I was poking around the gunsmithing articles on Brownells last night and noticed a bushing expander tool that flares the barrel bushing skirt to tighten up the fit to the frame. The barrel bushing fit on my new Commander is very sloppy, and before I send it back to Colt to fit probably another equally sloppy bushing, I wanted to know if there were any options I could pursue myself.

Anyone have any experience with this?

(the tool looks like it's just for holding the bushing while turning down the OD, but the instructions describe how you can also use it in a vise to flare the bushing skirt)

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=...ensator__B__Rod

Probably less costly to order a made to measure bushing from EGW.

I have that tool, I never tried to use it as an expander as Brownell's offers (or did offer) a much better expander set which I have as well. I don't think the mandrel would work well because it is only going to flare the very end, whereas the dedicated tool flares a good portion.

That said, I still think you have a slide problem not a bushing problem.

I re-measured the bushing slot in the slide again and depending on how I hold the calipers and the allen wrench in the slot, I get anywhere from .112" to .116". According to the GI spec (.117" - .005"), that's within tolerances. It seems to me like most, if not all of the slop is in the fore-aft direction. With the slide off and the bushing inserted (no barrel), I can pull the bushing quite a ways out from the end of the slide.

To me, that's also a function of the width of the slot in the slide, as well as the distance it is back from the muzzle, right?

Can you peen the lug on the bushing to make it wider, so there is less movement fore and aft in that slot? Can you get a bushing made with an oversized lug, or a lug that is closer to the flange?

The whole point of this is to determine whether or not the bushing fit is the cause of the gun's erratic groupings. It would be nice if I could prove/disprove that myself with a simple mod or change before sending the gun to Colt.

In reviewing your link, the instructions are talking about the expander set in addition to the mandrel, I am not sure the expander set is still available, it might be worth a call.

I believe any of your options could be temporary solutions, but are probably going to cost a pretty substantial sum or be temporary.

If you are just wanting to see if tightening the bushing improves the accuracy then you could simply pick up an inexpensive feeler gauge set and use it to cut shims from to tighten the fit of the bushing to the slide for a few magazines.

You could also talk to EGW to see if they can make you one with the correct ID and OD and a slightly oversize lug that you can file to fit. They might be willing to do that.

Try measuring the lug on your factory bushing and then using a feeler gauge to measure how far out the bushing can go. That might be an easier way to check the position of the slot if the lug on you bushing is correctly located.

EDIT: Oh one other thing, you might be able to flare the bushing using some appropriately sized sockets and great care.

Expanding the bushing used to be done when no one made oversized bushings. After expanding the bushing skirt, the bushing was usually turned on a lathe and fit to the slide. A new oversized bushing is a much better option. As for your bushing moving fore and aft (I bet it's a Colt), EGW has made some bushings with the lug located closer to the front front of the slide to address this problem.

Call EGW and talk with George.

Yep, it's a Colt.

Guess I'll give EGW a call and see what they say.