I checked out a friend's Taurus 1911 and found lug #1 to be only 0.038" while the other two were normal. Its like the barrel was turned down just behind the lug and then gradually tapers back up to normal dimension farther back towards the hood. I've never seen anything like this before.
I'm curious if all Taurus 1911 barrels are like this or if this is the lone weird one. If you have a Taurus check it out and let me know if you don't mind (PM or reply). Thanks.
Likely because they didn't realize that it's a lug, and they wanted to avoid having the slide scratch the barrel because they didn't have enough drop clearance, which probably comes from the gun not being in-spec... which probably comes from... uhhhhhh... Never mind!
You're probably right Tuner, although it's hard for me to believe a company with that much experience could do something like this. It's a needless manufacturing step that just eats into the bottom line. Maybe the one I looked at was just a one time oddball (I'm "lucky" that way).
C'mon guys help me out here, PLEASE. If you don't have a caliper you can just put a straight edge across the top of the barrel. If you see a big sliver of light above the 1st lug (the one that's part of the barrel hood) then your barrel is like the one I saw.
Lemme get this straight... The first lug was engaging .038, or had been cut down so that its height was .038?
Arzael256 - I'm referring to the lug height not the engagement. The first lug height is only 0.038" then it gradually ramps up to full height at around 0.5"-ish behind the 1st lug as you move toward the end of the barrel hood (hopefully that makes sense). Thanks
Note that if the lug height has been cut down to .038 inch that the engagement is the same, assuming 100% engagement had it been left at .050 inch.
The question is now... Does the barrel horizontally engage on the first and strongest lug... or on one of the others? I'd prefer to have 75% on the first one than 100% on either of the other two.
How is the engagement the same if the lug is shorter?
Sorry Azrael... I meant that the engagement is the same AMOUNT as the height. (.038)
I got another look at the Taurus. Best I can tell using Dykem blue and the naked eye (not exactly high tech) is Lug 1 is not making contact at all. Lug 2 and 3 are making contact at around 90% and 75% respectively.
js... Paint the lugs and go shoot the gun a few times. Two magazines should tell the story. 90% on #2 and 75% on #3 ain't bad for a factory barrel, and if #1 is within a thousandth or two of kissin', it should eventually seat the other two and pick it up.