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S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 All 5-Screw & Vintage 4-Screw SWING-OUT Cylinder REVOLVERS, and the 35 Autos and 32 Autos


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  #101  
Old 05-06-2012, 12:58 PM
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A friend of mine at the firing line forum was asking me a question about that extra sideplate I bought recently. I didn't have the knowlege to answer his question, so I just took a couple of pics of the sideplate and posted it for him so he could see the answer for himself. Since I was taking pics anyway, I decided to take a few of the snubby today. Here she is as of today.

Now remember, this is not the completed project. Just nicely cleaned up for now. Will be mirror polished buffed refinished and with front sight installed when I'm done.

Right side when I received it very dirty and lots of surface rust....


Same side today, the rust is gone, but she will get looking even better soon. That cold blue is just temporary....


Left side when I received it....


Left side today. The rust is gone.


Definitely all I can do until my new buffing wheel arrives.
Will update after buffing.

.
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  #102  
Old 05-07-2012, 11:45 AM
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I'm having a great time following your project 1917, thanks for sharing.
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  #103  
Old 05-09-2012, 12:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Kframe66 View Post
I'm having a great time following your project 1917, thanks for sharing.
Glad you're enjoying it Kframe66. I'm having fun with it too.

Latest update for today.

Laid a half sheet of 220 grit, wet/dry sandpaper on the very flat counter top, then flat sanded the sideplate till all the pits were out of it. Then did the same flat sanding using 600 grit. That got all the pits out of the sideplate and got it ready for buffing.

My deburring/polishing scotchbrite wheel came in today. Got it installed on my buffer motor and in about a half hour or so had the frame cylinder, yoke and a few other parts de-pitted and almost buffed out. Then I took the scotchbrite wheel off and went back to my fabric wheel with white rouge for the high polish.

Buffed some more using that. Got everything highly mirror polished until I could see my face and teeth clearly in it. Here's some pics.....

Yep, even buffed/polished out the lanyard ring. Ejector rod too (but not the knurled part) but forgot to include it in the pic. For anyone new reading this without following the rest of this thread, this is NOT a nickel nor stainless revolver but is the "in the white", highly buffed out, polished carbon steel, of the 1917 S&W.....


When I was looking at the below pic, I wondered what the heck was that round thing in my sideplate? Then I realized it was the flush mount ceiling light fixture reflecting in my sideplate! Lol.


In this below pic you can see the bill of my baseball hat and the lens of the camera (that looks like a barrel muzzle) reflecting back from the sideplate as I took the picture.....


It is so mirror finish shiny now it is hard to take pictures of it since everything relects off the highly polished surfaces.....


Only spent about maybe an hour or so tops (sometimes lose track of time working in the shop) using the scotchbrite wheel and fabric wheel to get the surfaces to this condition. Looks pretty good. But I still can turn it in the light and see a few tiny lines in the frame exterior, so I'll be buffing it some more til I'm satisfied with it.

I'd post some more after I am completely finished with the buffing to my satisfaction, but since my camera won't even do justice to what I've buffed so far, it would be fruitless. So the next time I'll post is after I get it hot tank blued and all finished.

All for now.



.

Last edited by Bill_in_fl; 05-09-2012 at 02:23 AM.
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  #104  
Old 05-09-2012, 12:23 AM
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Nice! Did you have to do something to keep it from flash rusting? Or is that just a Pacific Northwest thing?
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  #105  
Old 05-09-2012, 12:35 AM
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Nice! Did you have to do something to keep it from flash rusting? Or is that just a Pacific Northwest thing?
I have it in a flat pan in the house. It won't rust between now and tomorrow when I will buff on it again til I get it just like I want it. Then when I am satisfied with the buffing, I'll wash it off good with hot soapy water to get all the buffing rouge off it, then dry it with a hair dryer, then immerse it in oil in the pan to prevent the air from hitting it til I can get it to someone to hot tank blue it.



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  #106  
Old 06-08-2012, 07:41 PM
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Yesterday I installed a Wolf reduced power spring kit in my other S&W 1917 that's in matte nickel. It gave me a dramatic difference in double action trigger pull. So since I had the factory hammer spring and trigger return spring now as extras from my matte nickel 1917, I felt safe in working on the springs in my highly polished "in the white" S&W 1917 snubby barrel. Figuring if I messed up its springs, I had spares to replace them.

