Hi fellow forum members. I received a 28-2 from a fellow forum member with a 7 shot cylinder cut for moon clips in the gun. I promptly bought a new hand and a 28-2 cylinder in 6 shot. He didnt know anything except that he had never heard of 7 shot in N, only 8. I figured it was a k or L. I got some 7 shot moon clips and they work perfect in my 686 plus but they are too small to fit into the 7 shot cylinder i took out of the 28. Is this aftermarket(its blued) or did smith make any 7 shot 27's,327's, 28's or 520's?
thanks for any light you can shed.
I will post a picture tonite.

6 and 8-round yes, but I don't think a 7-round in the N frame. There are 7-shot L frame cylinders, but I think these may be longer than the N frame and would not fit?

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

It is an aftermaket cylinder made in the 1980s

That makes sense since the L frame clips did not work.Thank you

There was someone making 7 shot N frame cylinders a number of years ago. The name Baughman(unknown spelling) comes to mind, but I'm not sure of that. Probably someone else here can recall better than me.

You're probably thinking of Hamilton Bowen.

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Dick

Baughman is correct

He did 7 shot 357 Magnum N-frame conversions

The moon clips were mandatory for extraction.

No. I've never heard of Bowen doing 7 shot N Frames.

Yes, it was back in the 80s, it was Baughman, and I believe the target market was the bowling pin shooters. That extra shot could really make a difference. In the jargon of the day you would "Baughmanize" your N frame .357. As I recall, it was more popular on M 28s (cheaper base gun). I had a friend that had one.

The advent of the factory higher cap revolver basically killed it.

Actually I think I spelled it wrong. I think it was Baumann, and "Baumannize".

Here's one we just installed on a Model 27 marked 23. We cut it a bit different to headspace deeper and machined into the cylinder to allow use with or without moonclips -- like on a 627. It works great. It indexes perfectly using the original 6-shot hand that was on the gun and in fact the owner can switch back and forth between the 6-shot and 7-shot cylinder at will.

I may write up a bit of a blurb about the install of this in the S&W Smithing section when I can get around to it.



Not the greatest quality photos, but they're what I have at the moment. We just did this install last week. The light's kind of weird in this photo, it makes the barrel-blue seem to not match the rest of the gun, but in "real life", it does as it was all reblued in the same tank. Had to be done, there's some remarking involved to make everything "Mexico Compliant."

was the name of the gunsmith who made the 7-shot cylinders for Smith N-frames. He lived on Long Island in New York. In the early 90s he had so many revolvers in his shop, he started sending your gun and money back if you were tired of waiting. I acquired a used one later, and then had my Model 28 fit with a new barrel and an 8-shot cylinder chambered in .38 Super.

I met John Baumann at the ICORE Nationals in 1996. He was shooting a Ruger with a very long barrel with a 9-shot cylinder chambered for .32 H&R Magnum. This was all John's own work. He told me he needed the long barrel to squeeze enough velocity out of the .32 H&R to make the minimum required power factor.

Gunmakers like John and Vic Maheren showed S&W and Taurus that 8-shot N-frames were totally feasible and the rest is history.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I have never heard of a factory 7 round N frame. 7 shot L frame, yes. 8 round N frame, yes.

Cal:

It surely looks nice!!!!! The owner would be very pleased when he get his hands around it.

Tadeus: Don't worry, he has his hands on it. We shot the thing last weekend. It works just fine. Good carry-up on all 7, and he can switch back to the 6-shot cylinder by just switching cylinders. Both use the same yoke-crane.