What if someone had a stainless k frame that didn’t have a pinned barrel or frame and they wanted it pinned? Who would they send it to, I mean if somebody ever did think of, you know, doin something like that

Non-expert opinion:
any gunsmith should be able to drill and insert a pin

Personally I would not do that, BUT if it had to be done then a Gun Smith who knows how to locate the hole properly! I know the Factory pinned guns came with a barrel that had a flat on the top that the pin rides over. Not having any modern day Smiths I am not sure weather or not the new barrels have a flat on them. You do not state when your gun was made.

Is there a specific reason for you wanting to do this? I think most here would agree that while the pin (if original) is a "bragging rights" point (as are recessed Charge Holes), it really is not necessary to hold the barrel in. In doing so all one would need to do is look up the date of manufacture to determine weather or not it was original.

Barrels for non-pinned models do not have the machined flat (why pay for an unnecessary manufacturing step?).

The rest of your points are spot-on; all this would do is mess up the gun so why do it?

I milled the notch in this 44 snubby barrel


I drilled this 13-3 for a pin & mounted a 3 inch 19 barrel. Did the drillin' with the barrel in the frame. It aint for the timid.


I keep enterin' this one in the Bubba Gun competition, but it never wins.

Ned

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You could, but why?

The gun is a model 65 and to me it looks like it’s missing something without the pin. It would be to satisfy me regarding the look of the gun, not to try and pass it off as something it’s not. I doubt I will go thru with it but I did want to know how doable it could be.
So if the barrel isn’t notched (a 3” heavy barrel 65-3) it would have to be removed milled for the notch, frame drilled, barrel reinstalled and pin tapped in. Did I leave anything out?

Just thinking here, for aesthetics only?
Why not just faux in a pin? Dummy it so it looks like it is a full pin but don't remove or modify the barrel. Drill both sides and insert dummy pin.
Could save a lot of expense and mods.. just a thought
Karl

I think you are far better off leaving a perfectly good non-pinned S&W revolver alone.

Ok, let's say you successfully added a pin and it looks legit. Years later you sell it, fully disclosing that it is not a factory one-off, pinned barrel revolver. But, then someone who is... a little less honorable or simply does not know the story, sells it as a one-of-a-kind factory pinned barrel revolver for an exorbitant amount of money. I know we all say "I'm never going to sell it", but the reality is that somewhere down the line, it will no longer belong to us.

Besides, you can seriously mess up a perfectly good revolver doing this stuff.

Don't try and do the drilling with out having the bbl in the frame if you're planning on drilling all the way through.
The bbl will make a (somewhat) solid surface from side to side to drill thru. Though you will still be passing from the frame, then over the bbl threads, then into the frame again.

This will be all done at anything but nice flat and perpendicular surfaces to the drill point.,,a real formula for run out and/or drill bit breakage.
Get the drill bit broke off in there and you've got a real nice bbl pin for yourself..

Starting the drill on those convoluted curved and edged surfaces on the frame isn't easy.
One thing you'll have going for you is you are working on stainless and any 'oops' swiggles the drill runs around on the surface you can easily polish out afterwards.

IF I were to do this for cosmetic reasons only I would probably do the faux pin ends on either side of the frame only. Very short stub end pins in press fit holes with a touch of red loctite.

A very careful set up in a drillpress or mill to do the job. A small center drill to spot the holes and a short, chucked up drill bit to do the cutting.
..You might even be able to use a small dia center point end of one of the smaller center drills to spot and cut the hole for you.
They are short, but that's about as deep as needed for a faux pin. The center drill won't wander around in use and the tip will cut a nice clean, shallow hole in the frame for the faux pin.

That would be about a 5 minute job on a mill, after setup. Start the hole with a properly sized ball end mill, drill through, deburr, stick a pin in it. Not a big deal. A mill is the best drill press there is.

^^^ I agree, with the right tools and an experienced gunsmith or machinist the job would be very doable.

If you are willing and have the money, I suspect a machinist with gunsmithing knowledge would laugh all the way to the bank with your check... pull the barrel, machine a flat, drill the frame and re-install with a pin that does absolutely nothing.

I'm with the group who says leave it alone. The pin was largely a PR item back when because barrels working loose-from other makers- weren't a rare item. You can actually turn the barrel a surprising amount before the pin will stop it (you'd definately notice before it got that bad).

It would also be expensive. Note the first sentence in Toolguy's post, especially the part about AFTER SETUP. Like many other projects, the setup would virtually be the job. I recall a milling job where the cuts actually took about 15 minutes, the setup over an hour to get it just right.

Yes, the barrel would stay in. When I fit custom barrels to pinned frames, I'd drill about half way through from both sides and then clean it up.

I would sell the pin-less revolver, and buy one with the pin.

That's a lie..I would keep the pin-less and just buy one with a pin..

To me it makes NO difference..if it suppose to have a pin..fine. If not..fine too.

My mechanical experience comes from 50yrs of motorcycle repair and maintenance, as an enthusiast, not as a profession. That being said I do have some skills and some tools. The parameters for motorcycle engine performance modification success are simple; pick any two and only two of the following, (1) cheap, (2) fast-good horsepower, (3) reliable.
So applying this truism to the gun I’d like to have pinned, in short says I probably wouldn’t get the results I wanted without spending some bucks and I’m not going to throw a lot of dough at a bit of an offbeat project. Now back to motorcycling and my garage tools , I do have a Rigid consumer grade drill press manual feed of course and a horizontal x y plane adj vise but common drill bits only. Would like to have that pin but I can see some good reasons for enjoying the gun without it.

Gotta agree with Breakaway, buy another with a PIN if it's that important.

Sent from my BNTV450 using Tapatalk

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