So I took two coils off the factory trigger return spring and with my bench grinder I removed some metal off both sides of the factory hammer spring. Buffed the edges and cold blued the metal where I cut grinded and buffed it, then reinstalled them in the revolver. Worked very well. Not quite as slick and lightened as the Wolf kit on my other 1917 S&W, but very close. I didn't want to take off too much. You have to be careful to not take too many coils off the trigger return spring or remove too much metal from the hammer mainspring else you make them too light and ruin them. It's easy to remove metal but impossible to put metal back on a spring if you remove too much. Very happy with the results of both the Wolf reduced spring kit and my own home modified springs. Double actions are very slick and easy now. But not too easy. Want those primers to always pop when struck.

I gauged the trigger pull of both my matte finish 1917 and my polished snubby 1917, against my blue commercial 1917 and the commercial model was already just as slick and easy to pull as the Wolf springs in my matte nickel one were. I haven't been inside the commercial model yet, but I can tell it either has the Wolf spring kit in it, or else it has had work done on the action, because it is the slickest of all three so I don't need to mess with its springs at all.

I recommend the Wolf reduced power spring kit. And you can do almost the same thing modifying the factory springs....but be careful to not remove too much when modifying the factory springs and make sure you have spares before you try it.


Also this week I received the shot out rifling snubby barrel that member "Jack the Toad" sent me to get the front sight off of to put on my snubby barrel. Heated the barrel and front sight up with my torch and the sight fell right off. Cleaned it up good and will be attaching it to my snubby barrel real soon. Will posts pics when I get it attached.


.
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  #107  
Old 06-09-2012, 11:18 AM
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Very enjoyable post. Thanks for sharing. All $$$ aside the fun you are having.....Priceless
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  #108  
Old 06-10-2012, 12:52 AM
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Keep us posted on your project. I'm liking your results a lot. Nice work. Frank
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  #109  
Old 06-10-2012, 02:21 AM
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Here's my latest progress.

Member here "Jack the Toad" (George) was kind enough to send me his old shot out rifling cut snubby S&W 1917 nickel barrel so I could get the front sight off it to use on my 1917. Thanks again for sending that George. You saved me having to fabricate/mill out a front sight.

Since his barrel had also been cut, in order to reattach the front sight, a flat had been milled on his barrel just barely big enough for the base of the front sight to fit into and be silver soldered. I heated up the front of the barrel and sight and the sight came right off the barrel. Kept some heat on it and wire brushed off the silver solder both from the sight and barrel. Both came out nice and clean. Here's a few pics of his old barrel with the front sight I took off it.

Note the flat milled in the top of his old barrel that the sight fit down into.
(Sorry guys, I've checked, and there is no closeup setting on my cheapo camera. But you can get the idea good enough)




So what I've got to do now is to get to the store soon and get some silver solder since I'm out of it. Then position my revolver and barrel in my mill, align the front sight to the rear sight, then mill the shallow flat on the barrel. Got to make sure the flat is level across the top of the barrel too and carefully mill it so it is just barely big enough for the front sight base to fit down into. Then heat the barrel and sight and let the silver solder flow into the crack where the heat will pull it under and around the base of the sight.

Since I've decided to keep my revolver unfinished, but highly polished "in the white", I'll just keep the nickel plate that's on his old sight and not remove it through reverse electrolysis nickel plating. That will really simplify things. Since my highly polished "in the white" revolver almost looks like it's nickel plated, the actually nickel plated front sight goes perfect with it. I scotch taped the front sight to my barrel just to get a rough idea of what it would look like. It's a little higher than it will be when finished, but I think it will look real good. Here's a couple of pics of the sight scotch taped to my barrel.....





I'll post some more when I get to the store and get some silver solder and get my milling done for the barrel flat and the front sight soldered on.



.

