Made a 15-3 into a 3” full lug .327, hesitated a year. Picked up the gun from Andy Horvath this morning. He cut the barrel to 3”, installed a Weigand interchangeable front sight base and fit the cylinder. I will round butt the gun and maybe bob the hammer then get it refinished. It’s in the first stages but well on it’s way. Think the grips on it will be used because of the nice grain and will need to be fit.

Even fit the Sticky pocket holster from the Kimber K6, Larry

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Looks like a fun project.

This looks like a great project! Where did you get the barrel from?

Neat project! Tell us more...

Is the barrel from a Model 16? How 'bout the cylinder?

Great project!

Tell us about the source for your barrel and cyl please.

Is the cyl a .22 cyl reamed to .327?

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Nice project! Please share some of the details when you get a chance.

Been thinking about something like this for a while and couple yrs ago there was a 4” 16-4 barrel for sale here in the classified. Bam, I was lucky. Was gonna have a retired machinist cut the bbl for me and crown it the best I could. Crowned a .22 barrel with files and it came out OK. The sight couldn’t be reused. Not sure how Andy knows what height to mount a Weigand interchangeable front sight base so he would need to cut the barrel for me. I like the Horvath Custom & .327 Magnum.

The cylinder was for .22 LR and Andy reamed it to .327 abt 9 months ago. Thought I would save money and fit the cyl myself. It wouldn’t fit, not sure why. Played with it for while then decided to let Andy have it so I didn’t ruin something. The ratchet was different and needed filing to make the timing correct.

So out to Andy’s February 25th with the model 15 and roughly 4 months later I got it back. The cost was 325.00, the base was included in the price. The base is 50.00-55.00 delivered to me. Happy so far, will carry it today to see how different it is from the Kimber K6. This may be a cold weather gun under a jacket. Larry

Nice...

Is Weigand again making the sight bases? Last I had looked they had stopped...

Bob

A perfect candidate for black nitriding. Here’s a M15 I had done. It’s still a .38, however.

H&M nitriding does a great job!

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FBINA 213

Bowen makes the bases now. Is the nitriding a paint process? Larry

No, it’s definitely not paint.


H&M Blacknitride+™ | The New Standard in Steel Hardening


Nitriding - Wikipedia

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FBINA 213

Very nice. Now if only S&W would follow your lead.

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NRA Benefactor S&WCA 3297

Nice piece, I'm jealous. that is about perfect........

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Thanks for all the comments, had the barrel at least 2 years and wasn’t sure l wanted to put the money out for another .32. Also wasn’t sure if I would use a model 15 or 10. The 3” guns look neat with adjustable sights, especially a gold bead Patridge front sight. With the Weigand base the ramp front sight can be inserted to carry.

CH4, how long ago did you get your gun nitrided? The finish should be durable for carrying daily? Wonder how it compares to metealife hard chrome. Anyone else use Nitriding on their guns?
Andy Horvath is 30 min west and H&M is 30 minutes south.

The only project left in my mind is cutting a 6” model 14-5, -6 or -7 full lug to 5”. Andy could make it happen. Have a 4” 14-6 Roper in the basement and 3 of the 14-6 & -7’s. Would have a set of 4”, 5” & 6” full lug 14’s. Larry

Jebus35745, did you ever have that PPC style bull barrel installed on a gun? I remember several years ago that you had that on your project list? Does your little carry gun shoot as accurately as this and your other, longer barreled, 32s?

Froggie

Plan to ransom rest the gun tomorrow morning, the tables the rest will be mounted on are movable and not the best for ransom rest use. Better then nothing, my benched sand bag shooting sucks from inconsistent sight pictures. Taking 2 different .327 reloads, 2 .32mag & 2 .32 long reloads to shoot. Will report tomorrow.

The .32 long PPC gun was built on a model 15 frame also and shoots nice. Larry

Jebus35745,
Your post inspired me to give Andy Horvath a call to discuss having my K22 cylinder reamed out to 32 magnum. I need it to complete the conversion of a M15 to .32 magnum. Like you, I purchased a 4'' barrel from a member here.
Andy called me right back and I'm happy to say that the cylinder is on its way to his shop.
...Mercury

Mercury, what did he charge you?

Here are the ransom rest results. Remember the table used is movable and I pushed it against the wall to help make it stable. The ransom rest is bolted to some wood and clamped to the table. The groups are at least 12 shots at 50 feet. Didn’t like the.32 long Hdy SWC or the .32 Mag LRN. The snappier the load the better accuracy got. The .32 mag JRN did OK but had vertical stringing. The .327 JHP had 2 separate groups but nice and the Hornady XTP’s had an excellent group. The quarter is about an inch in dia. Happy so far, Larry

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Nice Larry! Looks like a keeper!!

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Tom Graham SWCA #2303

It appears it turns out to be perfectly dialed in for the .32 H&R Mag jacketed load; presuming you used the same point of hold for each target.

When you refinish your project, you may consider welding up the corners on the front of the top strap to match up to the barrel rib. Maybe even the frame and yoke below the shroud. Althoug starting with a M19 frame wouldn't have that issue.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Neat project, looks like a lot of fun to shoot. Regarding the Nitriding I thought the claim by the company linked in the one post was a bit much where they claimed a gain in velocity of several hundred feet per sec.

Jim, welding the areas you mentioned would would make the metal flow smoother. This project was on the back burner, not sure I wanted to spend the money on another project. Found a model 15 at a gun show reasonably priced. Walked around after I saw it thinking about the whole process and went back to buy it. The 19’s are priced higher, wanted to keep the costs down. Would have to remove the barrel to do what you said, don’t have the tools to remove it. I remember some talked about making the shroud smaller also.

Yea, not sure about the velocity increasing if it was nitraded. Still not sure what finish it will get. Was quoted 225.00 minimum for black nitrate and would be done in a week. Need to search more on how it wears over time. S&W uses them on a lot of semi auto parts for their new guns. Can’t be too bad, Larry