Rolled into my local gun shop today as I do about every week or so on the off-chance that an interesting S&W HE showed up since my last visit. Saw this one on the bottom rack, it had just arrived the weekend before.

At first glance I saw what appeared to be a 6.5" 45 Model 1955.....but NO!

This one has been created by someone with some skill, could it have been a S&W employee "project" gun?

Here's what I see.....the Frame is a Model 58 (No Dash) that has been milled and fitted with an adjustable rear site, and again....well done.
You can see some faint milling marks at the front end of the rear sight.

It is chambered for the .45 Colt cartridge.

The cylinder does not have a serial number stamped on it, only the letter "F".....not sure if it was the original M58 cylinder reamed out to .45 Colt or a cylinder from a M25??

The barrel is obviously for Model of 1955, but has been cut down to be able to work with the .45 Colt cylinder. There is NO serial number on the barrel.

The barrel measures just slightly under 6-3/8" in length.

The frame/cylinder do not a look like they have been refinished, and the barrel's finish is a slightly darker color and more polished to my eye.

I put a set of target stocks on it...they had a set of fake stag magnas on it.

Anyway, this one is just cool and I am anxious to take it out for a test drive!

Love to hear your thoughts/observations.....I will ask for a ship date from Roy soon, maybe it was a S&W employee "Lunchbox" gun and was never recorded???

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

A few more photos, not sure what the number stamped on the lower part of the grip frame represent? And the shape stamped??
Someone scratched in some numbers/letters....maybe an ID of someone?

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Reminds me of a Cadillac someone made a song about once.....

Well whoever put that one together had some real skills....looks like a real beauty...i like it...well done ...

Sent from my LGL41C using Tapatalk

And u gotta love a smith 45 acp

Sent from my LGL41C using Tapatalk

It is chambered in .45 Colt......but the barrel is from a .45 ACP 1955

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Who ever made it, I like it a lot. Congrats on a one of a kind!!!

The OP stated that this revolver is chambered in .45 Colt, using a slightly shortened 1955 .45 ACP barrel.

Once upon a time, Smith & Wesson made very few revolvers in .45 Colt. And .44 Special revolvers were dropped in 1966. The only way to get .45 Colt and .44 Special S&Ws was to convert N frames to the desirable calibers. I've had a M27 and a M28 converted to .44 Special, using NOS .44 Special target barrels. Others have had .45 Colts built the same way, as this one was done.

I'll bet that the cloverleaf/shamrock marking was done by the smith that did the conversion.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

George Nonte described making a 45 Colt from a M58, I think in his book Pistolsmithing. He didn't go to the effort to add the sights, however. Yours is a whole lot nicer.

Somebody wanted a nice S&W 45 colt so they made one.

I have some franken S&W 45 colts. Only one of them started out that way and it no longer has the original cylinder (original had big throats) . LOL 2 started life as 629-1s, one was a 1917, and another a 1955. Three of them have the cylinders cut for moon clips, so they fire both 45s (1917 and 1955 and converted one 629-1). My 25-5 sports a recessed 44 mag cylinder reamed to 45 colt and I trimmed the barrel from 8 3/8" to 5". Oh, then there is my triple lock 455 was reamed to 45 colt when I bought it. I guess that makes 6 franken 45 colts. I only regret the triple lock having been reamed when I got it and the 1955 that I did before I found out they where a bit special. Oh, well love 45 colt.

Thanks for sharing.....yours could be a twin to mine for sure! And since we are both in Arizona, maybe the same guy did it? Does yours have any stampings on the grip frame, similar to my clover/shamrock??

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Whomever did this went out of his way to create a target model out of an M58 with service sights.....that is a lot of milling! He knew his craft for sure!

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Did you get this gun from the same place as your done over Reg Mag? Maybe its from the same owner or gun smith shop.

No, the reworked RM was found at the Prescott Valley Gun Show this was a local gun shop.......here in Prescott, AZ

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Mine started out as a M28-2.
Made into a 45 Colt with 45 ACP cylinder extra by Austin Behlert for me in the 1970's.


Nice find Tom!

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

Nice find Tom I have ammo tucked away if I ever find one like it.
That would have been perfect.
The stocks we will have to talk about. : )

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Paul
S&WCA #2726

Thanks!
Yeah, I have a few sets of diamond targets around, but decided they were in too nice of shape to dress up this one with them. But something more interesting than the plain targets would be cool.

