John, it's not that everything's negative. I just seems that some of the time there's more passion, or harder subjects. It won't stay that way, and that's a fact. But, when you get guys on the wire, it's easy to get all wound up. I've been pretty blabberish (is that even a word ?) lately because I'm housebound with a wife recovering from surgery. So, I stick my opinion in places or ask a question. I don't see the responses as negative- just what the other fella has to say. I like the other side of the coin, just for something to ponder. Besides if you only heard what you expect, you won't learn much. Just my take.

Rebel, NO. You did not stress anything, provided you did not damage the threads or got wrench happy after the two pieces were aligned correctly. I am not a gunsmith but i was a mechanic at a time and place where i had to make spare parts for everything. I know a thing or two about threads and such. Your "within 10 degrees by hand" is just fine, if it only took 30 lbs of torque.  
If it took 30 lbs of torque to position that barrel, consider this: i  put about that much torque on scope ring screws on some of my hunting rifles (steel screws, steel rings, steel scopes). 

30 lbs is not a lot of torque.  Put some Grease on the thread it will go home with less torque and a little bit further.  Very little bit

Boats,
I don't want it to go farther , just to index correctly.
It's not about making it assemble easier or reducing torque, more about plastic deformation in a cast piece.

If it took 30 lbs of torque to position that barrel, consider this: i  put about that much torque on scope ring screws on some of my hunting rifles

Adrian
30 ft/lbs on a #8 screw? with a 3" allen key that would be 120lb pull. (on the very end) You're stronger than me or the key! Ouch, my hand hurts. (LOL)

As a rough guesstimate, 30 FT/LB of torque to tighten.

Adrian,
Please see my original post. I'm talking foot-pounds.
I own a couple of torque wrenches too, but I'm just guessing on this.

It's 3:30 AM and I'm too dull to do the math, but intuitively I have to think that the stress from tightening the thread by that small amount would be an order of magnitude less than the stress that occurs when the rifle is fired.   

And.....teflon tape causing wear?   I'd have to see the video tape before I'd buy that one.

Phil

Interesting question QM8130.

I personally stay away from teflon tape as I feel it is too easy for grit to become embedded into the soft tape, which then can allow the tape to act as a lap.
We all know how burnt powder residue gets blown forcibly into every nook and cranny with each shot fired.
YMMV

gunlaker wrote on Jun 26^th, 2015 at 9:30pm:


Yes, but that's to reduce the variance in friction, which can throw off the end result.  A bolt is nothing but a very stiff tension spring, or as a mentor of mine once said, a rubber band of a harder durometer.  It must be stretched (elastically) by some amount to obtain clamping force.   Ideally you can measure the stretch directly with a micrometer, as is done with rod bolts in piston engines.  Most cases you can't, because there is no access to the other end of the bolt, so you have to rely on controlling the torque.  Eliminating friction factors helps do that more accurately. 

The case of barrel threads must be considered as a very, very short bolt.  Almost all the elastic deformation must takes place in the thread form, and on the interface between the barrel shoulder and the frame face.  This is why the final takeup is 10 or 15 degrees, no more.  

There should be some preload on the threads and the shoulder face, because this will make the joint stiffer.  Overdo it, however, and under stress the deformation will exceed the elastic limit, and the preload actually drops for the next load cycle.   If the preload is too small, the parts move with respect to one another as the stress comes on.  This can actually also lead to loosening, as the contact faces become battered past the elastic limit by the repeated impact.  

My personal "happy medium" for setting up Model 44 barrels is  about 15 degrees.  Nominally giving .002" of "stretch", which as I said above is really just preloading the internal and external threads against one another, and the shoulder against the frame face.     

Phil

p.s. about now I wish I still had CAD mechanics working for me who could set up a Finite Element Analysis on this problem. 

Again speaking without the book, I'd judge the frame to be the strongest part of a 44, after the barrel itself.  The very earliest ones had a sharper corner at the lower front of the breech opening, which was soon changed.  Implication is that they might have been worried about it cracking there.  Have never seen or read about an actual example.

The knock on the .32-40 and .38-55 versions is that they "shot loose", i.e. linkage was battered until the gun would no longer lock up tight.  John Taylor has published a couple of examples which had pulled the eye off the breechblock leg.  So far no examples of frame failure.    

These are cast frames of a low-carbon steel.  Pretty malleable.  If anything were to happen to the frame it would be stretch, not fracture.