Davis P-32 and P-380 barrel fitting

8538 Views 36 Replies 11 Participants Last post by adam01364, Dec 31, 2021

adam01364

Discussion Starter · May 8, 2020

It's been discovered that swapping out barrels in the old Davis P-32 & P-380 pistols is a bit of a crap shoot. As someone who has been down this rabbit hole, I can vouch for this issue.

When I commented that the barrel pins were not aligning on the old BJJA forum, a former Davis employee chimed in with the answer. He explained there wasn't any fixture used to position and align the pistol prior to drilling the hole for the barrel pin. They just drilled a hole and pressed in a pin. A little to the left, a little to the right... as long as they drilled a hole and a pin was inserted, it was good to go.

Complicating matters further, the barrel design was changed early on; older barrels had a boss where the barrel met the frame; this feature was removed but there are no records indicating which serial number this change happened.

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CulperRing

· #6 · Jul 20, 2020

Is this case with the CA 380 and CA 32? Same frame but different barrels?

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CulperRing

· #8 · Jul 20, 2020

adam01364 said:
Yup.

That is cool. Has anyone really put one to the test, both 32 and 380 with one frame?

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CulperRing

· #14 · Jul 21, 2020

Thank you for the information.

I did not know that about Cobra, I knew JA was sued (although I am not sure where that stands). Was Cobra sued for the same reasons JA was?

The Bearman website does say call for parts but I think I called Cobra a couple of times and I never spoke to anyone. And it took them forever to replace the Denali magazines that broke.

That sucks, I just got a 6 pack of Davis/Cobra 380s. I am pretty certain I have one complete CA 380. But the rest I will need to get parts for. And the 3 of the Davis slides are cracked and one Davis frame is cracked (need to find a gun buyback).

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CulperRing

· #16 · Jul 22, 2020

I was wondering why the trigger guards were making an appearance. I have sort of grown to find them interesting (don't have one though). Did the lawsuit happen around the same time as JA or before?

I did email JA and ask questions about a Jennings J22 and they responded fairly quickly but other than I have not dealt with them. I would really like to get a J25 but they have been going for more than I am willing to spend. Have not had to contact HP, but have read good things about their customer service.

I probably shouldn't have bought the 6 pack but it was a pretty good deal and I have found tinkering with SNS (only Ravens and Davis/Cobra) to be fun. I used to read the BJJA forum very regularly and found it to be a wealth of information.

I got a Denali for a really good price. It is not a bad gun (have over 800 rounds through it) but the magazines suck! I did find a place that makes after market ones, they almost look like Diamondback magazines (not real sure though). Have not had a chance to use it on the range yet but it does not seem to lock into place when inserted (although I am not sure yet if it is the gun or the magazine).

The springs lesson/issue is one that I took from reading the BJJA forum. Interesting, the Denali recoil spring after over 800 rounds is still almost the same length as a new one.

Thank you for the pictures and the heads up in regards to the bumper springs.

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