I am going to have some work done on one of my M28.
I need your input---out of the box thinking--and suggestions of what you might do (pics or examples would be a big help).
I include a pic of the gun and a pic of some of Keith's grips that I like in particular for the gun. The pic of the grips are not on my gun.
I am going to get the gun hard chromed--but--I want some contrast between the body/frame of the gun and the cylinder. Ideas are appreciated.
Actually--all ideas are appreciated---what would you do to make this gun your own?
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

Well, since you stated that you ARE going to do some work on the M28 and that is not up for discussion, how about doing a reverse Pinto on the gun? Do the frame in hard chrome, leave the cylinder, barrel, ejector rod shroud, and thumb piece blue. Also, I would leave the trigger and the hammer in the case coloring and not hard chrome them. I have seen some hard chromed M28s and do not find them to be bad looking at all. I have never seen a M28 in reverse Pinto. Just a thought since you ARE going to do some modifications to the M28.

Pinto would be cool. I like the idea of a 28 as a mule for a custom project, and I applaud you.
My personal take?
Cut for moonclips, install ball detent in the crane, round butt the frame, cut the barrel to 3.25", tritium front sight, C&S rear, Ahrends stocks, remove hammer spur, and clean up the DA pull. Would make a FINE carry/competition/home defense piece.
With the 28, you don't have to worry about messing up the finish, because it was messed up at the factory.

My 2 cents is go with the pinto, leave the SB, cut for moon clips and do an action package from S&W performance center.
You will have a fine firearm that shoots like a dream and looks classy to boot.

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27-2, 66-1, 640 Pro, 10-5

In addition to the finish how about having Bowen convert it to .44 Special or .45 Colt?

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Vaya con Dios

That's a pinned and recessed N frame. I'd just leave it alone. If you HAVE to tinker woth it, custom grips, an action job, and a mirror finish blue would be about it, IMO.

It would make a very nice 38 WCF. ;-)

The only contrast I would want on a plated gun would be three textures.
Frame flats, barrel, and cylinder a fine satin, just matte enough to show off the bright polished cylinder flutes and the bright band around the cylinder stop notches. Look on Grant Cunningham's site for the style. The topstrap a heavy dull matte. Don't plate the hammer and trigger, it Just Ain't Right on a Smith.

Grips should be of the target filler style, but with the flare taken out.
I had my 28 roundbutted years ago when the fad was new and wish I hadn't.

Gold bead or bar front sight and smooooth trigger job.

I had a 686 cut for clips and got no good out of it. Loading long skinny .38s and .357s in thin clips is not like short stubby .45s in thick clips. Note that the competitors using .38 clips are also using .38 Short Colt length brass so it doesn't flop around so bad.

Like the pinto look with an action job. Cutting the bbl would also look nice with a gold bead front. Definitely use the Keith Browns, sort of a bucket list gun. I did a K-22 to 32 long and cut the bbl to 5" with a Weigand front site base with a gold bead. Brown's ropers complimented it in Exhibition English walnut. Andy Horvath put it all together for me. Larry

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I am really interested in the Pinto look.
JW
I have looked at cunninghams site a lot and you are spot on about the cylinder.
There are some good calls here.
I am sorry--but I don't put as much stock in keeping it factory correct as some do here. That is not a slap in the face--I just look at guns a little differently than some--but--I do understand your point. Thanks.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

That's a fine example just as it is. Find a beater to hack up.

I've always wanted to take a worn but tight 6" M28 and work it over. Have either a gold bead Patridge or red ramp front sight, white outline rear sight. Have Verne Trester do one of his Microtune action jobs on it. Have the trigger smoothed and rounded. Bead blast the top of the frame and the barrel, high polish the frame and cylinder. Chamfer the inner recess of the recessed chamber. Finally find another cylinder and have it cut for .357/44 Bain and Davis chambering.

This would give me a gun I could plink with, target shoot with, hunt with and provide protection!

