I am somewhat intrigued by the benchrest and varmit rifle guys who have "switch barrel" guns. Usually built on M700 style actions, they have two or more barrels fitted to the actions, and they can switch them easily. A friend who has one only uses about 30 ft-# torque on the barrel, then checks headspace and is good to go.

Has anyone done this with a S&W revolver? It seems you could have multiple barrels with the shoulders cut for proper clocking at a torque less than S&W's normal gorilla level, then set the BC gaps, and change barrels easily.

Will this work, or is there a problem I'm not seeing? It seems the only difficulty would be finding a torque that held the barrel securely without getting into the frame springing range.

John

Might want to mosey on over to the Dan Wesson forum to check on switch barrel revolvers.

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Science plus Art

I'm not thinking about a barrel nut configuration like the DW's use, I want a shoulder/torque setup, S&W style.

John

Never heard of one. Good Luck.

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Science plus Art

There've been a number of custom switch-barrel revolvers built by custom gunsmiths.
The usual method is to use a screw or thumb screw to secure the barrel in place after it's screwed or interlocked in place.

Almost all of these conversions shared the same problem. Since the barrel wasn't torqued snuggly in place or otherwise tightened, accuracy suffered.
Even those that secured the barrel better still had problems with returning to zero when barrels were switched.
Even if the same barrel was simply removed and replaced, the gun has to be sighted in again.

The idea of the switch barrel revolver was that the user could quickly change barrels, even in the field.
If you came up with a field usable barrel block and a frame wrench, accuracy might be improved, but zero problems wouldn't, and the tooling wouldn't be field usable.

Years ago, when I was into ppc competition, I had a well-used 6" M19 that I experimented on. Yes, I fit 4" and 2 1/2" barrels to the one frame, and repeatedly changed barrels every few weeks.

It wasn't long before none of the barrels clocked correctly with the front sight standing vertical. The initial setup torque was something like 10 to 12 lb-ft as I recalled, and within a few removal/installation cycles the torque value dropped to about half that. In other words, the repeated removal/installation wore the barrel/frame junction to the point that it would not hold properly. It became necessary to degrease the barrel tenon and frame and use LockTite to secure it. Contrary to popular belief, S&W factory torque on the barrel is only about a dozen lb-ft, maximum. Many are much less than that.

The big difference as far as I could tell, is that rifle actions and barrels use a much larger diameter barrel tenon and coarser threads, and are joined with much greater torque. Also, with a scoped rifle, there is no worry about indexing the front sight vertically and many rifles no longer used an extractor cut in the barrel breech.

With that experience in mind, I would call a S&W switch barrel revolver a "not such a good idea".

Why?

I would prefer to just switch guns!

In the Model 10 family alone, you have everything from 2" to 6" available, add in a 3" 686, a 6" and 8 3/8" 586 and there's not much more you need in the .38-.357 revolver.

John, what you did is exactly what I was thinking about. I'm surprised the S&W factory torque was so low, and that the barrel, frame, and threads wore so quickly. Not what I expected. Thanks for sharing your experience and saving me from learning the same lesson the hard way.

I was envisioning a 686 with a 3, 4, 5, and 6 in interchangable barrel setup. Then I could enjoy shooting different barrel lengths without the expense of 4 guns.

It sounds like I need to save up some more money! Thanks for the help.

John

I think Dan Wesson is your best option......they made good revolvers, some of the most accurate. I have a 4" .357 and I am looking for an 18" barrel for it.....the 4" shoots so well I see no need for a 6" but it's nice to have the option.

Sorry, late to the party, but how about a gun with pinned barrel? Couldn't you just enlarge the pin and hole ever so slightly, build a custom pin with threaded base and screw head, and fit your barrels so they "torque" hand-tight to the pin hole?

For the record, I agree with the "just buy 2 or 3" solution. Likely cheaper than doing an interchanging barrel pistol well ...

"The big difference as far as I could tell, is that rifle actions and barrels use a much larger diameter barrel tenon and coarser threads, and are joined with much greater torque. Also, with a scoped rifle, there is no worry about indexing the front sight vertically and many rifles no longer used an extractor cut in the barrel breech."

Also, with the rifle the chamber is integral with the barrel, not so on the revolver.