When did the factory begin drilling & tapping revolvers?

Double-O-Dave · #1 09-07-2012, 09:38 PM

Good evening:

I have a Model 625 no dash (Model of 1989) revolver. I always thought it was drilled and tapped from the factory, but never checked until tonight when I removed the rear sight to mount a Weaver base (for a red dot sight). To my great surprise, there was only a single hole under the rear sight, and not the 3 I had anticipated. (Shame on me, I never studied the top strap.) Off it goes to the local gun smith next week for drilling and tapping 3 holes, but I'm just curious - does anyone know when the factory began drilling and tapping the top strap as a standard feature?

Thanks,

Dave

Dale53 · #2 09-07-2012, 09:49 PM

I believe it was in the early 90's. My 625-6 model of 1989 IS drilled and tapped.

FWIW
Dale53

scooter123 · #3 09-07-2012, 11:18 PM

Specifically they started drilling and tapping the top strap in 1993. I have a 617 produced in 1992 that was not drilled and tapped, something that I have now corrected along with a 1988 vintage 67-1.

BTW, just for your reference the attached is a PDF file of the new mounting pattern. On my 617 and 67-1 I shifted the pattern 0.030 inch to the rear to insure that the forward mounting hole would be far enough back so that the tap wouldn't hit the barrel. Doing this also added just a tiny bit of additional seperation from the existing tapped hole for the rear sight assembly.

Double-O-Dave · #4 09-08-2012, 10:52 PM

Scooter and Dale53:

Thank you both for your prompt and informative responses. As I was surfing the internet early this morning, I wondered about weaver bases for S&W revolvers that, like mine, are not factory drilled and tapped. I found a mount from a company called Aimtech:

http://www.aimtech-mounts.com/AMSN2.JPG

After some searching - just about every vendor I found was out of stock on this item - I found one at Midway for about $65.00. My guess would be the local gunsmith would probably charge me a minimum of $50.00 to drill and tap 3 holes in the topstrap of my 625. So I think buying and mounting the Aimtech mount will serve me just as well, avoid any problems with possible resale of my 625 in the future, etc. I've attached a photo of the mount for anyone interested in it. One thing I found fascinating, was that this mount also works on S&W revolvers with fixed sights as well.

Again, many thanks for your help. I plan to post photos of my 625 with red dot sight and Aimtech mount once I've completed the necessary work.

Best regards,

Dave