Last edited by Bill_in_fl; 06-10-2012 at 02:41 AM.
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  #110  
Old 06-10-2012, 09:49 PM
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How much did they pay you to take the gun? With the money you are going to have to spend on it, I would think you probably could have bought a fairly decent one for the same money. Assume you enjoy a challenge.
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  #111  
Old 06-10-2012, 10:06 PM
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How much did they pay you to take the gun? With the money you are going to have to spend on it, I would think you probably could have bought a fairly decent one for the same money. Assume you enjoy a challenge.
That's just the thing Armyphotog. I haven't really had to spend any money on it because I have done all the work myself. So far all I've put into it money wise to restore it is $19.99 for a new old stock ejector rod to replace the old bent one and $11.06 for a new old stock lanyard ring, both got off e bay. That's it. I enjoy working on guns anyway and it gives me satisfaction for me to do the work myself and bring a firearm back to beauty and functioning when it was headed towards the firearms grave. I've done this with all kinds of firearms over the past 40 years so this isn't my first firearms fix/restoration project. Just my first one on a 1917 S&W. There's no better way to learn how something works than to take it apart, get familiar with how it all works and figure out how to beautify and fix it yourself.
It's a bit of a challenge, but it isn't rocket science.





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  #112  
Old 06-10-2012, 10:20 PM
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Bill_in_fl,

I applaud you efforts so far and envy you having the fun project.

I have had success rounding out the bottom of the sight base and soldering directly to the curved barrel surface. You have already removed the nickel plating and you wouldn't have to mill the barrel.

Actually with the sight taped securely in place I would always shoot it at this point to check for proper sight height. I would hate for the sight to be too low or to have to file thru the nickel plating on the top of the sight blade if it's too high. I always prefer to make my adjustments to the bottom of the sight base.

Just some thoughts and I enjoy following your progress.
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  #113  
Old 06-11-2012, 08:39 PM
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Bill_in_fl,

I applaud you efforts so far and envy you having the fun project.

I have had success rounding out the bottom of the sight base and soldering directly to the curved barrel surface. You have already removed the nickel plating and you wouldn't have to mill the barrel.

Actually with the sight taped securely in place I would always shoot it at this point to check for proper sight height. I would hate for the sight to be too low or to have to file thru the nickel plating on the top of the sight blade if it's too high. I always prefer to make my adjustments to the bottom of the sight base.

Just some thoughts and I enjoy following your progress.
Thanks Hondo. I have previously given what you mentioned consideration. I did not remove the nickel plating off the front sight though. But since the front sight was cut off of its previously nickeled barrel, the very bottom side of the sight isn't nickeled. Just its top and sides.

I also thought about just curving the bottom of the front sight so that its curve matched the curve of the barrel and then soldering it onto the barrel rather than using the option of milling a flat on the barrel as was previously done on JacktheToad's barrel that I got the sight off of. That is an option and I might still do that.

I had also thought about that problem and you're right about not having to file the sight once it is installed and making sure it is the proper height when installed and to take any material off the bottom of the front sight rather than the top.

There are several things I thought about doing to make sure the front sight was properly aligned both for windage and elevation.

My first idea was to place the revolver in a vice and make sure the rear sight groove and barrel were perfectly level by using a bubble level or laser level on it. Then along with that, I thought about placing a wire suspended also perfectly level and horizontally attached tightly between two screws in wood....over the very top of the rear sight groove where the tip of the front sight should be seen.

Then keeping the leveled wire at the top of also leveled rear sight groove, I would see if the tip of the front sight blade would just barely touch the underside of said leveled wire. I theorize that should give me the correct height.

There are several variables to consider.

1. What if the revolver did not shoot to point of aim to begin with? Since it didn't have a sight on it when I received it, I don't know. Then my aligning the sights like I described above wouldn't make any difference.

2. If I milled a flat into the barrel for the sight to sit in and be soldered in, would that make my front sight too low? I could check that with leveling the sights and barrel with the level wire, but again...what if it didn't shoot to point of aim to begin with?

3. If I just curved the bottom of the front sight so that it matched the curve of the barrel, with the thought of then measuring its height using the leveled barrel and leveled rear sight groove and leveled wire as I described above, even if I got the sight the perfect height without milling a flat into the barrel, how do I know it would shoot to point of aim without knowing if it did so before?

