Please tell me more about this 1911. Is it a Yost Bonitz custom? It looks like an amazing gun.Most Professional 1911 gunsmiths offer the 'barrel crowning' option for around $75. I would use an after market barrel tho, not a factory HK one.
Cant stress enough that this needs to be done by a Professional, NOT a ding dong! This one has been re-crowned and recessed.
http://www.harrisoncustom.com/
http://www.yost-bonitz.com/
Dont know if either shop will work on an HK tho.
![]()
Well, Jim, being as you're presumably from the great state of Texas, and now living in Iowa, you might not completely appreciate just how skittish the sheeple here in California truly are. As the Mk23 has officially held the designation of "assault weapon" in this state for some time now, I was merely looking for a way to voluntarily modify some of its more terrifying features - and nothing makes good California democrats piss themselves faster than the sight of a threaded barrel extending out the end of a slide. I suspect we're not far from the point where the democrats in Cali will vote to redesignate the Mk23 as a full blown WMD, but in the mean time, I'm just trying to ensure that I'm not named in any civil lawsuits for causing undue emotional distress and psychological trauma by displaying my Mk23 in public.Just out of curiousity why do you want to ruen a Mark 23 barrel? TJ
Vic Tibbets from Guncrafter Industries built that 1911 - its a Number One model .50GI, the hard chrome is done by Metaloy. http://www.guncrafterindustries.com/model1_50gi.shtmlPlease tell me more about this 1911. Is it a Yost Bonitz custom? It looks like an amazing gun.
My thoughts exactly. I've cut square plates of hardened metal down to round disks on a lathe with carbide cutters, so inconsistent hardening won't destroy them. Recrowning a barrel is only a matter of holding the barrel centered when you turn it, the square lump at the back of the barrel may get in the way of a collet. That's a 10 minute job on a lathe.Yes the barrels do have inconsistant hardness, but that's due to bad heat treating and/or poor QC.
Regardless, recrowning the barrel is something any gunsmith can do or ever a machinist. It's not rocket science.
Diamond honing isn't used to profile barrels. Honing is used to get the barrel to the final dimension because you can remove very minute amount of material on each pass. Regular tuning for production parts is +/- .003 in tolerance. With honing, you can get into the +/-.0005 or less in tolerance.
Thanks, Robanna. Please do keep us informed.Very interesting post! Glad I'm not the only one considering this, but I live in NJ vs. CA.
On a whim, I contacted Bruce Gray to see if he would recommend doing this to the factory barrel of the Mark 23 and if he would take on the project. I'll post his response.