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Well even in 45 colt is a beautiful piece...sorry for my.mistake

Sent from my LGL41C using Tapatalk

At one time I had a Model 28 with a 6" Model 57 barrel and 41 Magnum cylinder. The frame was Highway Patrolman dull blue with the high gloss blue barrel and cylinder. It was a nice shooting revolver. I had a gunsmith chop the barrel to 3 1/2". I really liked it until I got a 3" model 29-3. The 29-3 did not have the two tone finish so I let the model 28 go.

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Gun Safety is no accident.

This is another "FrankenSmith" I found up in Seattle back in 2014 at a shop I frequented.
It's an MKII .455 that was reworked with cut down 3-1/4" barrel, added front sight, converted to round butt and the chambers reamed to .45 Colt.....a really nice backpack gun!

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

I don't see any reason to think that this is anything other than what it looks like, a target .45 made from a plain jane service revolver by an unknown gunsmith. Once upon a time Model 58s were cheap and it wasn't uncommon to use one as the basis for a custom gun, much like PPC guns were often based on Model 10s. It would have the added advantage of having properly sized chamber throats as Model 25-5s were often oversized.

THREEDFLYER - I didn't see any scratched numbers/letters, but the number stamped into the left side of the buttstrap seems also to appear on the yoke, saying to me that it's a factory fitter's number. It may or may not appear on the sideplate, depending on whether it's the original or not. Sorry to be of no help on the shamrock or other marks.

Larry

Both the gun in the OP and in #21 are really nice. (Actually, of those posted, they're all nice!)
But, the one in #21 reminds of an article that appeared in the 1974 Guns & Ammo Annual. Written by an NYPD detective, it describes his highly customized revolver that's almost a dead ringer for that one shown here.

Kudos!

Jim

Milling a fixed sight frame for adjustable sights isn't really that hard. I have done a couple N frames and a couple K frames. All the frames except J frames are the same except for length of front piece and screw hole location.

Remove cylinder and leave out yoke screw. Mount in mill vice right behind using brass pads without lower screws in side plate. You want them out so that side goes flat against pads. Level top of frame. Center up and use a .250 end mill to cut slot. Mounting piece is .276. so you need to move over a bit each way to clean it up and get mount blade to just slide in. Make the cut for the adjustment assy. Then do a regular slot cut for where the elevation nut rides. Then do the under cuts for the elevation nut base. A cutter for this is hard to find, but, I made a couple out of small 2 flute end mills by using a dremel to remove material on the end mill so only 2 small "teeth" were left on tip of mill. Some on has siince found a cutter that will work and posted a link to it in the gunsmith section. Any tool for this will be a bit fragile but your only removing a very small amount of material, using slow light cuts. Now mount sight with elevation near all the way up, with gun still in mill. Set up a drill directly over the mounting screw hole. slide out sight and drill hole. Then without moving the guns location mount the tap in the mill and turn it by hand. This is the best way to tap small holes as you keep perfect alignment of tap on hole. This is huge on very small taps. If the barrel is still mounted some sight mounting holes come out over the barrel shank and you have to be careful with depth of drill and then start hole with starting tap and then switch to a bottom tap. Easier if barrel is not mounted and your probably going to be installing a adjustable sight barrel anyway.

This is an example. What started out as a 1917 with a couple issues.

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steelslaver

^^^ You have a lot more machinist skills than 99% of the members on the Forum. Sir, my hat is off to you. ^^^

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S&WHF 366

Very cool find!

That's one of those dream projects many of us lusted after back then. AB was in his prime and turning out masterpieces, and about the only way you could get ANY target sighted S&W in 45 was to have one built. You hit a home run with yours!

Froggie

As somebody else said, you've got some serious skills. I've seen it done on a couple of Smiths, and for a skilled machinist it just requires planning and concentration, but that's for a skilled machinist, something I only dream of being. That tiny little key cutter for the elevation screw base is a bear to find and you have my great admiration for being able to grind your own... that too would have been a beast! My hat is off to you, Mr Steelslaver!

Froggie

No, I am a hack machinist. I did hang out around some very good machinist and learned a lot from them and a cousin who is top shelf. He used to make artificial joints, then went into making parts naval nuke ships. I am lucky in that if I run into a problem I can get an answers with a phone call or two. This stuff is rather simple really.

