Need a replacement barrel for my 915.

[BlackOmega]

Hey everyone,

So I recently bought a S&W 915(3rd gen). It basically looks like, and seems to e built like, a 5904 without the ambi-safety.

I bought is on consignment from my LGS, however, they don't let you break down the guns to check them out. This gun is cosmetically perfect, however, the barrel is shot out, or was "broken in" using a drill.....

Anyhoo, does anyone know if a 5904 barrel will work in this thing? I email S&W and they said no, however, the barrel looks identical to a 5904/5906 barrel. And everywhere I've look for aftermarket barrels, always lists them together. (http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/1430340.htm)

Any insight would be helpful, thanks guys.

 

[chaim]

Normally I would say that S&W would probably know since they made it. However, the 3rd gen guns have been out of production for a little while now and if you got someone who came on since they discontinued them, they may or may not know what they are talking about. Since Numrich lists them together, I think you might be safe ordering the barrel. I mean, they advertise them together, so if the barrel doesn't work, you should be able to return it without trouble (they advertise that barrel for the 915, if it doesn't work in the 915 they should make things right).

 

[BlackOmega]

That's what I was thinking.

The barrel I've seen on Midway for the 915 doesn't look like the 5904 barrel, however, the barrel that I have in it does.

From the research that I've done, there may be some slight differences in the hood of the barrel of the 5904. It seems as though it may be wider than the 915 barrel. I'm not averse to doing some machining (I'm a mechanic by trade, and have been training in machining as well).

 

[JohnKSa]

I would definitely shoot the gun before you spend any money or any more time on this. It might shoot well even with a bore that doesn't look ideal.

 

[BlackOmega]

Here's a pic of it.

 

[scoobysnacker]

I have a 915, my understanding (reinforced by discussion on the S&W forum) is that the gun is mechanically identical to the 590x series. That is, you can take a 915, and a 5906 (or 5903, 5904, or 5905), completely disassemble them, and put things back together randomly, and they would work.

915 give you a non-ambi safety, aluminum frame, with less machine work on the frame.

Mine has stainless slide release and safety (non-ambi), that had been lifted from a 5906.

The barrels are said to be 100% compatible for these guns.

This is NOT the case for the later 910.

Mine

 

[BlackOmega]

I would definitely shoot the gun before you spend any money or any more time on this. It might shoot well even with a bore that doesn't look ideal.

John, I've shot this gun quite a bit since I've gotten it and, depending on the ammo, it shoots ok, but not great. Tried shooting it from a rest to see where my POI was compared to my POA, and it's highly inconsistent.
Was looking at the bore again today and both the lands and grooves are mirror smooth. In some spots, it appears that there's no rifling at all.
I really like the gun, and I like the way it feels and shoots, but I just want it to be accurate. Sort of like my CZ75.

 

[BlackOmega]

Scooby,

It looks good with the stainless bits.

I read up on the differences between the guns, and the 910 is the super budget 3rd gen. No locking lug on the barrel, plastic bits and pieces.
Seems like the 915 was their transitional model as it's basically just the same as the 59 series with some slight differences. Probably why they only made it for two years. Like a non ambi safety, no adjustable rear sight, less finish machining, etc.

Have you removed the magazine disconnect in yours? Did it improve the trigger any?

 

[JohnKSa]

Was looking at the bore again today and both the lands and grooves are mirror smooth. In some spots, it appears that there's no rifling at all.

Does the gun look really worn? Shooting the rifling out of a decent 9mm should take a LOT of ammo--I would think over 100,000 rounds, maybe 2x that much and the rest of the gun should show a corresponding amount of use.

If there's not a lot of evidence of use, then you might try some of the typical tips & hints to remove lead from the barrel just in case what you see as a smooth barrel is actually the smooth surface of a bad lead buildup. I've seen at least one gun which appeared to have a smoothbore turn out to have a perfect bore with a bad case of barrel leading left over from the previous owner.

 

[BlackOmega]

Does the gun look really worn? Shooting the rifling out of a decent 9mm should take a LOT of ammo--I would think over 100,000 rounds, maybe 2x that much and the rest of the gun should show a corresponding amount of use.

