P240 Barrel Project - With A Little Help From My Friends

[fc60]

Greetings,

Reading Dr. Jim's post looking for a new/used P240 barrel in 38 Special got me thinking.

With a little help, I believe I can machine new barrels for USA shooters in my shop.

There are some questions to be answered.

Were the barrels designed to be "drop-in" or hand fit?

I would need some damaged barrels to "reverse engineer", unless someone has a set of dimensioned drawings. The more barrels I can measure the better the end result. All parts will be returned to the owners.

This would be my contribution to the Shooting Fraternity. When the Grandkids ask, "what did you to help shooting Granddad?" I can proudly smile and say, "I made P240 barrels."

Cheers,

Dave

[Dr. Jim]

I'd LOVE to help Dave, but you know the hassles of getting barrels back and forth across the 49th! Like governments are going to agree! I do hope you get enough material to work from.
As I understand the system lockup, it would need some degree of fitting but no where near the amount involved for a 1911. The muzzle end is about one to two thou smaller than the slide opening, just enough to allow 'downlink'. Mine has a small amount of polish on the bottom side, no wear on the top.
The locking block seems to be fitted closely, no obvious play. The critical bit, at least to me, is the curved slot in the underlug- this looks like a CNC cut feature without any special fitting. If you'd like I can send you a set of pictures of the breech end of my barrel. Send me an email address to use.
Dr Jim
paterson@ucalgary.ca

[john bickar]

I can get behind this.

Wonder how many P240 barrels can fit in a small flat rate USPS box...

[fc60]

Greetings All,

Thanks to those that have responded, thus far.

An especially BIG THANK YOU goes to "Papa" John Bickar for his forthcoming help. I have had the pleasure of working with John in the past and he is the type of shooter I enjoy dealing with.

Respectfully,

Dave

[renzo]

I have a P-240 with .22 and .32 slides and barrels (The full pistol is .32, the .22 is a complement).

As it's practically impossible to send gun parts from my country to yours (or any other else); is there someting I could be of use to your project, like carefully miking tolerances, photographing in super macro, etc?

I do believe you deserve all the support we could give.

Greetings from Argentina

[john bickar]

An especially BIG THANK YOU goes to "Papa" John Bickar for his forthcoming help. I have had the pleasure of working with John in the past and he is the type of shooter I enjoy dealing with.

Likewise. You are always a pleasure to deal with, yourself, and your R&D pushes our sport(s) forward.

You have a level of patience and attention to detail that I can't begin to approach. Glad to help.

[fc60]

Greetings Renzo,

Many thanks for your offer. I also have a P240 in 32 S&W Long. If the 38 Special barrel project is a success, I may try making new barrels for the 32 S&W.

Greetings John,

You are a Dad now, patience will follow and mature.

Cheers,

Dave

[john bickar]

Were the barrels designed to be "drop-in" or hand fit?

I was just reading through some notes and emails on the P240 in preparation for sending you a care package, and the information that I have indicates that the barrel is hand-fit to the upper. I was advised that it is important that the barrel and upper section have the same serial number (as this indicates that they are a matching, hand-fit pair).

[fc60]

Greetings John,

I do believe you are correct. The nature of the locking mechanism would suggest that hand fitting would be needed.

I have an S&W Model 52 and a spare barrel. The spare barrel does not "drop in". Also, the M52 has a cut in the middle of the slide stop. Here again, hand fitting is suggested.

I look forward to working on this project. When you machine barrels from scratch, it is easy to leave a little excess here and there.

Please forward any documentation you have gleaned for the P240. All information is well received.

Cheers,

Dave

[JamesH]

If someone can send me a dimensioned sketch I can do a drawing and CAD model.