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S&W Revolvers: 1980 to the Present All NON-PINNED Barrels, the L-Frames, and the New Era Revolvers


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  #1  
Old 01-20-2020, 10:07 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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Default Model 13-4, 4" Round Butt

I recently aquired a Model 13-4 with aftermarket grips. Took the grips off to clean the revolver and found that it is a round butt (grips are of a square butt configuration). Everything I have found on line indicates that all 4" barreled Model 13's are square butt. It seems that the 3" barrels are round butt. Is the 4" barrelled Model 13 round butt unusual?
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Old 01-21-2020, 07:59 PM
Jerry M Jerry M is offline
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Back in the day, barrels were available for sale. I had an armorer swap a 2.5 inch for a 4 inch barrel on a Model 19. It was not unusual to swap barrels.

Good Luck

Jerry
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Old 01-21-2020, 08:02 PM
toad67 toad67 is offline
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Or converted to a rb by a gun smith.... pretty common back then.
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Old 01-21-2020, 08:15 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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It is a 13-4 and does have a 4" barrel. Everything is as it should be except it is a round butt k frame. The frame is stamped Model 13-4 which, from everything I've found, should be a square butt.
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Old 01-21-2020, 08:20 PM
toad67 toad67 is offline
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Take the grips off and look at the frame. Is there an area where the frame was cut and welded back together??
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Old 01-21-2020, 08:30 PM
squidsix squidsix is offline
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No need for welding. I have done round butt conversions with a file and sandpaper. It is very easy to do.
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Old 01-21-2020, 09:37 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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That had not occurred to me - I'll check it. Thanks guys.
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Old 01-21-2020, 10:48 PM
Blueinterceptor Blueinterceptor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry M View Post
Back in the day, barrels were available for sale. I had an armorer swap a 2.5 inch for a 4 inch barrel on a Model 19. It was not unusual to swap barrels.

Good Luck

Jerry
I did the opposite. Switched out a 4” barrel to a 2.5” barrel. S&w did it at the mothership. It has a square butt too

Last edited by Blueinterceptor; 01-21-2020 at 10:50 PM.
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Old 01-21-2020, 10:55 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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No evidence of alteration on the butt, SN on the butt matches the frame. Guess I'll just contact S&W and order the history on it. Thanks for your input fellows.
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Old 01-21-2020, 11:00 PM
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A couple quick pics of the the frame from the side and of the bottom serial number will settle this
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Old 01-21-2020, 11:15 PM
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It may have been produced at the time the factory was changing to RB frames exclusively. Does it happen to have grooves on the front and rear of the grip frame?
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Old 01-22-2020, 08:48 AM
Ross3914 Ross3914 is offline
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It may just be the way a police department ordered it. "hard and fast" rules aren't as hard and fast when it comes to PD contracts. For example: A Thailand police contract had 13-4 RB, 4" HB.

If it doesn't look like it was reshaped, then it could very well be factory and just the way it was ordered by an agency.
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Old 01-22-2020, 03:06 PM
Dvus Dvus is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross3914 View Post
It may just be the way a police department ordered it. "hard and fast" rules aren't as hard and fast when it comes to PD contracts. For example: A Thailand police contract had 13-4 RB, 4" HB.

If it doesn't look like it was reshaped, then it could very well be factory and just the way it was ordered by an agency.
+1 for this. ^ I had a 4" RB 66 that was a special dept. order.
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Old 01-22-2020, 04:53 PM
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I don't know about model 13s, but I know that at least 3 special order model 15s were built on a round butt frame.
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Old 01-22-2020, 06:08 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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It does have grooves on the front and back of the grip and I can't figure out how to post pics on this site. Thank you all for your input. I'm convinced that it is a factory made frame. Proably was a special order.
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Old 01-22-2020, 06:16 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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20200120_184747.jpg

20200120_184838.jpg
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Old 01-22-2020, 06:17 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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Figured it out. I'll get a photo of the SN on the butt.
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Old 01-22-2020, 06:27 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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20200122_162057.jpg

20200122_162113.jpg

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Old 01-22-2020, 07:53 PM
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Welcome to the forum.
Looks unaltered to my untrained eye.
Threw a "like" at you just because I could.
Give us a range report.
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Old 01-22-2020, 09:19 PM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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Thank you soFlaNative.
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  #21  
Old 01-22-2020, 09:45 PM
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The standard S & W reference notes the square butt frame on model 13s ended in 1995-'96, and "serrated tangs" (the grooves mentioned above) were on these for about 18 months from about 1996. Prefix CCD is from 1997 so everything gets wrapped up in a nice neat bow.
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  #22  
Old 01-23-2020, 10:39 AM
Selba5 Selba5 is offline
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Well that does pretty much clear up the mystery. Thank you very much murphydog, and thanks to all of you who took the time to reply.
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