BillBro
Member
I know this doesnt count as gunsmithing but I just have to personalize my guns a little, if I can so since SS guns lend themselves to finish/appearance mods I decided to mod my 627-5 a little.
I started with the trigger and rounded and recontoured the entire thing to a more rounded and smooth curved cross sectional shape. I used the dremel and sanding drum initially and then moved to some small rounded files for better control and to be able to feel the details. For me power tools are just not conducive to fine, detail work, in any medium. I then moved to the paper and in retrospect I should have used more grits and went fine. Hindsight. It's always doable later. The result? Well, it sure feels nice to my finger and it looks ok to me at least.
The stop installed by s&w was, for all intents and purposes, use less and non-functional so I decided to perform some remedial action there as well by removing the original and fitting a new, and functional one. Now the trigger breaks and pretty much stops there, that's the way I prefer it in just about any gun. The result?
That shines trigger looked a bit odd all by its lonesome si I decided to brighten up a few more select parts. How about the hammer? Sure.
Then the cylinder release latch. Under the bead last finish that thing was surprisingly rough. I dont know much about mom parts or the process but I would have suspected that the resultant surface would be alot more uniform and smooth. Guess not always. I had to take this thing to a stone to get the flats flat and the edges a little more uniform and sharp. Its actually quite an angular little piece. Small but it has quite a few different facets, and the concave section around the front. It looks even better polished. Oh, on this and the hammer I left the pads with the checkering in their original states with the flat, blasted finish and on the cylinder release I also left the face of it bead blasted as well but polished the nut for a nice contrast.
I've seen many examples of SS guns with a Matt type finish and having a polished band around the cylinder, some have two small ones and I've seen a singular wide one. Now I'm going to guess that those were first published and then the band/bands masked off somehow and the blasting done. I obviously had to go at this from the reverse. I was worried about not having a crisp separation between the two surfaces so I really had to weigh having to polish the entire cylinder against my desire for just having a small, crisp, singular band and whether I would like an entirely polished cylinder if I screwed it up. I decided I could live with an entirely polished cylinder if I had to and moved forward. Believe it or not I taped it off with just Gorilla tape. That's about the stickiest tape on the planet I think. I couldn't think of a better place on the cylinder to have a polished band than where one usually appears anyway, in the area of the locking notches. My edges aren't perfect by any means but they're acceptable.
I also polished the 3 side plate screws.
So, do you guys think I got a little stupid and did too much? Is it too "blingy"? Am I happy with it? Yes, and I know, it's my gun and all. I guess I'm just wondering since in my limited poking around on here looking at others guns I've not seen others add any contrasting, polished touches to their SS guns. I personally like the contrast elements, adds a little interest.
Anywho, enjoy the pics.
I started with the trigger and rounded and recontoured the entire thing to a more rounded and smooth curved cross sectional shape. I used the dremel and sanding drum initially and then moved to some small rounded files for better control and to be able to feel the details. For me power tools are just not conducive to fine, detail work, in any medium. I then moved to the paper and in retrospect I should have used more grits and went fine. Hindsight. It's always doable later. The result? Well, it sure feels nice to my finger and it looks ok to me at least.
The stop installed by s&w was, for all intents and purposes, use less and non-functional so I decided to perform some remedial action there as well by removing the original and fitting a new, and functional one. Now the trigger breaks and pretty much stops there, that's the way I prefer it in just about any gun. The result?
That shines trigger looked a bit odd all by its lonesome si I decided to brighten up a few more select parts. How about the hammer? Sure.
Then the cylinder release latch. Under the bead last finish that thing was surprisingly rough. I dont know much about mom parts or the process but I would have suspected that the resultant surface would be alot more uniform and smooth. Guess not always. I had to take this thing to a stone to get the flats flat and the edges a little more uniform and sharp. Its actually quite an angular little piece. Small but it has quite a few different facets, and the concave section around the front. It looks even better polished. Oh, on this and the hammer I left the pads with the checkering in their original states with the flat, blasted finish and on the cylinder release I also left the face of it bead blasted as well but polished the nut for a nice contrast.
I've seen many examples of SS guns with a Matt type finish and having a polished band around the cylinder, some have two small ones and I've seen a singular wide one. Now I'm going to guess that those were first published and then the band/bands masked off somehow and the blasting done. I obviously had to go at this from the reverse. I was worried about not having a crisp separation between the two surfaces so I really had to weigh having to polish the entire cylinder against my desire for just having a small, crisp, singular band and whether I would like an entirely polished cylinder if I screwed it up. I decided I could live with an entirely polished cylinder if I had to and moved forward. Believe it or not I taped it off with just Gorilla tape. That's about the stickiest tape on the planet I think. I couldn't think of a better place on the cylinder to have a polished band than where one usually appears anyway, in the area of the locking notches. My edges aren't perfect by any means but they're acceptable.
I also polished the 3 side plate screws.
So, do you guys think I got a little stupid and did too much? Is it too "blingy"? Am I happy with it? Yes, and I know, it's my gun and all. I guess I'm just wondering since in my limited poking around on here looking at others guns I've not seen others add any contrasting, polished touches to their SS guns. I personally like the contrast elements, adds a little interest.
Anywho, enjoy the pics.
Last edited:
