Would you buy a new J Frame if Smith offered a "kit" gun with 38/357 & 9mm cylinders

[JDinAZ]

Would you buy a new J Frame if Smith offered a "kit" gun with 38/357 & 9mm cylinders

Brought this up in the other 9mm revolver thread briefly

But thought the idea posed is deserving of its own thread


Would you buy a new 38/357 J Frame IF Smith put together a "kit" that contained an extra cylinder chambered for 9mm.

OR

Would you just rather Smith puts out a 9mm only J Frame


Realistically as I outlined in the other thread its not much that needs to be done to a current 38/357 J frame at the factory to give all the Smith revolver fans a new 9mm J frame

The only 2 things that really need done are:
Chamber for 9mm vs 38/357
Machine cylinder to accept moon clips to headspace the 9mm round so it will fire

The Performance Center already machines factory cylinders for 38/357. Why not have the factory just change the reamers when the cylinders are on the normal production line and presto the machines spit out some 9mm cylinders now

Pretty simple thing, wonder if Smith will read this and listen to the masses and give America what they want.

There has to be enough market share for it or Ruger would have discontinued the 9mm LCR. And others wouldnt be bringing out new snubs from thier brands either. But they and others keep giving folks snub nose revolvers in 9mm.



Hit the poll, if enough folks want them there should be no logical reason why Smith wouldnt make those for all of us. After all, they did just release an X Frame in 350 Legend of all things.

Maybe we'll get lucky and see a modern version of the 940 born. We don't need the exact 940 ratchet etc or some wild no moon clip needed contraption.

 

[snuffy19608]

Nope. I've been pretty lucky with the newer Smith's going through my grubby little hands, but I've heard too many horror stories. Add to that my dislike of MIM and I stay with the older guns. Good stuff! I just picked up a Model 36 from 1969-70, feels good on my belt and works as advertised.

 

[Ameshawki]

The 357 bore is ever so slightly larger than the 9mm. Using a 357 mag length cylinder is going to result in a long trip before the 9mm bullet hits the rifling. I would suspect accuracy could be spotty. My limited experience with 45 Colt/45 ACP combos is the 45 Colt shoots much better than the 45 ACP.

 

[burneyr]

I would be all over one marked 9mm Parabellum like the originals. Steel, aluminum, scandium...

If they went with a no lock frame I would buy one to shoot and one to stash.

 

[JDinAZ]

The 357 bore is ever so slightly larger than the 9mm. Using a 357 mag length cylinder is going to result in a long trip before the 9mm bullet hits the rifling. I would suspect accuracy could be spotty. My limited experience with 45 Colt/45 ACP combos is the 45 Colt shoots much better than the 45 ACP.

The 38 375 and 9mm bore is all the same per SAAMI

There would be a long throat in the 9mm cylinder which would not hurt anything

The biggest negative effect on accuracy is tight throats. Of which is somewhat common on J frames, based on the many I have pin gauged with an industry standard ZZ- pin guage ( exact dim - 0.0002 = two tenths of one thou under marked dim) . Many were tight. Which would swage the bullet down and reduce the engagement on its way down the barrel.

The 45 scenario you mentioned with yours is the same type of slight accuracy issue that exists with current 9mm converted J frames, albeit most never really realize it as the throats are many times tight which as I mentioned adds to the degradation of accuracy. And bullseye pin point accuracy isnt a common thing folks really dedicate much time to assessing when shooting snub nose revolvers.

This ctg vs chamber accuracy also comes into play in the 929s. Ive seen a thread here where they were trying to increase the accuracy on thier race gun. Standard 9mm case reloads were not yielding the accuracy they wanted. It was brought to light that the 929 is not chambered in 9x19, it is actually chambered in 9x23. This lets Smith run one cylinder only which works here in America but is also marketable in Europe where they have "military cartridge" restrictions on 9x19, its a no no to have in many places there.

The solution for that instance was for him to load 9x23 brass vs 9x19.


SAAMI Spec for all three below

Throats 0.358

Bore 0.346

Groove 0.355

 

[JimCunn]

"The 357 bore is ever so slightly larger than the 9mm".

No, it isn't.


At age 80, I'm no longer a good shot, but I can still hit a paper plate at 100 feet with my 9mm converted 637-2. How accurate do they need to be?

