I have heard of pistol smiths converting Square butt guns to Round Butts, but does anybody do the opposite and go RB to SB? I hate the look of a RB on any revolver with a 4" barrel or longer and conversion grips are Ok at best to me.

I believe there are SB grips made for RBs, that’s the usual way.

Never heard of it. It's easier to go SB ---> RB because it's just removing metal to reshape it. To go RB ---> SB would require welding metal onto the frame and then reshaping it. Not familiar with welding, but I'd be concerned about the strength of the weld, how it might affect whatever heat treat the frame has, and how well the weld is blended in. Compared to RBing a SB, it sounds awfully labor-intensive, and thus, expensive.

I agree here with Mikerjf. Don't bother with all the fun metalworking - a set of conversion grips will do the trick at a fraction of the price, in as much time as it take to swap your grips, and without having to explain to any potential future purchaser just what the heck happened to the gun you are trying to sell him!

It wouldn't be that hard to build up the grip frame with weld. But, then a bunch of time would go into either machining or grinding it to shape. With good welds it would be as strong as a factory sq butt frame. But, it would take time and you would have really pay attention working the bottom so as to not mess up the serial number and set everything smooth and polished. A grooved back strap woiuld add to the labor. Oh and the hole for the mainspring tension screw would need the recess cleaned up.

Be a pain in the rear is what it would be.

Yes, it would take some more time to convert RB to sq butt and time is money. But it's not technically too awfully different or difficult. Anyone with the technical skills to convert sq to rd could convert rd to sq.

In fact just grafting the toe and heel of a sq butt grip frame to a rd butt really simplifies the process including keeping the original serial # intact. Scrap grip frames are not hard to come by with so many law enforcement destroyed gun parts kits for sale.

And there's no heat treatment for strength issues involved with a grip frame! The more I think about it, the more I hear the "sirens" calling me to the challenge just because. Been there, done that and have the T shirt!

Excuse me...I have to go pull a few rd and sq butt HEs out of the safe.......

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Jim
S&WCA #819

You could probably do the conversion with some JB Weld. It won’t look perfect but it should be completely functional and wouldn’t look any more out of place than a grip adapter.

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My sgntr is mor thn 30 chrctrs

Round butt S&W revolvers are often desirable, so I would not do anything to permanently make a round butt into a square butt. I would look for some round butt stocks that mimic the square butt profile.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Agree. Don't spend the money to actually change the guns frame from round butt to square butt. Several of the well known stock makers ( like Altamont ) offer RB to SB conversion stocks.

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John

^^^^^^This. Or you could just look for a revolver with a square butt and get that.

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Let's be careful out there

I am looking for complete scrap grip frames K and N. Grip finishing patterns