Has anyone considered re-chambering a Model 58 to to a larger caliber such as .44 spl/.44 mag, .45 acp, or .45 colt ?

A "N" Frame 4" fixed sight revolver would be very nice. plus the Model 58 comes with a heavy barrel.

(of course if Model 58s were not rare collector's weapons)

seabago son has one in 44 mag

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Jim McGhee

Thought about it. That is all. Just don't have the money to finance such a conversion. Then one day a light surprised me! It was not the dawn. It was not Juliette. It was Smith and Wesson... and a little something they decided to produce called the 21-4. No... it was not a heavy barreled revolver. But, it was a N-frame. It was chambered in .44 caliber... Special of course! It was blessed with fixed sights well regulated for standard loads. And... I had just found one in a LGS for a nice price. It is now part of the little accumulation of revolvers that I have put together. A heavier barrel would not be unwelcomed. Perhaps one day a spare 58 barrel will come along. Then, with a bit of fiddling around it just might be possible that that 21-4 will be improved upon a little bit. Maybe. If a spare .44 Magnum cylinder was to come along, that 21-4 might improve a whole lot! Guess that's what I get for thinking. Sincerely. bruce.

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Why not just buy a model 21 or model 22?



The model 21 is chambered for 44 Special and the model 22 is 45 ACP

It's been done. I've seen a couple. If memory serves me correctly, 45 LC and 44 Mag. Don't know who did them. As I recall the barrel was rebored and the caliber info re-engraved. I don't know if the chambers were recut or original cylinders were used.

After thinking long and hard about converting a 58 to 45 acp with model 28 barrel it wasnt worth it to me for all the expense.

after all I was going to shoot the snot out of it and would hate to tear apart a 58 to do so.

... I am even starting to be able to look past the frame mounted firing pin and IL

I wouldn't have a barrel bored annew rifling cut. 44 & 45 barrels show up on gunbroker, eBay , etc probly cheaper and less wait time.I have purchases 4 different 45 barrels from 4-6" myself both stainless and blued. A 45colt reamer is about $140

The original question was about converting a model 58 so it would end up being an M&P type heavy barrel fixed sighted revolver in a larger caliber. While cylinders may have been found that would work in both calibers, barrels are a different story. Since S&W never made a heavy barrel fixed sighted barrel in those calibers, no one could find one anywhere and a rebore is the only option. Several people specialize or have in the past done rebores and they have been pretty nice. Bowen is an example.

I have to disagree that "re-bore is the only option".

I would simply take the 44 or 45 barrel and cut off the front sight then install one of proper dimensions.

Would that not be faster, cheaper and easier than re-boring and re-rifling a barrel to the new caliber?

If you were satisfied with a standard profile barrel, yes. If you wanted the heavy barrel, what other N-Frame has a heavy barrel?

I'm sure someone of H. Bowen's class could add a locking lug to a heavy .44 or .45 cal, barrel blank and thread it to the frame, but I don't know of any source for a donor barrel.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

I must be missing what you are trying to say

Since a donor could come from a model 29 or a model 25, both of which are heavy barrel N-frames.

Converting the Model 58 to .44 Special or .45 Colt was a popular project back in the mid 1970’s. Major George Nonte wrote about doing the conversion to .45 Colt, just as Skeeter had talked about converting M27 and M28’s to .44 Special.

This Model 58 was converted by Spokhandguns, Vern Ewer, who did some first rate handgun work back in the day. The cylinder was rechambered for .45 Colt and the barrel was rebored and rerifled, the caliber marking was “45 Long Colt” in script letters. Very well done, overall.



I found it in a pawn shop in a small north Texas town. It was a good shooter, but the cylinder was too short for the bullets I liked to use, so the solution was to trim the cases short for crimping in the crimp groove, choose a different bullet design, or just sell it. I sold it.

I've often said I wished they'd make a bull-barrel version of the Model 21 & 22.

A 3" like the one above would make an awesome SD gun.

The only non heavy barrel 45 Caliber I have is from a 1950 model. Most 44 barrels are als heavy. If you don't want a shroud a milling machine could remove it no problem. Front sight is an easy change out lot of them have pinned blades and some have pinned ramps.

Recutting a barrels rifling would be no easy task and even with the right equipment there would be problems. The start and the exit would be hard to keep perfect. Good enough for a revolver. OK, but when I get a barrel blank the first 2" from the muzzle end is going in the scrap. Breach end is getting chambered.

My step dad used to cut his own muzzle loader barrels. Not an easy task, at least using old school methods.

As AKtinman says, there were quite a number of M58s reamed out to .44 and .45 back when they were just used guns at second hand prices.
Just as you see Heavy Duties made into imitation Military and Army .44s and .45s.

I once thought that was very cool, I actually started messing with an M28 but the lead gunsmith passed away and I never picked the job back up.
Now I would just get .41 dies and some heavy .41 bullets and save the gunsmithing bill. I doubt there would be any difference in the shooting unless you plugged the bullet holes in the target.

