Need you who know what you are talking about to settle a gun show debate we had today. Gun shop has a used Contender that we believe has a factory "Armaloy"(?)finish (the matte nickle looking finish). It comes with a similar 30-30 barrel. Is this version interchangeable with the blue or stainless steel barrels?

Thanks in advance.

Greetings! As I understand it, originally, no, they were not interchangeable, as the finish slightly alters fit to the frame-hinge pin hole.

T/C started modifying the Armor Alloy barrels and frames to accept the blued sometime after production, and some simply use [judiciously and cautiously] a wooden dowel & fine grit paper to hone out the finish in the frame-lug hinge pin holes, to allow proper fit [I never have, and recommend speaking to Mike Bellm about how it should be done].

SO, you may run into samples of the Armor Alloy frames and barrels that interchange, but my understanding is that they did not do so originally.

Hope this helps!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sean HHI #7364:
[QB]Greetings! As I understand it, originally, no, they were not interchangeable, as the finish slightly alters fit to the frame-hinge pin hole.

Sean is basically correct. I own an unconverted Armour Alloy frame, the hinge pin hole was made with a smaller diameter than the blue frame. For some reason when they were made TC did not want them to interchange with blue parts. As Sean said they can be converted.

If it was converted by TC to the larger pin hole, they did a special mark on the frame. Some kind of star shape I think.

BTW I love the finish, and barrel leading is minimal.
Greg

The barrels that I have that were converted by the T/C custom shop have an " & " sign on the lug.
Hope that helps, Mike

As I thought I understood from Mike Bellm ... was that the pin hole was EXACTLY the same size in both the barrel and the frame...but the Plating closed the gap up some....supposey not on purpose but an oversight???? So TC just reams out the plating from the hinge pin holes.....Good Question for mike bellm

fireball

I don't know what TC does, but assume they ream out the plating in the hole, yes. At least that is what I have always done from day one.

The hinge pin hole is the main area, but since the plating also moves the barrel up in relation to the frame, sometimes you have to lower the top of the locking bolts also so the barrels will lock up all the way and release the hammer block.

Tip: On most AA barrel and frame combos, you can use the pin from a standard blue or stainless frame as an oversize pin.

Sanding out the holes is pretty shakey since it is bound to put some taper in the holes. Reamer is much better. Use a standard 3/8" chucking reamer for use with the standard pins from blue or stainless frames. This gives the type of fit common to most standard factory holes & pins.

Optimum fit with the standard pins is .3745," and this size can be bought as an off the shelf item from machine shop supply houses.

Mike

Mike, Quick qustion.... Hate to sound ignorant (altough I really am), but how much does the type of chucking reamer needed for AA conversion run? "How to convert the AA barrel/frame" might be a good topic for you to add to your web site, as well. Gary T.