Hondo, it would be a good idea for me to temporarily tape/attach/superglue the sight (or a front sight blade proxy and not the actual sight) and try shooting it to see if it shoots to point of aim. If I temporarily attached and used a front sight proxy (instead of the actual half moon sight I would install later), then I could bench rest shoot it and adjust the height of the proxy sight until I hit to point of aim at the yardage I wanted. Then I could measure the height of the proxy sight once I got it to hitting at point of aim, and that way make sure that if I measured how deep the flat would be that I could mill onto the barrel, that the half moon front sight would still sit up high enough to replicate the same point of aim that the proxy sight did. If after measuring and taking into account how deep the flat on the barrel would be, if the half moon sight would not be high enough sitting in that flat, then I'd know that instead of milling a flat, I should just curve the bottom of the sight to contour to the barrel's curve. And hopefully that would be high enough.

I hope I wrote all that so it was clear enough for everyone could understand what I meant.
A bit tricky and a sticky wicket getting this aligned. Any other suggestions that might be a better option of doing it?



.

Last edited by Bill_in_fl; 06-11-2012 at 11:25 PM.
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  #114  
Old 06-11-2012, 09:31 PM
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Sounds like you have a handle on it! I've used the proxy sight method and it'll certainly work. I'm used to taking a file to the range when I sight-in and adjust a front sight. So I prefer to use the actual sight but that doesn't mean it's better then your method.

On a fixed sight gun I take my half round file and if I have to move the front sight base slightly off center for windage I can cant the round cut under the base slightly to move the sight horizontally but still end up with the blade perfectly vertical. Transferring that angle from a proxy sight would be challenging. I try to make the result look as 'factory' as possible and therefore shy away from the milling cut. Chances are you'll need as much height as possible since a shortened barrel usually requires a higher front sight especially if shooting heavy bullets.
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Old 06-11-2012, 11:31 PM
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Quote:
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Sounds like you have a handle on it! I've used the proxy sight method and it'll certainly work. I'm used to taking a file to the range when I sight-in and adjust a front sight. So I prefer to use the actual sight but that doesn't mean it's better then your method.

On a fixed sight gun I take my half round file and if I have to move the front sight base slightly off center for windage I can cant the round cut under the base slightly to move the sight horizontally but still end up with the blade perfectly vertical. Transferring that angle from a proxy sight would be challenging. I try to make the result look as 'factory' as possible and therefore shy away from the milling cut. Chances are you'll need as much height as possible since a shortened barrel usually requires a higher front sight especially if shooting heavy bullets.
Thanks for the great tips Hondo. (tip of the hat) I'll keep every bit of that in mind as I figure out the best way to approach this sight alignment.


.
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Old 06-14-2012, 05:45 PM
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I measured the height of my front sight on my full length barrel 1917 and then compared that height to the height of the front sight I'm installing on my snubby barrel 1917. I saw that I could lower the front sight on the snubby. But instead of doing that, so that it would be easier to mount the front sight, I milled a very shallow flat onto the top of the barrel, then J&B weld epoxied it to the barrel. I fired it yesterday to see how it hit at point of aim. It hit at the bottom of a plastic liter bottle low and a few inches to the left of the bottle, tearing a line in the ground where it hit. The blast also blew my sight right off the barrel but I picked it up. For some reason the J&B weld epoxy did not stick very well. That's okay though because it was just temporary to see how it would hit in that position.

But at least it showed me with that one shot where the sight would cause it to hit on point of aim. Since it hit low, I know I need to lower the front sight. But I don't want to file off metal from the bottom of the sight. So I am going to mill a leeetle bit deeper on the barrel flat the sight sits on. That will get it a little bit lower, then I'll stick it back on with J&B weld and see where it hits then. Might have to do this a few times til I get it hitting right at point of aim. But eventually I'll get it hitting to point of aim. No hurry. It's about the last thing I need to do to finish the restoration along with permanently mounting the front sight after I get it hitting where I want.


.
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Old 06-14-2012, 06:25 PM
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Bill,

You might try temporarily attaching the blade with a low fusing lead solder.

