Hello!

I own one beautiful 16-4 BFF28xx (August 1990?). It is full lug .32 Magnum. Blued. But a little bit heavy to shoot with one hand.

May be have someone experience making full lug S&Ws lighter?
I want elegant solution without demolishing such beautiful and rare revolver.

Thanks!

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Get one with a 4" barrel

Exercise your forearms and shoulders


Tie a few helium balloons to the barrel

Any good smith could reduce it to a half lug and refinish , but it would cost a fair bit to do it and lose collectability in the bargain.
In fact it is a steel K frame with small holes and as such will always be heavyish .
Better to sell it to someone who loves it as is and replace it with a 632-1 if weight is the enemy.



Or maybe a 4" Ruger SP-101 in 327 with adjustable sights.
It has a lug also but is a much more nimble gun.

S&W 32mag/327fed guns with adjustable sights are slim pickins,,,, easier to look at Rugers.

Why are you shooting with one hand ?

@BillBond
Sport shooting at 25m.
30 shots precision + 30 shots "rapide fire".

@needsmostuff
4" is not an option for me. I want stay with 6".

I think about deep drilling the lug from the muzzle side. After all make a thread there and cap. Extra zylindrical weights might find place there inside if needed.

If you modify it the big bucks are gone. But, its yours to do as you please. The drill out the lug idea wouldn't be to hard for a good machinist. Neither would cutting a bunch of the lug off and using a radius cutter to round the bottom of the barrel, then a piece of pipe with matching ID cut in half to back up some emery to smooth it up, then into a blue tank.

But, most people think weight is good for targets. Get a N frame 357 and use it for a while and the K frame 32 will not be so heavy.

But the cheapest way is to get a 1 gallon milk jug. Fill it with water and lift it up and hold it at arms length for a minute. Do than for a while several times a week and your model 16-4 will keep getting lighter.

That idea occurred to me, too.
I'm not sure what these are worth.
Maybe it would be more cost effective to sell your 16-4 and buy a Manurhin MR32 Match. These are purpose built for UIT ISU or any other Precision pistol event. Chambered in 32 S&W, they are also certainly more accurate than the S&W. They will shoot as well or better than Walther GSP-C, Sako Triace, Pardini SP32, etc.

Jim

PS: the N frame idea is a good one. I prefer a big N frame and all I shoot is Bullseye.

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The drilling idea seems like a big effort for a tiny bit of weight reduction. Drilling it out for future addition of weights makes little sense in my mind for a gun that is already deemed too heavy. You may not have the right revolver for your chosen application.

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

Well, if price is no object I suppose you could remove the barrel and have a Dan Wesson style barrel tube and shroud made up .
At that point the shroud could be swiss cheesed to your desired weight.
Or a shroud could be crafted out of aluminum for kicks.
Hey , make a shroud out of carbon fiber.

6" full-lug 16-4, demolished down to a 5" w/ shroud:





Smiles.

I don't have a full lug K frame to do the arithmetic for you, but it is simple to approximate the weight saved by converting to a half lug.

Assume the underlug is cylindrical, measure its diameter, measure the length back to where a half lug would fall, calculate the volume and multiply by the density (7.85 gm/CC for chrome moly steel.) and you will have an idea of the weight saved. It won't be much, but it is out under and near the muzzle where it has the greatest effect on balance.

Drilling out the lug (I once had an early Python with hollow lug) would not save nearly as much weight, but you can figure that, too, based on how large a hole your machinist could make without risk of running out the side.


You could save more weight by having the barrel completely reprofiled to the pre-1950 K32 Masterpiece diameter, taper, and narrow rib.

More still by going to the prewar plain round barrel shape.
That would bring the weight down to 34 oz, plus whatever your fitted grips add.
Elegant? Look at the revolver at the top of the page. I think that is a prewar K32.

Unless you have a disability, the best way to solve your problem is to build strength through lots of practice with your 16-4 and a heavier gun, if you have one.

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213th FBINA

I will agree with those that said "build up arm strength". I have been a bullseye shooter for over 40 years, mostly all local area, As I have aged I was no longer able to shoot competitively. Last year I started using a 3 lb weight to exercise my arms (both), but more extensively on the right. I then worked up to a 6 lb weight. I do about 50 curls and 50 straight arm lifts, alternate arms. Then hold the weight out straight while focusing on a point (to simulate holding on a target). I hold for 20 seconds then let down and repeat several dozen times. My gallery scores increased about 25%. I have no trouble holding the gun up, (just keeping it is the same place). I'll be 80 my next birthday.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

>I want elegant solution without demolishing such beautiful and rare >revolver.

