I have a Kart ezfit .45 barrel in an essex slide.
I filed too much off the length of the barrel hood.
The slide measures 1.318" from the back lug to the Breech and my barrel hood measures 1.310" so I am approx .006" to .007" shorter than the recommended hood to slide breech fit. With the chamber empty and the slide fully locked, the barrel hood is in solid contact with the breech.
With a round in the chamber the hood is still in solid contact with the breech but the back of the chambered round is only .001" shorter than the barrel hood. With a GO gage in the chamber the hood is now held .004" forward from the breech as the go gage sticks out .004" longer than the barrel hood. It fully locks on the GO gage but it will not come close to lockup on the NOGO gage. I think the lockup and headspace are both ok, because it measures the same lockup on an empty chamber as it does with the GO gage chambered (.045" lockup). The lower lugs are making equal contact on the slide stop pin and there is no play at all on the barrel when in lockup, but because of the short hood, I don't think it is safe for the GO gage to stick out past the hood? This is my first time fitting a barrel so how screwed up do I have it and shouldn't the chambered GO gage always be shorter than the barrel hood? I couldn't find any documentation explaining what happens if you get the hood too short, so I hope someone here can add some detail as to what problems this causes. Also, I fired 200 rounds through it without a problem before I realized the hood problem.
It shot 1" @ 25yards with Fed Gold metal match but surplus ball was about 4" groups. Maybe it's fixable by just having material TIG welded to the hood and refit? TIA
No don't weld on your hood, you seem to be right on track. i think you are just splitting hairs. if you have .004 gap during lockup, that is perfect. i seem to want to remember that somwhere around .005 is ideal. as for the round in the chamber, yes it should sit just below flush when simply inserted in the barrel, now when in the slide, the extractor will grab the rim and hold the case close to the breechface, that's why you have the gap there. this too is well within safe limits, so you have done well and should have nothing to worry about from what it sounds like to me.
- Enjoy that pistol!
Thanks for the Info, I feel better about it now... what got me concerened was that I read a post that stated a loaded round should not be longer than the hood and my rounds only sit .001 below the end of the hood, so it would seem that I will run into ammo that could be up to .002 longer and sit longer than the hood. Then I reread the instructions for the Kart barrel and it said the difference in dimensions between the hood and slide should be no more than .002 and mine measured .008 so that's when I started to think I may have really screwed up...
OK that's true about a round/ go guage - it should sit just below flush with the hood when cutting your chamber (this means with the barrel out of the slide) what happens is the round will be held tight against the breechface and the barrel will sit snug in its lugs- some tolerance is allowed for this and that's why you see the gap.
Also the gap in the hood could be smaler, but it will cause the slide to lock- up very tight and will eventually wear down to about where you have it now- so that means you don't risk damage to your breechface. best thing to remember- if that no-go guage will lock-up in your gun, you've got problems - yours doesn't- you are golden!