As an aside, I recall that before the days of plastic, toothpaste came in lead tubes (Ipana was one brand). I remember my dad using a soldering iron heated in a blow torch to melt the old toothpaste tubes to make solder joints that would be subjected to low stress. Can you imagine the furor that would be raised today if you tried to sell some product you put in your body in a lead container!!

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Old 06-14-2012, 06:53 PM
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Bill in fl,
Outstanding, sounds like you don't have much work left to finish! I've had no luck gluing on sights either and use the blue masking tape for testing.

Thanks for the update,
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Old 06-15-2012, 12:12 PM
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That is a very cool project! I would love to find a 1917 like that to rebuild. Congrats.
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Old 07-01-2012, 09:23 AM
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has there been anymore progress yet?
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Old 07-01-2012, 09:55 AM
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has there been anymore progress yet?
Just been busy lately. No time for this project for some days.
Had a death in the family and a friend who just entered Hospice too. Plus other business projects and life has just gotten in the way of finishing this last step in the project lately. But I'll get back on the sight as soon as I can. Might do a little work on it today with milling the flat a little deeper and try to rough up the joining surfaces a bit more so the J&B weld will stick better. Course the J&B weld will just be temporary til I get it hitting at point of aim. Then silver solder the front sight on for permanent.
I'll post again when I've done more.


.
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Old 07-01-2012, 02:02 PM
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Hot-damn Bill you sure like a project. As I've always wanted a big bore cut-down, I'm with Canun on this one. Clean it up, make it safe, shoot it then decide about the front sight, and refinish.

Pleas keep us posted on the project as it moves along.
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Old 07-09-2012, 12:54 AM
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I filed the bottom of the front sight a little more to raise my bullet strike. J&B weld epoxied it on the barrel again. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Last time I must not have gotten a good enough bond with the J&B weld epoxy and the sight flew off when I fired it. Hopefully this time it will stick a bit better. Might put some thin tape around it to help it stay on and not fly away like it did last time. Once I get it to hitting where I want, I'll heat the J&B epoxy and remove it and then silver solder the sight on permanently. Will post more with final finished project pics when I get that done.


.
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Old 07-09-2012, 01:12 AM
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I like the short barreled idea. It would make an ideal carry gun in a shoulder holster.
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Old 07-09-2012, 01:53 AM
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I would convert it to 45 Colt and put a 5 inch barrel on it. But I want a want a piece to carry in a holster with a lanyard. I miss having a 45 N frame. Lucky find and good on you for resurrecting it!
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Old 07-09-2012, 04:20 AM
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Hey Bill, jrhoney makes a good suggestion about 45 Colt.

But there's a professional way that would be able to shot both 45 Colt and ACP from the same cylinder:

All you have to do is "short shoulder" the chamber when reaming the chamber for 45 COLT. The case mouths would headspace on the chamber shoulder (like ACP cases) instead of on the rim. The Colt rounds would stick out of the Chambers .040" (also like ACP cases) and there would be no excessive headspace for the Colt rounds at the breechface.

This is perfectly safe and as safe as shooting ACP, as long as you don't use any 90 year old 45 Colt balloon head cases but I don't think you could find those these days if you wanted to!

You would then have to use moon clips with 45 ACP but who doesn't anyway??
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Old 07-09-2012, 12:24 PM
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All you have to do is "short shoulder" the chamber when reaming the chamber for 45 COLT. The case mouths would headspace on the chamber shoulder (like ACP cases) instead of on the rim. The Colt rounds would stick out of the Chambers .040" (also like ACP cases) and there would be no excessive headspace for the Colt rounds at the breechface.
If your .45 Colt rounds are loaded like an ACP round (taper crimped), it might be safe enough, but a .45 Colt round with a conventional roll crimp that turns the case mouth into the crimping groove of a bullet might not be such a good idea.
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Old 07-09-2012, 04:38 PM
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If your .45 Colt rounds are loaded like an ACP round (taper crimped), it might be safe enough, but a .45 Colt round with a conventional roll crimp that turns the case mouth into the crimping groove of a bullet might not be such a good idea.
Of course! The chamber shoulder should always match the crimp style. if you use factory ammo which is roll crimped, or reload using a roll crimp, you need it reamed with the standard roll crimp shoulder. If you want to taper crimp your rounds get a square cut shoulder like the ACP.
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Old 07-09-2012, 07:06 PM
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Nice job - it's going well. Here's mine:
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Old 07-16-2012, 07:04 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hondo44 View Post
Hey Bill, jrhoney makes a good suggestion about 45 Colt.

