I came across this the other day and couldn't pass it up. I've seen a pic or two of one but never seen one in person. I know the PC and Pro 627s have a lot of fans. I can see how eight shot frame N frames could be addictive!

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I was looking at one like that the other day on GB. They had just rolled over the auction from an expired one to a new one then the auction was ended abruptly. You don't by any chance live in CA, huh? That's a heavy barrel 4 incher.

EDIT: Here's a link to the terminated auction. The dealer was in Yorba Linda, CA ---LINK---

You will come to like it a lot. With the heavy barrel the recoil of heavy loads is much less. Very accurate.

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S&WCA 1729

I have one of these and it's an awesome revolver. I was sold on the slightly heavy round barrel, as I intensely dislike flat barrels. I had mine cut for moonclips, since these are NOT moonclip ready from the factory. It does everything very well and competes against my esteemed 625 SAC Mountain Gun for "most favorite revolver" status.

Dave Sinko

Muddocktor, no that wasn't me. I'm in Oklahoma. But I know the listing you are talking about because I had it on my watch list. I was seriously considering bidding on it because I thought it would be neat to have a pair of them. I decided to take a chance and hope that it would re-list since it had zero bids on it into the final moments. I was hoping that the seller would re-list it with a lower reserve. As soon as it re-listed I put it back on my watch list. But as you stated, it vanished shortly after. Guess it wasn't meant to be. I don't know how many were made in that configuration. That listing makes only three I've ever seen for sale. Before I won the auction on mine, I had seen another one that piqued my interest in owning one, but it didn't have the original box or paperwork. This prompted me to start a search and that's when I found mine, and it came with the original case. When it comes to trying to talk myself out of buying another four inch N frame, I always give in because I'm a helpless victim of the N frame bug. Sometimes I think I could be totally happy just collecting and shooting those!

These arrived in LGSs without a lot of advertising. They were to provide less affluent customers with an 8 shot 627 at production revolver pricing, hence no recess for moon clips. To my eye they look better than PC 627s. They were a good idea that I hoped would be made available with longer barrels. Instead they disappeared as quietly as they arrived.

Anyone have any idea (if smith would do it) what it would cost to have a full underlug 3" 686 barrel fitted to a 627? I always loved the look of the full length underlug berrels on the 686 and 629's with those barrels.

I think a 3" full lug on a PC627 would be an awesome pistol for carry...

The obstacles are considerable. It’s safe to say S&W is not going to install a 686 barrel on your N frame. L frames have smaller diameter barrel threads and a shorter distance between the cylinder center pin and bore. Speaking of which, in order to increase the number of 627 chambers from 6 to 8 the barrel threads were relocated higher in the frame and the chambers were relocated further away from the cylinder’s center line. Eight shot .357s use different barrels than 28s, 27s, and the early 6 shot 627s. They have to or the front locking bolt would not align with the center pin and the top of barrel rib would not be at the same height as the top of the top strap.

The first 627s were 5 ½” full lug 6 shooters. One of them could be shortened to 3” but they are over a $1000 as collector items and my guess is you want an 8 shooter. I’ve never seen an 8 shot 627 with a full lug barrel so I doubt there are any barrels to shorten.

Otherwise, S&W quoted me $100 to install my extra barrel on my revolver including retuning the revolver and its original barrel. However my cost to ship it to them would have been about $45, so almost $150 a year and a half ago. The last time I looked most new barrels from S&W ran $175 to $225. That totals about $300 for a standard barrel replacement.

I recently purchased a SS flat side N frame 357 barrel from a member that swapped an older Model 27 barrel onto his 8 shot 627
so believe the new 8 shot N frame barrel and older 6 shot barrel will interchange but the cylinder and yoke will not.

If the barrel bore center axis moved that would cause the firing pin to no longer align .

I will have to mic the distance from bore center axis to ejector rod center axis but if that changed I dont see how the member could have swapped an older barrel to his gun and I saw a finished pic of that gun.

A little bit higher firing pin would not require a different hammer with MIM parts. That raises a question that I had not thought of, were 8 shot .357s ever made with hammer mounted firing pins?

At the 1995 NRA convention the engineer who redesigned the N frame for 8 shots sat prominently in the center of S&W’s display showing off their new .357. He told audiences that he relocated the barrel threads higher in the frame.

I don’t know an easy way to precisely measure how far the bore center is above the cylinder center line. However, I believe the cylinder diameter was not changed so it would be easy to verify that the chambers are further away from the cylinder’s center by measuring the thinnest point of the cylinder wall with a tubing micrometer. I don’t own an 8 shooter to measure. Please post what your measurements reveal

Makes sense that they could easily alter the firing pin position with a frame mounted firing pin gun,
I put a Model 624 barrel alongside the 627 barrel and axis appear to align....of course "Appear" and actually aligning are two different animals.

If the barrel position and bore axis was raised in the frame wouldnt the frame window need to be widened for the wider cylinder as well ?

It's my understanding that the cylinder diameter did not change. Prior to factory 8 shot .357s there were custom 7 shot N frame .357s made with aftermarket replacement cylinders. 7 chambers were all that would fit without spreading them further away from center.

Dont have any 8 shot N frames to compare but if the cylinder has the same outside diameter it would seem that the center axis be exactly the same ?

I also have a 627 with the standard barrel. I love the old school look, to my eye it is perfect. I would buy another in a heart beat.