Start working on your shooting-arm-and-shoulder strength with a 5-pound dumbell. Seriously, any drilling/cutting/milling/etc. done to that gun will destroy its value. If you can't use it as-is, your best move would be to use it to finance something that you can use.

On the other hand, it's your gun and if your true feelings are not those expressed, go for it.

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Pisgah

That is a true Masterpiece, and the revolver that S&W should have made. Just gorgeous, thank you for showing it off.

If you have a discussion on this site about it somewhere, please post a link to it.

Did you put those target grips on or did it come with a traditional target presentation grip?

I would try the old fashioned S&W target grips. Reason being the grips you are using do not allow you to fully grip into a strong position.

Underlug
The heavier underlug will help reduce muzzle wobble because the center of gravity is located closer to the muzzle.

Assyme no problem such as arthritus as suggested do some grip strengthening exercises.

I would not modify this one.

I would not modify this either. But if you do many have rechambered 16s to 327 Federal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ruig;
The gentlemen that suggested a scheduled exercise program are right on target. Unless you are handicapped, it will work even if you are a senior citizen. It is amazing what properly set up "weight training" will do.

Start out slow, just dry fire (with snap caps, of course) and slowly lengthen the sessions. After a time, you can tape a weight onto your wrist. It is amazing what three sessions a week will do. Day of exercise, skip a day, then another, skip then another. Start out slow and when you see how your body tolerates it, add time and, if necessary, additional weight.

Good luck and report back your success.

The good part about the exercise program it is nearly without cost! That is GOOD! (:>))

Dale53

Get yourself a 617 with the full lug 8 and 3/8” barrel. Mount a 2x scope on top. Now practice your bullseye shooting with this rig. You won’t need any weight lifting regimen, as this rig will go around 4 lbs. Plus you get to work on trusting your wobble as you break your shots. Your 16-4 will feel like a feather in no time.

I shot a Model 52, Pardini HP and a Model 14-3 with Morini International grips. The Model 14-3 with those grips was just under 41 ounces. I considered a 16-4 back when they were new, but the weight of it with Morini grips was too heavy.
No doubt, its a beautiful shooting iron, but your arm has to be screaming in the dueling stage.
Also, back when I shot International, we first shot.........
Air Pistol then,
Free Pistol then,
Standard Pistol then,
Centerfire...........so when you got to Centerfire, you would start to get a little tired. I have a 14-6 that looks a lot like yours, but has bigger holes in the barrel and cylinder cutting the weight back. Its not just loosing the lug under the barrel, the holes in your cylinder are too small making that heavy too.

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And the weight before and after?

Talk about conditioning, I believe it was Ann Clark in the fifty’s who did this training regiment:
As a housewife, she would dust, clean the house, wash dishes, clean the bathroom, and other chores with one hand. In her pistol hand she held an iron at 90 degrees. For most of the day, every day, five days a week.
The year she incorporated that training regiment, I believe she won the Nationals, set the record for top female and her aggregate score was higher than the men’s! Of course it didn’t help to be married to “Mr. Clark.” 😎
I’m not a bullseye shooter, but heard this tale long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.....
I don’t believe she wanted a lighter gun either 😂

It might be different than you had in mind, but it might be a better use of funds to get a model 15 and have it barreled from a custom blank in 32 and have a custom cylinder cut.

It would likely cost a bit, but would save the value of your fine 32 mag.

Just curious, who did the work and how much did it cost?

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Pine_Worker
Ex-LEO, NRA Life

I know you want to keep it a 6”, couldn’t imagine how to reduce the weight. Here is a model 15 turned into a 3” .327, not done yet. Need to round butt the gun and have it refinished somehow. That 5” is an excellent way to go or remove the full lug on your 6”. Larry

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First we want to welcome you to the forum!! You picked a good place to join and a great question as well for us to discuss. As a 32 magnum fanatic and proud collector, I suggest as above that you leave the 16-4 alone. Instead buy a Ruger SP101 in 327 magnum, 4 inch barrel and shoot the heck out of it. It's weight is less and the only item I want to change on mine is the front sight if I was using in pistol match. It comes with a fiber optic front sight.