Domino choices

[Aetherpulse]

I have a very early IGI domino 602. It obviously has a fair bit of wear, including faint rifling. I've got new springs and firing pin in it so those are good.

My question is, would it be worth tracking down a new barrel somehow? Is it possible to have the old one accuratly relined? I don't shoot competitively (except against myself) I could afford about 1500 for a new pistol, but that's only enough for an Xesse and I'm not sure that's an upgrade from what I have.

What do you guys think?

Baron

[Gwhite]

It is unusual for a well cared for .22 to have worn rifling. Some target pistols don't t have particularly deep rifling to start with. That said, it may have been cleaned to death. I would see how well it shoots from sandbags or better yet, a rest, before I considered any sort of major surgery.

[Aetherpulse]

I wondered if the rifling was just shallow to begin with.

That would make the decision much easier!

Baron

[william]

Obviously, your pistol is completely shot out. I'd offer you maybe a couple of hundred bucks for scrap value.

Seriously, I've never heard of a .22 target pistol wearing out a barrel, unless it's been subjected to too much of the wire brush (which to me means any at all). The rifling could have been shallow from the factory, or there could be some lead buildup. Unless it's pitted or rusted, there's no reason to even consider replacement. I doubt any pistol you could buy at just about any price is able to outshoot the one you already have, to say nothing of losing the benefit of familiarity.

[fc60]

Greetings,

22lr barrels actually do wear out.

Most of the damage is at the end of the case just where the leade is. The priming compounds contain erosive material and a "crater" develops.

A lot of the early 22lr barrels were not fully heat treated. Recent Pardini barrels are 40 HRC while the early ones were 20 HRC.

Testing your barrel from a rest is good advice. Be sure it is clean prior to testing. I have seen 22lr barrels that Lead fouled the barrel the rifling was difficult to see. Yes, 22lr barrels will Lead foul. Find someone with a bore scope and have a look.

Cheers,

Dave

[JamesH]

I'm pretty sure I wore out a FAS barrel, probably by overcleaning.
Another used FAS I had had a worn out chamber.

Otherwise could be lead fouling.

What does the breech face look like? They're also fairly soft.

[william]

Somebody with a better memory than mine will have more of the specifics about an experiment done a long time ago by FWB (or was it Walther). They fired through barrels that were smoothbore except for varying lengths at the muzzle. They found that as long as the rifling there was good, the rest of the barrel's rifling doesn't really matter. I'm sure there's some effect from throat erosion, but it's trivial compared to strong rifling at the business end.

[Gwhite]

Somebody with a better memory than mine will have more of the specifics about an experiment done a long time ago by FWB (or was it Walther). They fired through barrels that were smoothbore except for varying lengths at the muzzle. They found that as long as the rifling there was good, the rest of the barrel's rifling doesn't really matter. I'm sure there's some effect from throat erosion, but it's trivial compared to strong rifling at the business end.

Maybe with a .22, but I have personal experience with a 30-06 that needed more than half the rifling present. The rifle belonged to our club, and freshly cleaned, it shot fine and I was putting all my shots in the black. After about 8 rounds, they started going all over the place, and some were barely on the target. The really wild ones were going in sideways. An examination of the bore showed that the rifling was pretty much absent at the throat, slowly fading in over the first half of the bore. All it took was a little extra fouling to push it off the stability cliff.

[Aetherpulse]

Well, I think I will put it in a rest next time I go shooting and see how accurate it really is. I hope it doesn't. I really like the trigger on it.

Baron