Here is a link to the thread I started about mine, there is a PDF, and some great info in the replies. 627-5 4inch barrel questions

An 8 shot 27/627 barrel's bore is higher above its front locking bolt than the bore on a 6 shot 28/27/627 barrel. It's gotta be because the 8 chambers are further out away from the center of the cylinder. The cylinder diameter did not change. The only change to the cylinder is the location of the charge holes.

So if I have this correct the cylinder diamater stayed the same but they moved the charge holes outward as well as the barrel upwards in the frame to accomplish bore alignment and also moved the frame mounted firing position up ?

This resulted in the barrel axis having a greater distance to the ejector rod axis distance ?

End result is barrel , frame, cylinder and yoke are specific to 8 shot guns,
6 shot barrel can be used in conjunction with 6 shot cylinder and yoke....
If so the part I dont get is how the 6 shot barrel cylinder would work in an 8 shot frame with the offset firing pin ?

Why not just shorten the factory barrel ?

This is easily accomplished by taking a barrel blank and machining what you want. It just take LOTS of money.

Production 8 shot, 357 Magnum S&Ws were never manufactured with a hammer mounted firing pin.

Also the Performance Center revolvers did not use MIM hammers.

This concept was originally a one time run of 300 pieces for Lew Horton. I had wanted #357 but was told that would never be since only 300 were being built. The revolver in the upper left of this photo is #27 of the very first run of 8 shot 357s from S&W. It has a frame mounted firing pin.



BTW, those 300 were the fastest selling Distributor Exclusive Lew Horton ever produced. So the decision was made to do 300 more. The revolver in the upper right is #357.

As we all know, these were so popular they became a cataloged firearm.

The prototype for the 8 shot project was a 5" blue model 27. I can not recall which firing pin it had and the only image of it is at a bad angle.

My discussion with Engine49guy got more than a little repetitive. I never cared enough about 8 shot .357s to consider paying PC prices to get one. colt saa on the other hand obviously collects them. I invite him to clear up the smoke. I’m happy to be corrected. That’s how I learn.

Funny you put it that way. I am the opposite, if the 627 was not an eight shot, I would have happily stuck with my GP100. I was willing to pay a premium for the 2 extra shots.

I have re-read the thread a few times and I guess I am missing something as I do not see any smoke.

I have never bothered to measure cartridge or firing pin position when compared to the 6 shot brothers.

To me the decision to buy one had nothing to do with number of shots. This is the next evolution of the model 27/327/627 family of revolvers. I own just as many 6 shot versions as 8 shot versions. I love N-frame 357 Magnums and I still would have bought that 5" strange profiled revolver back in 1996 even if it had been a 6 shot. Plus I still would have worked for the same serial numbers.



Here are my model 27 bookends. Built 30 years apart. One 6 shot and the other an 8 shot. I love them both



I like serial numbers, I almost always request special numbers. I have at least half a dozen firearms that would not have been bought if it had not been for how they were serial numbered.

k22fan
Performance Center firearms are about much more than simply two extra shots or moon clips.

Your profile does not show where you are located. If you are in South Florida, or end up visiting South Florida, I would gladly meet you over at the range with a few pieces for you to try.

colt saa,

Thank-you for your generous offer but I’d have to paddle my canoe out the Strait of Juan de Fuca, down the Oregon coast, then through the Panama Canal.

Seriously, even though I’ve not worked up the most accurate loads for a PC gun I have fired a couple of PC revolvers and a PC 5906 based PPC single action owned by the competition at local matches. My gun budget does not allow collecting PC guns. I could have bought a smaller number of more expensive guns but I’ve found that I don’t shoot the expensive guns that I have bought more than the less expensive ones. Also I shoot more accurately with S&W revolvers that I have performed my own trigger jobs on than ones professionals did trigger jobs on.

You have an impressive collection. I did not intend to knock the 8 shot N frame concept. They have their place but in order to increase turn out in a small town nearly all the local matches that are set up to be “revolver friendly” don’t allow loading more than 6 cartridges into any gun. That makes 7 and 8 shooters slower to reload than 6 shooters because their cylinders have to be aligned to avoid the empty chamber(s). The extra charge holes are an advantage trying to run revolvers in the IPSC matches and a few matches that group revolvers with single stack autos but those are a small percentage of the matches. For a match revolver I most often fire a 4” 610. 625s are the fastest to reload but the frequent emphasis on accuracy makes the hot set up a moon clipped 6” 686 with a professional trigger job red dot. N frames are handicapped because their longer trigger reach gives less leverage DA.

Regarding my discussion with Engine49guy, I think he does not want to accept that he was sold a barrel that will not work for his project. It’s past time for me to bow out of that discussion and leave it for someone who rebarrels revolvers.

Incidentally, getting back to your offer, our wonderful new “safety initiative,” I-594, made it a felony for friends to let each other shoot their guns at a range unless there is a match in progress. Letting your friend handle your gun at home is the same felonious transfer and when he hands it back to you that is another felony. I-594 stipulates that each gun transferred must be charged as a separate crime, and to top it off, Washington has a non-plea bargainable 5 year minimum sentence for possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. Mr. Bloomberg pooled his millions with the Seattle billionaires’ to run a misleading TV ad every few minutes for weeks prior to the election. Aren’t we lucky they made us so safe?