Info On This 24-3

[Robert999]

I recently acquired this 24-3 .44 spl and am trying to find some information on it. It has a 5" barrel and a round butt. Serial number is ABZ7XXX. Apparently, there were only 7,500 of these made, with approximately 2,500 being made with a 4" barrel and 5,000 being made with a 6.5" barrel. As you can see in the pics this one definitely has a 5" barrel.

Any thoughts?

[Mack]

Someone cut a 6 1/2 barrel down and round butted it as a 4 or 6 1/2 would be a square butt, only the 3" was round. I just looked at a photo of a 6 1/2 I used to own to confirm barrel markings match up.

[P&R Fan]

The Catalog says there were some made with 5" and 5 1/2" barrels and they are rare.
I never knew that until now. Pretty cool.
Oh almost forgot, welcome to the Forum.
Jim

[Engine49guy]

The SCSW does mention that some 5" barrels were made,
Can you post some pics of the backstrap grips removed and some of the barrel rib where it meets the front site as well as the muzzle ?

Im wondering if the FS ramp is integral or pinned to the barrel?

[Robert999]

[Dennis The B]

Just from the pictures, it looks like the barrel hasn't been cut. The roll marks look centered. Since the SCSW says the 5" and 5.5" models are scarce, it may pay for you to get a letter from Roy Jinks.

The Pachmayr's are good for recoil from powerful cartridges, but I'd try to find a nice set of wood stocks for them. You can get round-butt or round-to-square butt stocks, and they'd look very nice. And that 5" barrel should balance very nicely; probably the best balanced of all the N frame barrel lengths.

Nice grab.

[Robert999]

I have a pair of boot grips on order, as well as a nice new holster.

The gun's a little muzzle heavy, but comes to a very quick and natural point.

So what's the procedure for getting this gun lettered?

[Snapping Twig]

Eagle Grips makes their Heritage grip which is a 'coke' style original S&W grip.

I bought a set in round to square conversion. They look real nice on my 627-0.

[Engine49guy]

Thanks for the follow up pics,
Interesting the FS ramp is pinned to the barrel like S&W did before 1970.
The 3.5", 4" and 6" guns have front ramps that are integral with the barrel.

The 3.5" version was a round butt gun with serrated tangs, the 4" and 6.5" versions were square butt with serrated tangs,
Im guessing by the smooth tang your gun began life as a square butt and was converted to round butt.

If its possible to get some clear pics in outside light would be interested to see the rollstamps on the barrel especially the ampersands.

[Kernel Crittenden]

I think ABZ was a s/n prefix reserved solely for M24's. I have 17 ABZ s/n's in my collection, every single one a M24-3 made between June 1983 and March 1984. None are 5-inchers.

Product code for the 4-inchers was 100782, the 6.5-inchers 100785, and the 3-inchers 100787.

There's unfilled "gaps" in the product codes were a 5-incher could fit.

[Robert999]

It strikes me as sort of odd that someone would cut down a 6.5" barrel to make a 5", but who knows, right?

[bulldog06]

A letter from Roy is the only way to verify how it shipped. Original or not, if I could find one like this, I'd buy it in a second, put the Eagle round to square target grips on it and have a new favorite.

congrats.

[Mack]

The Catalog lumps the 24-3 thru 24-5's together, I have never heard of a 5" 24-3, the round butt is also an oddity. A letter is the only way to know for sure. The roll marks are in the same location as on the 6 1/2" barrels.

[Robert999]

Thanks for the responses. Will send off to have the gun lettered then.

[flundertaker]

I have a 24-3 that is a AEJ prefix.

[Engine49guy]

Ampersands looks period correct to me so not an older barrel on a newer frame.

It really doesnt make sense to drop $50 on a factory letter IMO because the SB frame has definitely been round butted by the owner or a local gunsmith IMO relegating it to a nice shooter.

The front site ramp is done in the way S&W did them in the "Old Days" so looks original although it could have gone back to S&W after the fact and been shortened as well, BTW older versions had their barrel rib milled a bit and the ramp was set flush in the slot where yours appears to be pinned on top of the barrel rib grooves like the pre 1970 Model 19's.

Either way there are enough 5" barrel .44 Special fans out there that would buy the gun just for the barrel and use the frame for another project .

[Robert999]

@Engine49guy: Do you suppose the SB to RB conversion was done at the S&W factory? Looking at the butt, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of alteration.

[Robert999]

Edit: On closer inspection, it looks as though it was converted from a square to round butt. Opinions?

[Muley Gil]

"It strikes me as sort of odd that someone would cut down a 6.5" barrel to make a 5", but who knows, right?"

Not to me. Back in 1976, I had a M27 converted to a 6 1/2" .44 Special.

30 years later, I had that 6 1/2" barrel trimmed to 5", as a 5" S&W DA revolver, either the N or the K frame, has the perfect balance, in my NOT so humble opinion!

[Robert999]

@Muley Gil: Did S&W do the conversion for you?

I can say this about this gun, it comes to a very natural point. I've owned a lot of revolvers over the years and this one feels exceptionally well-balanced to me.

[Muley Gil]

No.

S&W stopped building .44 Special revolvers in the mid '60s. Skeeter Skelton, a popular gun writer, wrote a number of articles in Shooting Times magazine about converting N frame S&Ws to .44 Special and .45 Colt. He mainly used M28s, as they were common then and inexpensive. He also had some Old Model Ruger Blackhaws converted.

I bought a factory 6 1/2" .44 Special target barrel from J&G Rifle Ranch and then took the project to Walker Arms in Selma, Alabama. They rechambered the cylinder and installed the barrel. I carried as my duty revolver for several years.

About 2006, I had David Clements in Woodlawn, Virginia cut the barrel, install a ramp front sight, and reblue it.

[Robert999]

@Muley Gil: Got a pic?

[Muley Gil]

Originally Posted by Robert999

@Muley Gil: Got a pic?

Yup. The ramp isn't the same as a S&W, but it gives a good sight picture. It is now wearing a pair of Kurac walnut coke style targets. It has a target hammer and a narrowed, smooth target trigger. It has a sweeeet action.

[Robert999]

You can tell that that gun is much happier as a .44.

[Culina]

I am not sure about the barrel but the grip frame has definitely modified to a round butt from a square, I think the cutoff stampings on the flats are a tell tale sign, it would be difficult and pointless to put a stamp with half hanging of the frame. So when one part of a gun has been modified in a major way and refinished, it kind of brings the rest of it into suspicion as well.

[YeshuaIsa53]

Love to see a pic of a naked 24-3 3" butt. Just for comparison...

[Grayfox]

There's no doubt in my mind that this is a 6 1/2" gun that was cut down. That front sight just ain't quite right. The front edge of the blade should be flush with the front edge of the ramp. Obviously, the original patridge front sight of the longer barrel has been replaced by a new factory red ramp blade.
It is outstanding work and I would have bought it in a heartbeat. I love 5" N-frames.

[Goblin]

The reason for the questions about the back of the grip frame is that the SCSW says the 24-3s had a 10-groove serrated blackstrap. More evidence of an aftermarket round butt conversion. Shame if they did that to an original, "rare" 5". Still, nice piece, I'd love to have it.