6.5" 38/44 from 1940

Reddog · #**101** 03-18-2012, 01:10 AM

I haven't done anything to the spring, yet, but I did put the gauge on it and it came out three different times right on two pounds. That's a little less than I like but I think I'll leave it that way for target shooting.
I have had it out a couple more times lately. My Grandson was here yesterday and he certainly did well with it!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**102** 03-22-2012, 08:50 PM

Been busy getting flyers out and calling people for the May 12 S&W bunch. In a couple of weeks the double action only league starts at the club. Roughly 35 people shoot it, lots of fun. Shoot Mon. nite for 8 weeks. Here goes another 480 bullets. Larry

Reddog · #**103** 03-22-2012, 09:52 PM

I haven't got much done lately, either.We've been pretty upset about our grandson and his wife leaving for Washington state! He got laid off his job here and through an internet resume he got an excellent job offer in WA. He was offered a higher paying job in his field and they flew them up there to look at the area and find a house. Can't really blame him but we sure hate to see him go! He's our son Steve's only child so he's pretty down, too. He's leaving next week. 1,640 miles!
I'm going to send several guns with him and lots of ammo. List below. He's already found a house to rent and gun club to join in the Kennewick area and he says the hunting possibilities are good! He's 31 years old and has been my shooting and hunting partner for almost 25 years! Sad!
Dick
Rem 700 in 30/06, Rem 1100 in 12 ga., Ruger Redhawk in .44 Mag., S&W 686 in 357, Browning Buckmark in .22 LR and a Ruger 10/22. He also has a Win. Mod. 70 in 243. I guess that will handle about anything he can hunt.

Jebus35745 · #**104** 03-24-2012, 08:49 PM

Shame abt you're grandson leaving. Heck, maybe you could go to Wash. to hunt once a year with him. I missed the 3 kids when they quit hunting pheasants with me. Didn't quite seem the same. Now I'm taking a 13 yr old from the city to hunt birds 2 out of 3 weeks. The 3rd week is for me. Have any guns you could send this way(LOL). Larry

Reddog · #**105** 03-24-2012, 09:37 PM

Larry,
They're coming out tomorrow for lunch, last time!
I doubt that we'll be up there more than once a year. Too far!
I picked up my two purchases, yesterday! Will try to get pics up in the next few days.
Sorry, nothing left to send to Ohio!
We had 75° and bright sun, today, so I did get out with my 6" Mod. 28 no dash this afternoon!
I believe this is the gun I put your Herret's on?
Dick

Reddog · #**106** 04-03-2012, 05:09 PM

Finally! Seemed like it took forever! Like they say, a watched pot never boils!
Can someone tell me what the difference is between a long and a short action Outdoorsman?
Only 4,761 of the prewar model manufactured! This is one of my favorite Smiths! At $29.48 I think I'll order several more!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**107** 04-04-2012, 09:13 PM

Nice gun Dick. Pick up any post war revolver and compare the length you pull the trigger on both. Your pre war outdoorsman will have a slightly longer trigger movement to drop the hammer. The pre war actions seem to be smoooooth. Thats why I built the one pre war frame into a PPC revolver. I like the long buttery action for double action shooting. Hows the infection doin? Larry

Reddog · #**108** 04-05-2012, 01:13 PM

Larry,
Thanks for the info! I'll do some comparing.
My back seems to be healing fine! I'll get the final verdict in May.
Dick

Hondo44 · #**109** 04-08-2012, 07:09 PM

This thread has a precise picture example of comparing long vs. short throw hammers:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/blogs/p...ifference.html

Jebus35745 · #**110** 04-08-2012, 09:10 PM

How you been Jim. Any new projects going on lately. Larry

Reddog · #**111** 04-08-2012, 11:00 PM

Thanks, Jim! That's easy to understand, even for an old hardhead like me!
Dick

Reddog · #**112** 04-10-2012, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jebus35745

Hi Dick, they went in the mail today at noon on lunch. Should hopefully be there by tues. The wife still has pain and pills to help her cope. For all the people following this post, HAVE A GOOD NEW YEAR. Looking to buy a registered magnum after the 1st of the year. He dropped the price 500.00 from the Oct, 2011 price. Come on 2012, Larry

Larry,
Did you ever get your registered Magnum? Did you post pics of it?
Dick

GLL · #**113** 04-10-2012, 04:58 PM

Dick:

Thank you for posting the letter ! I very much appreciate the information !

Best Regards,

Jerry Lewis "GLL"

Reddog · #**114** 04-10-2012, 06:30 PM

You're very welcome, Jerry!

Jebus35745 · #**115** 04-10-2012, 08:51 PM

When he dropped the price, I caved in and bought it. A SWCA member that comes to the NE Ohio bunch apprased it at 600 to 1200 more then he had it in Oct. Then he dropped the price 500. Not high on long bbls but its a start. Its a 95% gun. Here's the pics, Larry

Reddog · #**116** 04-10-2012, 11:32 PM

That should make a good target gun if you're going to shoot it. Did you get it for under a thousand?
I picked up another 6" 27, today, for $700 and another 6" 28 for $500.
Spent the afternoon putting a scope on a 270 for a friend and sighting it in.
Can you see the three shots across the center? 100 yards, off the bench.
I plan on shooting the chopped 27, tomorrow.
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**117** 04-11-2012, 08:50 PM

I definitely want to shoot the reg mag. Paid a little more then 3 times what you said. Want to shoot groups at 25 & 50 yds then go to 100 and shoot at bowling pins off hand. The chopped 27 is a cool gun and a lot of people know about it. That post as this one keeps alive. Have fun shooting tomorrow. Larry

Reddog · #**118** 04-12-2012, 01:16 AM

Wow! Out of my class! I have a 57 with the 8&3/8" barrel. It's another one with a lite trigger. 2.25 lbs.. Ive shot it in the air more than once by mistake! It's super accurate, though! I have an iron coyote hanging on cables at 100 yards. It's great for that! It shoots like a rifle! I don't actually shoot it much, I have a 6" that shoots almost as well. The .41 has always been one of my favorites, I have four 57s, but it's getting to be quite a bit to handle for my old hands! I shoot 38s most of the time, now.
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**119** 04-12-2012, 09:36 PM

Nice 57, it has that accurate look with the long bbl. The 41 is a flat shooting round. I shoot more 38 lately also. Hope to get .32 back from the gunsmith soon. Should be fun. Larry

Hondo44 · #**120** 04-12-2012, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jebus35745

Nice 57, it has that accurate look with the long bbl. The 41 is a flat shooting round. I shoot more 38 lately also. Hope to get .32 back from the gunsmith soon. Should be fun. Larry

Hi Larry,
Please tell us again what you had done to the .32.

Jebus35745 · #**121** 04-13-2012, 12:08 AM

Hi Jim, gave Andy Horvath a 17-2 and he's making it into a 32 long. Cutting the bbl to 5" and using a Weigand interchangeable front sight base. Re-bluing the gun and calling me to pick it up. Hopefully it will shoot good. I have a B square scope base that I could attach to it to shoot to eliminate the old eye sight. It would help to see how good it shoots. Larry

Hondo44 · #**122** 04-13-2012, 02:04 AM

Now I remember. I guess rechamber the cylinder, and rebore the barrel/remark caliber.

Is he moving the frame mounted firing pin in frame or installing centerfire hammer/firing pin and creating an aperture in the frame?

Jebus35745 · #**123** 04-13-2012, 09:25 PM

I gave him a center fire hammer and a narrow trig to install. Not sure what he'll do. The target trig on the gun is no good to me for double action shooting. He's had the gun 9 weeks tomorrow. I hope to have it back by the NE Ohio bunch on May 12th to display. I also hope Keith Brown brings my Ropers for it. That would be a sweet day, Larry

Reddog · #**124** 05-09-2012, 08:45 PM

Hey, Boys!
We had another beautiful day in South Central Kansas, today! 73°, bright sun and light breeze! I dug out the Outdoorsman and a couple boxes of shells and headed for the range. I was shooting alone, so didn't stay long. The gun really liked both loads, so will have to remember these.
I shot another target offhand, but plan on forgetting it!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**125** 05-09-2012, 09:11 PM

Nice shootin Dick. Must be nice to be retired and shootin on you're home range as it says on the target. Thought this post was gone for-ever. Buy anything new? Hows the infection doin? Larry

Reddog · #**126** 05-10-2012, 01:05 AM

Larry,
Yes, I bought a 27-3, 6", in excellent condition. I wish it was a -2, though. Haven't been shooting much? I've been working in the yard a lot and the last couple days I've been trying to get a bunch of brass processed. I was behind about 1,000 rounds of 38, and odds and ends of others. Kind of let it go when I was doctoring so much. By the way, I'll get the final word on my back the 15th.. It appears to be fully healed. Hope so!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**127** 05-13-2012, 09:04 PM

Hi Dick, been busy lately. Had the S&W bunch yesterday, good turn out. Also shootin a double action only league for 8 weeks. Wish I could quit throwing one out of the rings in each match. Tomorrow we go 2 hrs south, the oldest son is a patent lawyer and gets his diploma tomorrow. Larry

Reddog · #**128** 05-13-2012, 11:31 PM

Congratulations, Larry!
I'm sure your son worked very hard for that!
I have a grandson, Reade, who just finished a Masters in Finance at Tulane in one year! We're very proud of him! Now if he can just find a job!
The pic is with his sister at his graduation from Tulane.
Dick

