I recently purchased a 380Plus. For safety reasons I have been looking for a threaded barrel for it. So far I found the following:
Contacts:
Eagle Imports: They refused to sell me a threaded barrel.
Indonesian Bersa retailer: No response.
Bersa Factory: I contacted them in Buenos Aires, no response.
Armories (gun shops) in Buenos Aires: They referred me to Bersa factory.
Domestic pistol barrel manufacturers: They are not interested.
Barrel threading companies: None were interested in Bersa barrels. Tornado Tech mentioned they would not work on Bersa barrels, because the steel (4140) is too hard to work.
DIY: Perhaps there are three ways to make a threaded barrel.
A. Original barrel length:3.575"; Final length: 4.25" . we need to produce a barrel adapter of 1.0 long and .507"diameter.
I found an adapter made by Hughes Precision LLC, it has 1/2-28 threads, 1.279" long, .524" diameter.
Based on similar threaded barrels that I have seen, the length of engagement between the barrel and adapter should be 3/8".
The question then is: How are we going to connect them, adapter and barrel.
We could use a threaded connection, but given the small size thread it may be difficult to make them.
A simpler way would be to use a thermal expansion fitting. I made a detailed drawing of the Hughes adapter and all the dimensions work out well. The interference between the parts should be .001"
or .002". The Hughes adapter should be bored to .437"x 3/8"deep and the barrel turned down to .001" or .002" larger than the adapter bore.
To do the assembly, the barrel should be cooled in dry ice (-110 degrees F) to get a reduction in diameter of .0006" and the adapter should be heated to red (900 degrees F) to make it .0054" larger diameter. he clearance in these conditions should be close to.006". These are theoretical calculations. I do not have practical experience.
Anybody in the Forum could present additional suggestions?
B. An alternative would be machining a barrel as a single piece from a Blank Barrel riffled to 380CP. The outside dimensions of the barrel are easy to get, but the chambering of the barrel may not be easy. I do not know who may do it, any ideas?. I have such a blank barrel but I have not progressed any further.
C. Another way would be using the standard barrel that Bersa uses in their current 380 threaded barrel series pistols.
Please feel free to contact me if necessary,
[email protected]
Louis