Appears not to be a model 58 cylinder? Maybe a model 27 reamed to .45 Colt? Custom barrel?
Steve

When the Model 58 was in production it was a favorite platform for conversions. Many were made; I recall that .45 Colt was a popular choice. I doubt if it was cost effective then, and given the premium currently paid for Model 58s, I imagine it is even less cost effective today.

If it starts with a 4 it is the right
Caliber!

Here is one that was made into 44 Magnum. I bought it believing that it was a 41 Mag, but quickly learned the ugly truth. Now I just shoot it with 44 Specials and call it good.

Attached Images

DSC_0021.jpg (110.9 KB, 363 views)

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On the Oak Savannah

A local gun smith that I did a lot of business with loved to tell the story of how he converted a 58 to .44 Magnum. The customer wanted the finished revolver to look like a 58 and wanted to spend whatever it took. The customer provided a 58 and a 29 to scavenge for parts. The gunsmith used the 29 cylinder and barrel. He milled down the 29 barrel rib and extractor shroud. Without milling the 29 barrel rib it would scream "wrong barrel" at any S&W enthusiast who handled it.

Call me ignorant but I would not spend a bunch of money just to get a .44 Magnum with inferior sights.

I had a friend back in Az that has a 58 , converted to 45 LC . Hamilton Bowen did the conversion a few yrs ago . I had the opportunity to shoot it a few times , wasn't that impressed knowing what it had cost .
He no longer works on Smiths for conversions . I will just leave my 58 , just like it is . I can load it up and load it down so I really don't see the reason to spend the money to change calibers . Regards, Paul

As a 41 Magnum fan, I say, why bother ? Those fixed sights mean you will be limited to just one load, and if you find the cylinder recesses are cut too deep...

On the heavy barrel fixed sight deal. 45 or 44 mag barrel and some time on a milling machine. Shroud is gone and the front sight is what ever height you want in short order.

Finding someone who rebores barrels now is like looking for cheap triple locks.

Steve, I have no reason to suspect that the cylinder is anything other than a Model 58 cylinder. My 45 Colt loads using the Keith style SWC were too long for the cylinder, but worked fine in a 25-7 with cylinder length of 1.677”. Recommended OAL for 45 Colt in my Hornady and Speer manuals is 1.600”. My 27-2 cylinder is 1.623”. I didn’t record the cylinder length from the Model 58, so your guess is as good as mine.

The barrel is the original M58, rebored and some nice mill work done to the top for the sight channel.

Vern Ewer, Spokhandguns owner, did some incredible work over the years. The action was one of the nicest I have ever handled. Someone spent a lot of money to have this one converted and they must have been proud of it. As it was suffering from some rust and ended up in the pawn shop (less than $350 OTD) I can’t help but think that the original owner passed and it went to someone who really didn’t appreciate what it was. Just my conjecture, nothing else.

Here are some more photos:

.45 Colt would be intriguing

Bowen did mine, most pleased with the result. Well worth it.

Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.

.41 and .44 Magnum cylinders are a lot longer than the cylinder in the .45 caliber Model 58 you owned. It would have made no sense to shorten a 58 cylinder. The shorter cylinder forced the gunsmith to lathe turn metal off the barrel shoulder to extend the barrel further into the cylinder window. Your old gun's shorter cylinder combined with enough length in the back for recessed rims makes it a rechambered .357 cylinder.

My model 58 is one of the most accurate revolvers I have ever owned. Reloading cast bullets from 195 grains to 237 grains they all seem to shoot very close to the sights. That's unusual and I'm not going to monkey with changing to another caliber. 41 magnum can be loaded from mild to wild and I just don't see the need for any change.
Even Elmer Keith remarked how the 41 police load shot close to the 41 magnum full hunting load and how he liked this .
Gary

That makes sense. The barrel was 3.5" as I recall, so he did shorten it from the rear as is evident from the pix.

Way back in the olden days, Clark Custom Guns used to offer threaded barrel blanks for making PPC revolvers. One of their offerings was a .45 blank, threaded for an N-frame Smith. I happen to have one, assuming that it survived Hurricane Harvey. There may still be some floating around out there in the wild. If you could locate one, you could turn it down to whatever contour you wanted. Add-on lugs at least used to be available for the PPC gun trade; not sure if they still are.

As for my model 58, it took me soo long to find, it will stay as is till I take a dirt nap, after that I have no control. I have no problem with the .41 magnum cartridge and they don't make this one anymore.
Steve

Over the years I had Hamilton Bowen convert several Model 58s into a 45 Colt (2 or 3 of them). For shorter cartridges (including 45 S&W (Schofield) and 44 Special), I used Model 520s. For the 44s I used a S&W barrel from a Model 29, and on the 45s a barrel from a Model 25. This gave me a full ejector rod shroud which I much preferred in terms of look and function. I posted several long discussions on these projects on the forum over the years under the name CPRHER. The picture next to my name above is one of my 45 Colts.
Keith

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Keith Herrington