 

[Rpg]

I have no interest in 357 mag J frames. I see no benefit in a 9mm cylinder accompanying a 38 J frame.

I would be interested in a readily available 38 special J frame with adjustable sights.

 

[CH4]

Yea, if I didn’t already have a 940, 640-1 and it didn’t come with the vent.

 

[tomahawk223]

Ammo availability in 9mm is the driving reason I want one, .38 is at least 3 times as much as 9mm even for the range stuff. I would buy one right away. airweight hammerless .38/.357 and 9mm. we all should have learned a lesson from that last 3+ years about ammo.

 

[winchester62]

3 inch, adjustable sights, no lock. The 9mm cylinder cut without a long chasm of freebore. Yes. I would buy one. I might even buy a few.

 

[Nightowl]

There is not a choice for a straight "NO!"

 

[DETROIT]

Brought this up in the other 9mm revolver thread briefly

But thought the idea posed is deserving of its own thread


Would you buy a new 38/357 J Frame IF Smith put together a "kit" that contained an extra cylinder chambered for 9mm.

OR

Would you just rather Smith puts out a 9mm only J Frame


Realistically as I outlined in the other thread its not much that needs to be done to a current 38/357 J frame at the factory to give all the Smith revolver fans a new 9mm J frame

The only 2 things that really need done are:
Chamber for 9mm vs 38/357
Machine cylinder to accept moon clips to headspace the 9mm round so it will fire

The Performance Center already machines factory cylinders for 38/357. Why not have the factory just change the reamers when the cylinders are on the normal production line and presto the machines spit out some 9mm cylinders now

Pretty simple thing, wonder if Smith will read this and listen to the masses and give America what they want.

There has to be enough market share for it or Ruger would have discontinued the 9mm LCR. And others wouldnt be bringing out new snubs from thier brands either. But they and others keep giving folks snub nose revolvers in 9mm.



Hit the poll, if enough folks want them there should be no logical reason why Smith wouldnt make those for all of us. After all, they did just release an X Frame in 350 Legend of all things.

Maybe we'll get lucky and see a modern version of the 940 born. We don't need the exact 940 ratchet etc or some wild no moon clip needed contraption.

There was kind of a revolver that met those demands in the 90’s.

M47 Medusa | Gun Wiki | Fandom

Phillips & Rodgers M47 Medusa: Multicaliber Revolver for a Nonexistent Apocalypse - YouTube

 

[snowman.45]

I like my J-Frames. I've owned a 940 and regret ever selling it about 10-15 years ago. I've not been able to find another that I was willing to the tariff on. I've played with the idea of sending a 640 magnum cylinder off to Pinnacle and having it bored for 9mm and cut for moon clips. Like others have said, ammunition availability comes to mind as a good reason to consider this.

 

[Pisgah]

Honestly, I'd read the breathless review in Guns & Ammo and then forget it ...

 

[longwalker]

3 inch, adjustable sights, no lock. The 9mm cylinder cut without a long chasm of freebore. Yes. I would buy one. I might even buy a few.

This, except I'd only buy two==> one with sights, hammer, 3-inch bbl. & steel frame/cylinder. The other aluminum 2-inch bbl. & hammerless (no sights).

Price & availability of 9mm it just makes sense.

Jerry

 

[LostintheOzone]

.357 J frame? Never should have been built and I wouldn't buy one.

I do understand 9mm and 45 ACP revolvers though. I have a 625 and shoot it some. They don't seem to be very popular though and probably the reason S&W discontinued them.

Good luck with your dream revolver.

 

[JDinAZ]

Good luck with your dream revolver.

Fortunately it’s not a dream revolver for me

I already do CNC moon clip conversions on 38/357 J frames and manufacture the best J 38/357 heat treated stainless moon clips on the wire edm.

Have the proper 9mm reamer laying on the bench just need to take time to tool the machine and layout a 9mm J moon clip

Presto all the 9mm j frame cylinder conversions I could ever want

This was more about something for folks that don’t have those kind of abilities or machinery at their finger tips

 

[Protocall_Design]

I think a 9mm only with steel frame (ali frames crack too easily), 3" barrel, adj. or fixed sight, no lock, would sell well.

 

[mtgianni]

I would probably pass only because I imagine price would be around $1200. Get the cost down to $750 real cost and it would be intriguing.

 

[haywood]

I’d rather try the Charter Arms 9mm revolver. They don’t need moon clips.