Reddog · #**129** 06-02-2012, 04:37 PM

Do any of you fellows scrounge brass? Well, I'll have to admit that I have for over 50 years, now. Especially 38 Special. When I went to Texas, last week, to shoot with my friends down there, a very old piece of brass headstamped REM gave out at one of the canalures and about two thirds of the case went with the bullet into the barrel! Luckily, or unluckily, it tied up the cylinder. We fooled with it for about an hour and all we accomplished was to get a steel punch down in there with the brass! Woe is me, what to do now? When I got home, I took it to my local gunsmith. He was able to tap the gun barrel on the bench enough to get the punch forward enough to clear the cylinder. Then, he used a jeweler's saw to saw the brass in two between the cylinder and barrel. He managed to do this with barely a mark on the barrel or cylinder! He said he had been a jeweler prior to becoming a gunsmith! Amazing! The Outdoorsman still functions, perfectly, but I imagine I'll not be shooting it so much, now!
Dick

Hondo44 · #**130** 06-03-2012, 05:18 AM

Dick,

Congratulations on your son's graduation!

Just for the record did the bullet exit the barrel or stick with the 2/3 of brass casing?

I had a similar experience with a jacketed bullet that left the jacket in the forcing cone jamming the cylinder. In that case pounding a lubed lead bullet down the barrel with wooden dowell as if to slug it worked remarkably well to get the jacket back in the chamber. Once it cleared the forcing cone, cyl was removed and lead slug knocked all the way thru.

Jebus35745 · #**131** 06-03-2012, 07:02 AM

Dick, keep shooting the Outdoorsman. They're too accurate to let them sit. Is it a pre or post war? Love my pre-war, Just changed the rear site blade with a Ruger or Colt blade. Its abt a 85% gun and it looked like it was dropped on the rear site. The new blade have a bigger usable notch in it then the pre war did.
Jim, talk to me, any new projects lately? Still waiting on the 32 long Horvath special. The bbl is stuck at the re-borer in Wash State. I do have the KB Ropers waiting for the 32. Larry

Reddog · #**132** 06-03-2012, 11:49 AM

Jim,
The bullet exited the barrel, luckily we caught it before firing another round behind it! The rear end of the brass piece was swelled where it had stopped in the forcing cone. The case was in three pieces. I'll post a picture of it soon.
Larry,
It's a prewar, 1940. I'll shoot it occasionally. Mine's probably 85 or 90%, too.
Dick

Hondo44 · #**133** 06-04-2012, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jebus35745

Jim, talk to me, any new projects lately? Still waiting on the 32 long Horvath special. The bbl is stuck at the re-borer in Wash State. I do have the KB Ropers waiting for the 32. Larry

Hi Larry,

I've been loading up 45 Frankford lately. I like shooting my 45 revolvers; a target 1917 and pre model 26. But I hate the moon clips and I like using the same ammo in my 45 Colt SA Rugers. 45 AR won't fit in my Rugers. So I cut down 45 Schofield cases to headspace on the chamber shoulder like the ACP and stick out far enough for proper firing pin ignition. Since they are rimmed of course they extract perfectly in the Smiths. It's kind of like shooting the 45 S&W Special that never made it beyond the Army trials of 1907.

I've also been dickering on a Ruger Hawkeye that's lost all collector value due to wear that I want to re-barrel to .204 Ruger.

Reddog · #**134** 06-12-2012, 04:14 PM

Got a chance, today, to shoot the Outdoorsman since the shell broke in it in Texas. While I was at it, I figured I might as well chronograph the loads. I'm curious how this 6.5" barrel will compare, velocity wise, to the 6" Model 28 and the 5" Model 27? Now if I can locate the records of chronographing of those loads! The gun functioned perfectly and was dead on with both loads!
Dick

Reddog · #**135** 08-20-2012, 09:09 PM

Thanks to member ar33c9, my Outdoorsman now has a complete pair of stocks to replace the missing half of the originals! Special thanks to Patrick Grasshorn!
Dick

Reddog · #**136** 09-08-2012, 10:08 PM

It was 82° and calm when I went out today! First time in a long time! I fired 80 rounds in my 6.5" 38/44 Outdoorsman today. Here are 50 of them on one target. I did adjust the sight a little to the right after this!

