to the top of either sight block! The dovetail area of the modified barrel is undisturbed. Still needs a little cleanup...

Since earlier posts, I've decided not to worry about trying further to make it mimic a Navy-- turns out I'm happy enough with a 6" American Eagle.

[ithacaartist]

I "cheated" with the finish on mine, Rich--That's what the machinist who helped me get up up to speed working with my little lathe almost 30 ago would have said about applying a file to establish a final surface. After that, 220/360 grit with a wooden paddle backer; and finally purple Scotch Brite.

O.D. depends on I.D., which is larger on the 9mm. I imagine that the wall thickness of the bbl is a bit greater, too, to handle the greater pressure of a 9mm. Yours looks good and I bet it will look even better on a pistol!

Now I'm wondering if there was ever such a thing as a 9mm barrel with pencil taper, square sight block. I seem to recall that the 9mm barrels on commercials were "military" profile?