Need pictures of EAA Witness .45 barrel

[HTRN]

Came across this - seems to imply that Tanfoglio, EAA Witness, and the Baby Eagle all will accept the same barrel.

Unfortunately, they don't seem to make .45ACP barrels.


HTRN

[HTRN]

And oh, Tornado Technologies specializes in threading barrels for suppressors. While they don't have the EAA Witness/Baby Eagle/Tanfoglio listed on their services page, I'm sure they'll do it.


HTRN

[Aegis]

And oh, Tornado Technologies specializes in threading barrels for suppressors. While they don't have the EAA Witness/Baby Eagle/Tanfoglio listed on their services page, I'm sure they'll do it.


HTRN

They do. They'll thread basically anything you want them to; good people to work with, too.

[JustinR]

Came across this - seems to imply that Tanfoglio, EAA Witness, and the Baby Eagle all will accept the same barrel.

Unfortunately, they don't seem to make .45ACP barrels.

I e-mailed the EFK folks a while back, and they said they just didn't have enough demand to manufacture the .45 version.

I have tried the Witness barrel, and it works very well in my gun.

[JustinR]

Look out! It's a zombie thread!!!

So with the .45 Osprey finally awaiting a tax stamp (hopefully within the next few weeks) I started looking at finally getting this barrel threaded. I found .578-28 thread alignment tools and dies on ebay, and being a DIY person I took the plunge.

The issue I'm having is that the first few tapered cutting threads have started to cut the outside diameter of the barrel down, but I can't get the die to start cutting threads and engage. The thread alignment tool simply starts unscrewing up through the die, even with a friend pushing down on it with a spare 20mm shell. I don't know why I can't get enough leverage to get the teeth to bite, either I've already accidentally stripped the first threads I've made (which it doesn't appear so) or maybe the barrel has too big of an outside diameter.

I'm showing a .590 normal outside diameter. From the research I did before I bought the die and alignment tool, I thought that would be acceptable. Should I have had it turned down to .578 before I started? Is that the only way to get the die to cut properly? HTRN? Anyone?

I knew this was a possibility before I started, but I figured the learning experience would be worth it. (Might just have to buy a 1911 with a threaded barrel now...)

[Cobar]

In my limited experience you don't want the OD of whatever you are threading with a die to be any larger than the major diameter of the threads you are cutting.

You make have some sort of die that I have not seen though. I am sure HTRN will be here with more experience soon.

[Netpackrat]

Let me get this straight... You've probably got somewhere in the neighborhood of a grand invested in a nice suppressor and a stamp. Then you cheaped out and opted to go with the redneck DIY method of barrel threading, rather than have it lathe threaded by a gunsmith?



Barrel threading with a die and TAT is generally accurate enough for flash hiders, muzzle brakes, etc. I would not use it if there were any possibility that I would be attaching an expensive suppressor to the barrel at some point.

[JustinR]

Let me get this straight... You've probably got somewhere in the neighborhood of a grand invested in a nice suppressor and a stamp. Then you cheaped out and opted to go with the redneck DIY method of barrel threading, rather than have it lathe threaded by a gunsmith?

The goal was not to "cheap out" but attempt to learn something new and do it myself. Can't become a gunsmith by only reading books and not trying. I'm reasonably mechanically inclined and haven't killed myself reloading yet, and that could be considered "cheaping out" too.

[Netpackrat]

I'm all for learning by doing. As but one example, when they taught us how to drill out rivets in mechanic school, they handed us all drills, and had us start drilling out rivets. On scrap components that were not attached to anything that would be expected to ever fly again. And it isn't just that you chose as a learning object, something that really does need to be done just so; it's also that the method used is not inherently accurate enough to do the job, except possibly through sheer luck. And the price of learning that it isn't quite right might be your shiny new suppressor. I consider myself to be a fairly skilled metalworker, and it isn't something I would have tried.

Maybe I am being overly harsh, but I feel as though it is more important to get the point across before you incur some costly damage. Right now you're only out the cost of a barrel and some tools.

[JustinR]

I consider myself to be a fairly skilled metalworker, and it isn't something I would have tried.

In retrospect, one of the things I should have done as part of my due diligence would have been to ask y'all about the possibility before I bought the parts, and I would have gotten answers like that. But, I was slightly impatient after having this project languish for so long, and discovering I might be able to do it myself.

Luckily, since the barrel was a little longer than the minimum length I needed according to the Silencerco thread specs, it appears I can have a shop cut off the end, cut the threads, and re-crown it.

Of course, now I have to find a reputable gunsmith, since the one I was planning on using dropped off the face of the Earth.