Off the sandbags at 25 yards.
153 grain homecast RCBS SW Wheelweights and 2% tin
3.6 grains of IMR 700X With WSP Primers in REM .38 Sp. brass

It was a fun time!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**137** 09-11-2012, 09:17 PM

Wow, thought this post was history. Looks like you found your glasses before you went shooting. Nice group. Its good to spend time with some of the older guns. Looks like you had fun. I havn't been shooting for a while. You're stag grips look great. Hows the rash? Larry

Reddog · #**138** 09-11-2012, 10:27 PM

Hey, Larry!
Son Steve and Grandson Derek came out this morning and we spent most of the day shooting! 38/44 OD, .44 Special, .45 ACP, both revolver and SA, 9 mm and 30/30, all with lead bullets. Of course the boys out shot me with them all. When we were done target shooting with the handguns at 25 yards we went to the iron coyote at 100 yards! The boys really had that coyote ringing with both the 38/44 and the 30/30! Great fun, the only sour note was 95° and high winds.
The back seems to be doing fine, I go back in November.
Good to hear from you!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**139** 09-13-2012, 11:35 PM

Good times spent with people that are dear to you. Don't get no better than that. Leaving memories in their heart is fun. Glad you had fun. Look, hopefully soon for my post on my K-.32 made from a K-.22. Hopefully Andy Horvath will have it done soon. Been 7 Mos. Larry

Reddog · #**140** 09-15-2012, 01:39 PM

Thank you, Larry!
It was good to have them home! We had dinner with them last night and then went for ice cream. They left Wichita this morning at 6 AM and arrived in Spokane at 12. Then, a 2 hour drive to Kennewick and they're home safe. Sad to see them go although they're coming home Christmas, too!
Dick

Reddog · #**141** 09-17-2012, 04:50 PM

Hey Shooters!
Had a beautiful day yesterday, so took the 38/44 OD out for a shoot! Have decided that this gun is about the most accurate I own! But, with the two pound trigger I think I'm getting some light strikes on the primer? You know, kind of a click/bang once in a while? That might explain some of the hits out of the center. So, I think I'm going to do as Jebus and Hondo suggested a while back and see if I can replace some springs and whatever else it needs, myself. Got my fingers crossed!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**142** 09-17-2012, 08:41 PM

That gun shoots great, I love you're life Dick. Larry

Reddog · #**143** 09-17-2012, 11:52 PM

Larry,
If we could combine my life and your money we'd really have something! Have you got a spare rebound spring you'd sell me?

Reddog · #**144** 09-21-2012, 04:34 PM

Ordered a set of Wilson springs from Midway, today. They were out of the Wolff's

Jebus35745 · #**145** 09-23-2012, 07:09 AM

Sorry Dick, didn't see the post on wanting a rebound spring. Been busy fighting the city abt building a bank behind my property. It would literally be changing the zoning from residential to commercial and taking out 2 houses. Very upset with our mayor right now, I'm heading the protest against this. Larry

Reddog · #**146** 09-23-2012, 11:59 AM

That's OK, Larry.
I was just joking anyway. Didn't figure you'd have one.
Give those bankers hell, Larry! They have too much money, already!
I have a gripe, too! Only mine's with Midway! I've spent a lot of money over the last 25 years with them and now they're after more! They charge a high price for this little set of springs and then charge $4.50 to ship it, plus, they add a $3.00 service charge because I ordered less than $25.00 worth of merchandise! I really like Potterfield but apparently I'm just another number to him!
Dick

Reddog · #**147** 09-24-2012, 11:11 PM

Well fellows!
My new set of Wilson springs arrived today, and my son Steve did an excellent job of installing them! We installed a new mainspring and a new rebound spring. I understand that the original S&W rebound spring was a 17 pound spring. The rebound springs that came in the kit were 12, 13 and 14 pounds. I didn't know for sure which to use so we put in the middle one. The new mainspring had a lot more bend on each end, so fit much tighter. It was like the tension had gone out of the old mainspring. The end result was that the trigger pull went from 2 pounds to one and one half pounds? So we put back to the original rebound spring in hopes that that with the new mainspring might take care of it. The original rebound spring was larger in diameter than any of the three in the kit and didn't look like it had been shortened. Then we were back at about one and three quarter pounds. So, nothing gained! I suspect that someone has worked the trigger over with a stone or something! I guess I'll take it to my local smith and see if he can help.
I did get to shoot a little, today! I took my 6" nickle 586 out and shot three targets, one of which was a dandy! This is a gun I shot a bullseye league with and all I ever used in it were light target loads like 148 gr. wadcutters and 2.8 grs. Clays. This load tried today was pretty hefty compared to those! There are 20 holes in that target! I guess the day wasn't a total loss!
Dick

Jebus35745 · #**148** 09-24-2012, 11:43 PM

Those 586-686's shoot great, maybe some day I'll look for a nice 4" 586 in blue. Nice grips, do you collect them? The K Herretts I like for DA shooting. Larry

Reddog · #**149** 09-24-2012, 11:44 PM

While doing the spring work, today, I discovered there is no hammer block on this gun. Should there be, or has it been lost?
Dick

Hondo44 · #**150** 09-24-2012, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reddog

While doing the spring work, today, I discovered there is no hammer block on this gun. Should there be, or has it been lost?
Dick

No, not if it's a 1940 gun. It would have to have a letter prefix to the butt serial #, a post war gun to have the improved hammer bar safety and the inside of the side plate would have a groove for it.