But there's a professional way that would be able to shot both 45 Colt and ACP from the same cylinder:

All you have to do is "short shoulder" the chamber when reaming the chamber for 45 COLT. The case mouths would headspace on the chamber shoulder (like ACP cases) instead of on the rim. The Colt rounds would stick out of the Chambers .040" (also like ACP cases) and there would be no excessive headspace for the Colt rounds at the breechface.

This is perfectly safe and as safe as shooting ACP, as long as you don't use any 90 year old 45 Colt balloon head cases but I don't think you could find those these days if you wanted to!

You would then have to use moon clips with 45 ACP but who doesn't anyway??
Thanks for that tip jrhoney and Hondo.
Not a bad idea to ream the cylinders on it so I can use all three of either .45 auto rim, .45 Colt and also moon clipped .45 acp and I'll keep that in mind for a future project. But at least for now I'm going to keep it in .45 acp only. Still haven't had a chance to shoot it since doing more filing on the bottom of the front sight and reattaching it. It's been raining every day here in Florida. Hopefully I'll get a chance to shoot it to test for bullet strike soon.

Also noted below.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by M29since14 View Post
If your .45 Colt rounds are loaded like an ACP round (taper crimped), it might be safe enough, but a .45 Colt round with a conventional roll crimp that turns the case mouth into the crimping groove of a bullet might not be such a good idea.


.

Last edited by Bill_in_fl; 07-16-2012 at 07:13 AM.
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Old 07-16-2012, 07:10 AM
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Nice job - it's going well. Here's mine:
Thanks Bubbajoe. Nice bobbed hammer 1917 snubby you've got there yourself.


.
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Old 07-21-2012, 12:31 AM
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snubbies are the best!

here's mine

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Old 07-21-2012, 03:38 PM
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It looks like it's locked up because the ejector rod has unscrewed, binding against the locking lug. Use a scrap of leather and plyers to see if the ejector rod will screw back in some. It's standard right-hand threads.
That may be why it is all rusted up now. Someone who knew just enough to shorten the barrell and didn't care about losing the front sight got frustrated when it locked up and just put it away in disgust and forgot about it, thinking it "was no good.'
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Old 08-26-2012, 11:50 AM
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As a fan of the 1917, I have followed this thread with great interest. Although I am not much into changing a guns original configuration, this gun was already modified and to me is therefore fair game.

Since it is a short barrel gun most likely to be used for carry, the front sight might not be a necessary modification. One could shoot it instinctively as another poster suggested. You really aren't going to shoot this gun at 100 yards anyway.

Any more progress on the refinishing part of the project? After reading through 7 pages of posts, I am kind of looking forward to seeing the final result.

As I said, I like model 1917's.
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Old 08-26-2012, 12:21 PM
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Here's a pic of my 1917 with 2" 625-10 barrel and cylinder. Lots of hand fitting but I think it turned out great.
Like the grips, can you tell me what kind and where to get them. I have a snub that they would great on. I know this is an old thread, just hoping for an answer. Thanks, Jesse.
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Old 08-26-2012, 01:28 PM
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Those look like modified K frame targets.
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Old 09-26-2012, 09:34 PM
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Would like to find out this.....

Someone told me that the Brazilian barrels have a slightly different contour than the U.S. barrels. Is that true?
Any issues different with installing a Brazilian barrel different from installing a U.S. barrel? Brazilian threads match up with U.S. frame threads?.
Hi Bill,
I had meant to respond to your question about barrel contour. I can not tell any difference. However I wonder if the someone that told you that was thinking of the top strap contour which is different on the 1937 guns; they are flattened on top and have a larger rear site sq notch.

They were newer made frames than the 1917. However the 1946 contract Brazilians have the original 1917 rounded top strap w/small u notch site because they were surplus 1917 frames, 10,000 of which S&W purchased back from the government at the end of WW II.

