I thought about posting this under antiques, but technically the base gun was made post 1899 and considered "modern" by the ATF. There was also a thread recently regarding a smaller .38 cartridge, presumably to shorten the cylinder.
This took a while to get completed since the armorer doing the work for me was busy with other things.
The base gun was an old top break Smith & Wesson revolver in .38 S&W (not special). If I remember right, it dated to circa 1908. Roughly 100 years later I got it in a trade for some Greek .30-06 FMJ. It obviously started life with a longer bbl.
Fast forward a few years and I found myself in the humid low country of SC. This was not a climate that favored a gun with a fair amount of blue wear to begin with. Thus it seemed like a refinish might be in order. Around the same time, I found myself without my usually drawerfull (more or less literally) of snubs, derringers and small pocket autos.
Thus I got the idea "What if I get the bbl on this old gun chopped?"
A set of Pachs off a J frame, some Duracoat, and having the bbl shortened, crowned, and a bead sight installed and... The above is the result.
Show in comparison to a recent production 637-2 (with the hammer bobbed), the end result is actually smaller than a J frame, thanks in large part to the smaller cylinder.
Total investment - I didn't really keep track. Well under 200 dollars, and probably closer to 150ish.
I don't know if I'll get much use out of it or not. It does interest me more now than it did before, and for its size, is actually quite handy. In my mind it replaces the Ruger LCP that I had briefly, another gun that I didn't seem myself getting much use out of, but filled the niche of "eh, now I have something smaller than a J frame."
Other than a single example of .38 S&W ammunition that features a HBWC loaded backwards that I got from a box of misc stuff and set to the side as a demonstration of the concept, I'm limited to a supply of standard 146fr LRN factory ammunition, though for reasons that escape even me, I do have a fair amount of it stashed away. Seems as though this would deliver results on par with, or perhaps better than, .380 FMJs since the heavier bullet may make up for the loss in velocity.
Anyway, it was an interesting project.
Experiment number 2 - a top break transformed.
Linear Mode