These guys make thing like helical gears, tapered progressive pitch screws. Work on and balance turbine blades etc.

I know a guy who has a home work shop in Missoula MT. His entire years output would easily fit in a couple of apple boxes. He makes valves that fire to release nitrogen to steer satellites. Very interesting. No valve stem, uses 2 rare earth magnets. When magnet on outside of valve body is turned it turns the inner one that is part of the piece that actually releases the gas. Must be very precise, no leaks. Not being able to steer a multi million dollar satellite would sucks and when they are out of nitrogen they are kaput. A lot of his production gets used up just in testing.

Thats a machinist.

I know the purists in the S&W world would walk...no RUN away from these guns....but to some of us, this stuff is just hard to pass up! Especially when they appear to be done well.

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Many moons ago, I was issued a nickel plated S&W 1917 by my police department. The PD had a bunch of guns that had been lost, stolen and/or abandoned. The officers were allowed to pick out duty, back up and off duty firearms.

I took this 1917 and cut the barrel to 4". I added a Ruger ramp front sight and round butted the frame. Then, using files, I fitted a spare S&W adjustable rear sight. Using a Dremel tool, I cut the notch for the foot of the sight. I didn't have the taps, so I had a smith drill and tap it. You might say I had built a pre Mountain Gun.

It would group 3" at 25 yards. I carried it off and on for several years as my duty gun.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Call it Beauty or Precious it was made to shoot. I would not have left the shop without it.

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Front sight and squeeze

And it's in .45 Colt! Well done Sir.

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Stay safe people!

Perhaps the shamrock indicates it was a custom CLUB firearm?

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Fred
S&WCA 3238

Friend MG, if ever a thread screamed out for pictures, this is one! Do you still own this old sidekick? For my personal enlightenment, how did you secure that Ruger ramp front sight? IIRC, Ruger used solder at the factory. Inquiring minds...

Froggie

I know many cringe at the thought of firearms and files. I know and maintain that a guy that is good with a file can do a lot of very precise work. Your post proves this. My hat is of to you that is quite a bit of file work. The dremel work to cut the notch for the nut base is another display of skill with a tool many despise.

Larry, precisely correct.

In 1957 the assembly # in the yoke cut of the frame was relocated to the left side of grip frame after model #s were assigned and the serial # was eventually added in the ‘yoke cut’ where the assembly #, now moved to the left side of the grip frame, used to be. You know they are assembly (factory work) #s because of those 3 locations that always match on guns that are original, and that’s the only usefulness for them after guns leave the factory; still used to this day, long after serial number locations decreased.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Tom,

That's a real honey you found!

There is a rear sight with longer front tang made for short barrel Model 66s and a few others that extends to the end of the front of the top strap to meet the barrel rib and fills that little gap on the top strap.


The lack of serial # on barrel and cylinder is also normal for that vintage:

Officially, on May 1, 1957 S&W eliminated the Soft Fitting Operation: So it generally corresponds with model numbers ordered June 12, 1957. It was no longer necessary to routinely stamp the serial number on the barrel, cylinder & yoke arm rear surface and show up unstamped over a transition period. So guns in process or in inventory as of 5/1/57 can still have more than 3 and up to 6 locations, and guns shipped after this time may have some of the former number locations because assembly was done over time and as inventory from the old process was used up.

The 6 serial # locations were down to only 3 left on the majority of models (but not all) from c. late 1957 thru 1959 which are:

1. Butt

2. Extractor star - backside

3. Right stock – backside (except most post war target grips because individual fitting not required.)

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Jim
S&WCA #819

I wish I still had that one. At one time I had a number of handguns checked out from the PD. Sometime in the mid 1990s, the chief decided to limit the number to two, so I turned that one in. I did remove the S&W rear sight assembly.

The two that I kept were a Colt 1917 in about 95% and a nickel Colt Cobra .38. Had to turn them in when I retired.

I never thought to take pictures of the ones I had checked out.

The Ruger Single Six .22 LR/.22 Magnum revolvers had front sights that were secured with a screw.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

The good news is that this one shoots as good as it looks!
Super smooth action, perfect trigger pull, excellent timing and very good accuracy!
The builder of this beast knew their craft!

It's a keeper!

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

That is just a really cool gun! Shoot the snot out of it!

Cool gun ,cool information in this thread .Thanks for starting it and hats off to the machinests .