How's the project coming?
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Old 03-13-2013, 05:22 AM
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Well "Webshots.com" where I used to upload and store all my photos and videos, sent me a message saying they were transferring to another site and that site would be a pay site and if I wanted to save my photos from webshots I would have to download them to my computer, save them and then re-upload them back to their new paysite. So I downloaded all my photos and some of my videos and saved them to my computer. But then the former Webshots site sent me another email saying their new site was held up and wouldn't be live for awhile. And that's the last I ever heard from them. So that is why all my previous photos of everything I have posted are absent from my posts. Because they are no longer working at the old webshots site that I linked my posts here to those photos. I'm going to try getting an account with "Photobucket" or some other photo/video hosting site and put all my photos there so I can upload them in posts again. But it won't help me right now for all the posts I've posted that have missing photos now. Anyway.....

I haven't had the time to install the front sight on my bobbed barrel S&W 1917 revolver yet. It's the last thing I need to do to have that project completed. I had tried "J&B weld" epoxy to hold it on, TWICE. But each of the two times I J&B'd it on, it fell off when I fired it. The J&B weld works great on parts that do not flex. But when a projectile goes down a barrel, it causes a very slight flexing of the barrel that goes back down after the projectile has passed through the barrel. That was enough to crack the J&B weld and make the front sight fall off. I was going to silver solder it on myself, but before trying that, I am going to a friend of mine who does precision welding on race cars, and who can do a very small weld bead and see if he can just fine bead weld the front sight on which would be much stronger than silver soldering it on. Then if he can do that, I can file and polish the welded on area to my satisfaction. The only reason I don't go ahead and silver solder it on now, is because I think if my friend can do a fine enough steel weld bead for me, that would be much stronger than just silver soldering it on. But if he can't do a bead that fine, then I won't let him try because that might mess the barrel up and in that case I'll just silver solder it on. By the way, it has been quite some time since I highly polished the revolver free of any rust or blue and it is still "in the white" and hasn't exhibited any pinpricks of rust whatsoever. It looks like it is nickel plated but it's really just very highly polished. Maybe the very high polish has something to do with no rust taking hold.


.

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Old 03-13-2013, 08:43 AM
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Thanks for the information about JB weld, I was about to try that on a project. Hope yours continues to be as much fun as it has been.
Thanks for posting all that you have done on your project.
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Old 04-28-2013, 02:40 AM
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Okay, finally about got my S&W 1917 snubby project finished. Had one major accident on the mill though that you will see in a minute. Because my old webshots photo upload site closed down, all my previous photos in this thread disappeared, but I've since got an account at photobucket, so here's a quick review of past photos and some quick text on them and my latest work to bring us up to today.

The below two photos were from the auction where I purchased the 1917. As you can see the barrel has been cut, it has no front sight, is rusty and is locked up because of a bent ejector rod. It had genuine India Sambar stag grips on it. So that was a plus. But I don't care for them so I took them off and put some nice fat Jay Scott grips on it to better fill my big hands. Probably will sell the Sambar stags (if anyone here is interested) since they are worth about $150.00




The first thing I did was acquire and install a new (old stock) ejector rod.


Then I took it all apart, cleaned it, installed some Wolf replacement springs to lighten the trigger and hammer, and highly polished it as you can see below.....








One of the members from this forum (Jack the toad) sent me a shot out rifling snubby barrel from a 1917 he had, and I heated up the front sight and removed it to go onto my snubby barrel. Of course I had to file a flat onto my barrel for it to go on to, just like it had been on the shot out rifling barrel. Here's that front sight removed from the old shot out barrel....


I had tried attaching the front sight to my barrel with J&B weld epoxy, but trust me, that doesn't work and it came off the first time I fired the revolver. That brings us up to date on my previous work. Below is my latest progress on the project.

Finally got the front sight tig WELDED (not silver soldered) on. And yes I did remove the ejector rod's front lug's spring before welding and replaced it afterwards. In fact I removed the ejector rod and cylinder too when it was welded. Here's a few pics of that before I ground down, filed, sanded and polished the welds....