Whoever owned this revolver before me--a man of the badge, I was told--had a very good trigger job done on it.
That was ther reason I bought this shooter.
I really don't care for the finish--it isn't blue and it isn't good.
I have a couple of shooters with Ford's hard chrome and they are very good. They are certainly easy to keep clean and looking good.
I may use---probably---Accrate Plateing for the Job--He was reccommended bby a pistosmith that I have used--James Willis in Shreveport--but does not do chrome.
This is going to take some amount of conversation between the finisher & me too make sure we are on the same page.
I want the bore and cylinder/insides hard chromed also.
The gold bead is a very good suggestion.
Remember---this will be a shooter and a carry piece--not a display revolver.
I like pretty shooters.
I am torn--right now--between matt and bead balsted for the frame. I would like more of a gray tint that bright and shiny for the barrel and frame--OR--at least something that does not glow in the dark.
I agree that the trigger and hammer will be kept as is.
Rear sight is a question at this point---I like the sight as it is but am unsure if it would be good with the gold bead front that I am seriously considering.
For some reason--the ramp front sight does not seem to fit on the changes. Am I incorrect about my thinking?
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

It depends upon how much contrast you want. Maybe leaving the ejector rod, cylinder latch, frame screws and front and rear sights blue might do it. It might look stupid too, I dunno. You might consider leaving the extractor star blue as well. Then you get a contrast effect that you don't see on the outside, but do when you open the cylinder.

I have a Colt Detective Special that's hard chromed. It's a great finish when done right and I think it looks better than stainless or nickel frankly.

That's a fine looking revolver as is and the changes you are thinking
about will ruin it in my opinion. If it were mine and I wanted to "make
it my own" I might change the grips and that would be it. You could
sell it and look for a beater with little finish left to experiment on
because once you start on your proposed changes there's no going
back.

This would get my vote if the finish on the 28 is challenged and you're determined to hard chrome it (I'd consider doing the same thing in the same situation) - but in the condition shown . . . I'm with the "leave it alone" crowd . . .

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Qui plantavit curabit

I have seen a cogan custom chromed 586, and I was SURE it was stainless. Nice finish.

Does APW or Ford do that?
I have not heard of anybody doing aftermarket bore chrome since the old Marker Machine Co. and that was a long time ago.

Smith and Wesson made SS versions of the 27 and 19 in the 627 and Model 66 but never made a model 628 .
Since I like the OEM look and my favorite 66 is the first one I would use that as a template for a Model 628 with flash chromed hammer trigger Ss Front and rear sites football relieved Target GA's.

About the only thing I'd do is put a Tyler T on it, make a holster and carry it.

Good post--pro and con.
I found some interesring suggestions.
I don't know, as yet about the bore or cylinder. I will certainly find out before entering into contract.
Grants wait time is unreasonable at my age--so he is out---butttt--not his ideas and yours.
As of yet--none of the cons have given me reason to reconsider.
The finish is not one of my favorites--if I were to want a finish like it has, I would prefer Ceracoat. Nothing i am going to do will diminish value---I know going in that I probably could not get what I am going to spend--but that is unimportant to me.
NOW---I will bet, that if it would ever be sold, it would bring a greater price than what I paid for it.
Buttt---doing this is my choice and my responsibility, which is why i am picking brains, to see if my thoughts are in line with others who would do this.
Thanks to all for the responses--even the cons. I love you all.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

3 1/2 barrel, definite moon clips and chamfering-in whatever caliber. hi-viz sight-maybe big dot. leave enough spur for single action use; rounded and turned down-action job and tune, round and smooth trigger, and matte hard chrome. JMHO.

I just wanted to ad that the Model 28 was intended as a no frills LEO gun ergo the utilitarian finish,
My guess is the Model 19 (and more importantly the Model 66 in rust resistant SS) put a big dent in Model 28 sales and since the main draw of the M28 was price it probably wouldnt have made sense to make a SS Model 628 to compete against the Model 66 financially,
Whether true or not S&W never offered SS versions of certain models like the 12, 18 and 28,
If I were going to "Spruce" some up I would make SS versions of each.