If there's not a lot of evidence of use, then you might try some of the typical tips & hints to remove lead from the barrel just in case what you see as a smooth barrel is actually the smooth surface of a bad lead buildup. I've seen at least one gun which appeared to have a smoothbore turn out to have a perfect bore with a bad case of barrel leading left over from the previous owner.

Actually, it doesn't. Since I couldn't look down the bore at the store, I based wear on what I saw on the slide/frame, and there's really not much. It looked like it had MAYBE 1000 rounds through it. Hell, the slide and frame aren't even all that shiny on the contact points.

What I'm thinking happened, is that someone had a few third gens, and just swapped the barrel out from one of their worn out guns into it.

I ordered the 5904/5906 replacement barrel so we'll see how it goes.

 

[jsbethel]

The 915 came in both early narrow hood and later wide hood barrel configurations.

Pic 1 - wide hood (from my 915)
Pic 2 - narrow hood (from my 3904)

 

[JohnKSa]

What I'm thinking happened, is that someone had a few third gens, and just swapped the barrel out from one of their worn out guns into it.

I'm really having a hard time with the whole idea of a shot out 9mm barrel in an otherwise lightly used gun. If the barrel was shot out in another gun, then the gun they used to shoot the barrel out should be pretty worn too. If they wanted to keep shooting, why not use the gun you bought, barrel and all, rather than swapping a lightly used barrel into a gun that's been shot so much that the rifling is gone out of the barrel? Barrels aren't the only thing that wears out in a pistol.

Do the wear patterns on the barrel match the wear pattern on the mating surfaces of the gun? If the barrel is from another gun, you should be able to tell that the wear is more severe on the outside of the barrel than on the corresponding surfaces on the gun and also that the patterns don't match up closely.

You should really make doubly sure there's no lead in that bore before you get rid of it. The guy I mentioned in the last post who thought his bore was shot, wasn't convinced until he finally tested the inside of the bore with a small screwdriver and realized that the shiny surface inside the bore was way too soft to be worn steel. Normally I wouldn't recommend a test like that, but since you're already convinced the barrel is disposable, I don't see what it could hurt.

 

[BlackOmega]

I'll tear it down again and look. I'll post pics if I can get a good one.

Just some food for thought, have you ever seen the "tip" that some people have given about putting a brass bristle brush in a drill to break it in? Wonder if someone tried something stupid like that?

 

[TunnelRat]

Just some food for thought, have you ever seen the "tip" that some people have given about putting a brass bristle brush in a drill to break it in? Wonder if someone tried something stupid like that?

Even if they did, brass bristles aren't going to wear away steel rifling. Unless the drill bit itself hit the sides and that should be pretty noticeable.

 

[JohnKSa]

Just some food for thought, have you ever seen the "tip" that some people have given about putting a brass bristle brush in a drill to break it in?

I haven't heard that one, but even if someone did that, it would take a lot of work (and a lot of brushes) to wear the rifling out of a bore using brass bristles.

 

[BlackOmega]

It's some garbage I saw on Book of the Face in a "How do I break in my barrel correctly" thread. I've never done anything special other than shoot them and clean them regularly.

 

[TunnelRat]

No shortage of people out there with "interesting ideas".

 

[BlackOmega]

Ok, so I finally managed to get a little time today to mess with and get some pictures. Also took it to the range after a good cleaning.

Anyway, here's some pics of the bore after cleaning. It looks like the rifling is there, but the close-up from the muzzle side shows how really shallow it is.

 

[BlackOmega]

It seems that after a good cleaning, it's pretty damn accurate. Although, it seems to throw a flyer here and there.

The 1st attachment is my warm-up with it @ 7 yards. Approximately 25 rounds.

The second is what's left of a 1" target. 20 rounds @ 7 yards.

 

[rock185]

I just had a look at the bore and rifling in one of my S&W 9MMs. Doesn't look any different than yours. Never noticed before that the rifling doesn't look as deep as some other guns. But then these guns were designed for jacketed ammo and don't require especially deep rifling. From here, all looks normal with your pistol's bore and groups.