Now for the major accident I had in the mill. The end of the barrel was jest a leetle off and not square from where it had been cut, so I was doing a leetle trim on the end of the barrel. Everything else was about done and this accident was right at the end of the project. Isn't that always the way? The revolver slipped in the vice and before I could shut the mill down, the mill bit danced all down the right side of the barrel putting deep multiple cuts in it and took out a chunk of the receiver where the barrel screws in too! Needless to say I was sickened to see that happen.




But not to worry, about an hour and a half of tig welding later filling in all the cuts on the barrel and the chunk taken out of the receiver, and careful tig welding to preserve the seam where the barrel screws into the receiver at that cut out chunk point on the receiver, and everything was filled in again. Then disk sanding and filing and sandpapering and polishing again until you can't tell that accident ever happened. Whew! I can tell you though,...I was sweating it, those were some bad cuts on the barrel and chunk taken out of the receiver. But the repair came out okay and nothing was deep enough to cause any operational problems, it was mainly cosmetic, but MAJOR league cosmetic. Here's what it looks like now.

Careful tig welding and filing to get the seam of the barrel to the receiver back correct where that chunk had been cut out by the mill accident....




More of the same from further out....


Overall view of previously damaged right side of barrel now fixed....


Side views of revolver today.




It is (in the white) but highly polished. To anyone who doesn't know what (in the white) means, that means it doesn't have any finish of any kind and the metal is bare.

The snubby barrel is exactly 3 & 1/2 inches long.

There are a few little spots I will continue to polish out and later I might even send it out to get it nickel plated. But for the most part, I think now, I can say the project is finished.
I am really happy about how the welding on attaching the front sight came out. If it hadn't been for that bad mill accident I would have been finished a day sooner. I am happy overall with it. Compared to what she looked like when I got her, she's a gem today. I'll post an update on its accuracy when I shoot it soon, and we will see if the welding of the barrel pulled the barrel any, but it was kept cool with a compressed air nozzle between each and every weld on each cut on the barrel and receiver, so it didn't get too overheated. Can't wait to test it out shooting.

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Old 04-28-2013, 04:12 AM
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You could have filled those gouges from the mill accident with bondo and just spray painted the gun black.
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Old 04-28-2013, 04:28 AM
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You could have filled those gouges from the mill accident with bondo and just spray painted the gun black.
Ha ha!. Yeah right. Blasphemy! Lol.


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  #143  
Old 04-28-2013, 07:58 AM
jack the toad jack the toad is offline
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Congrats on a good looking job. Anxious for range report.
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  #144  
Old 04-28-2013, 09:46 PM
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G-Mac G-Mac is offline
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Did you look inside the barrel to make sure that there is no "over-penetration" from the TIG welding?

That would be bad....KA-BOOM!
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  #145  
Old 04-29-2013, 01:52 AM
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Bill_in_fl Bill_in_fl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Mac View Post
Did you look inside the barrel to make sure that there is no "over-penetration" from the TIG welding?

That would be bad....KA-BOOM!
The cuts did not even come close to going all the way through the barrel. But yes I did look inside the barrel since it was welded. No obstructions.



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  #146  
Old 04-29-2013, 01:53 AM
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Bill_in_fl Bill_in_fl is offline
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Originally Posted by jack the toad View Post
Congrats on a good looking job. Anxious for range report.
I'll shoot it soon Jack, and post to show the results.


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  #147  
Old 04-29-2013, 08:26 AM
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shep854 shep854 is offline
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MY first thought after the gasp was that you had the basis of a really original engraving job!
In all honesty, though, you have done an incredible job of work! If you don't tell about the 'issues' no one will ever notice it. Thanks for sharing your labor of love with us.
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  #148  
Old 04-29-2013, 11:20 AM
Green Frog Green Frog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bettis1 View Post
About a brazillianth of an inch...

.........ROTFLMAO!!

Froggie
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  #149  
Old 05-02-2013, 06:27 PM
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Bill_in_fl Bill_in_fl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shep854 View Post
MY first thought after the gasp was that you had the basis of a really original engraving job!
In all honesty, though, you have done an incredible job of work! If you don't tell about the 'issues' no one will ever notice it. Thanks for sharing your labor of love with us.
Thanks Shep, my pleasure.


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  #150  
Old 05-02-2013, 06:44 PM
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olskool olskool is offline
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great job!
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