Several good suggestions already. I like the 3 1/2" barrel in the caliber of your choice, a gold bead non ramp front sight, chamfer the front of the cylinder and the trigger, an excellent set of stocks, and carved leather.

Deep blue and engraving are also my preference, but hard chrome can work.

Pics when you're done would be great, and congrats on your project.

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July 4, 1776 not Jan 30, 1909

I have to vote this way as well. If it were me, easy to say I know, I'd look around for another "donor" gun in worse cosmetic shape than yours to make it a "williamlayton" special lol! If you're not in a huge rush to convert this one that is. I don't think you'd have a hard time finding a buyer for yours in the condition it's in, nor a worse off donor.

I do appreciate guns made to suit their owners preferences-I've certainly done it enough-just make sure, as you stated, that whomever you choose to do the work is 100% on the same page as you are.

Good luck

One option would be to offer yours here for trade plus a little money toward your conversion from a member whose 28 is mechanically sound but 'finish challenged'. You get what you want and save a nice S&W for someone who wants one in original condition.

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Qui plantavit curabit

Either leave it alone and enjoy it,, or a deep blue paint job and some new 'magnas.'. Dont ruin a nice "N" frame.....l My 2 cents.....TIN..

I don't know, now after you mention the gun was an ex-cop's gun I would think about it. I have a soft spot for old police wheel guns. If you were going to redo the whole gun then I would look into rechambering it, but now after really looking at the pics, well then maybe keeping it and working on what you have is a good bet too. If you are looking to something to shoot all the time and don't care about, then leave it. If you want to have a total custom gun that looks as good as it shoots then that is something different altogether. It reminds me of the Model 57 I sold here on the forum a while back (anyone remember who I sold that beater 4-inch too someday I may want it back!) that had no finish left on the cylinder and some weird combat grips made from shortened target grips. The gun originally belonged to a Constable in Vermont across the line back in the 1980's and he carried it on the job and as a CCW piece. I would never have redone that gun and that is one I wish I had back. I carried it with some mild .41 Magnums and some home made .41 Specials that were the dream of shooters like Elmer Keith and Bill Jordan as what they conceived as the police load.
The point I guess is that like military guns, cop guns represent a part of history and seeing them as they are is kind of like a history of where they were. They might not have seen the shores of a far away land, but maybe they saved that cop's life some night even if he never fired a shot. Maybe they were the difference between some bank robber and some bystander. Yes there are thousands of them out there, but that might not always be the case. I know it is your gun and in the end its your call, but to me a cop gun has its own place in history and the Model 28 represents everything about cops and wearing a badge that I ever knew. It was plain, it had no frills, just like the cars, just like the gear and everything else. It was the cheapest thing they could give you that would still work.

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Vaya con Dios

In following with the "KISS" principal; I would lean towards brushed finish of cylinder, fine satin on the remainder of gun (in HC of course).
This would provide contrast and look quite nice IMO.

David
This may sound like arguement material---I won't get into arguements about choices. I will, like you, give my opinion.
The Cop traded it for another gun in this little ol E TEXAS gunshop. I must assume that he, like me, considered it a tool that had served its purpose.
gajin
I am not one that is a KISS person in this scope of KISS. I tend to like BBQ flavor with my guns.
It will be an interesting journey--and--like all projects, fought with indecision, decision and peril--but fun, none the less.
If I thought, for one minute, that I was destroying a piece of history--such as would be of my fathers old 12 guage LC SMITH double barrel--I would not do it.
You folks are good folks and I do appreciate the CON post---they do serve a purpose of causing one to consider his actions. I just don't agree.
Right now, the first step is to get work started on one pair , of several, in my plans, of stocks from our friend here, for this gun.
They will be targets and I like this example--I am fond of "boot cut " handles.
Then it will be off to the gunsmith--but that is a couple or three months off.
In the meantime---Keep those cards and letters flowing---I like considering all----I, really do.
Blessings

Attached Images

guns059.jpg (61.8 KB, 11 views)

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TEXAS, by GOD

BTW---since the hammer and trigger are already fired, will a polishing be the only thing necessary in this process. I do like case hardened on these pieces.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD