Thanks steelslaver,

After the Clark LWR I decided to see what I could do myself. I purchased a Wolff Spring reduced power main spring and installed it in a Model 15 along with a reduced power rebound spring. The results were FANTASTIC. Not quite as good as the LWR but for $20 instead of $800... I had the cylinder on the 15 cut for moonclips so that added another $100 to the project.

For my next trick I decided to work on a WWII British contract M&P which I rescued from the junk heap for $100. It had less than 5% finish. Very little rust but even less finish. Two of the .38 S&W chambers had been bored out to fit .38 Spl cartridges. This of course does not work as the S&W case is of a larger diameter than the Spl. It would fire bang, bang, pop, bang, ban, poofff. I found a cylinder and crane at a gun show and traded some Sile stocks which I had, could not use and did not want - so that was free. I purchased a lanyard swivel for $15, took the whole thing apart, gave the parts a light bead blasting and a zink phosphate parkerizing.

I then had to purchase Jerry Kuhnhausen's book to figure out how to put the thing together again It looked great and when I test fired it... after almost every shot the cylinder would jump out of battery and lockup. I tore it down, checked, reassembled, tested and repeated several times. Finally I threw in the towel and took it to a local gunsmith. About 10 minutes after I got home he called and said it was "fixed." I picked it up and asked him what he did. He said he pulled the side plate, checked it and replaced the plate. Either he did not know what he fixed or he would not tell me. I paid him $20.

Some years later I decided to tune it up from the rather horrible factory DA pull. A Wolff mainspring and rebound spring, a little polishing and it is now about 7 1/2 # DA and a pleasure to shoot.

I have a second revolver of the same vintage which was in even worse condition. Remnants of some sort of finish, a layer of dirt, a coat of black paint, some more dirt and another coat of paint. I disassembled it, stripped the paint and parkerized the frame, barrel and side plate. It then sat in a box for about 10 years. Last year I finally decided to finish it. By now I was able to reassemble it with out reference to the book. This one really needs the barrel set back as the cylinder to barrel gap is about .012". And, the front screw on the side plate, the one which holds the crane in place, is almost stripped out. I know how I would fix that if I had a lathe, milling machine and TIG welder. Unfortunately I only have the TIG welder.

As for the .45 Colt "conversion" I don't know if I was even around when that was done and I had no say in the matter The machinist who did the work was a real character. I remember being told that he delivered all 3 of his children. Who needs a hospital? And for the last one he decided to film himself as the mid-husband/DIY obstetrician. The movie idea apparently did not work out but the child was OK.

Thanks BLUEDOT37,

That is some great info. I will revisit your post for sure once I get the revolver back from Clark's.

Ken