Murdock
Member
Okay, the project was not truly derailed, but has certainly been sidelined. This post went longer than intended, but you can skip past the angst and rage and just look at the last few paragraphs to cut to the chase.
As a Skeeter Skelton acolyte I always wanted a handy S&W .44 Special, but when I was young in the 1970s and early 1980s they were rare and commanded prices that were too high for me. Smith just wasn't making them anymore, and everybody wanted a magnum of some sort, which soaked up all of the new N frame production for years.
When Smith finally produced the M24-3 in the mid eighties they sold so quickly that I missed my chance at a 4-inch. Deciding that I once again would have to make my own if I was ever gonna have one I was able to get a new, 4-inch 44 Special barrel and cylinder from S&W while they still had some. Then, because life is unpredictable, a brand new 6.5 version that I could afford on a very tight budget popped up before they, too, were all gone. Forty years later I stil have it and enjoy it. Shot alot of field pistol silhouette with it using the classic, heavy Keith loads.
But I still wanted a 4-inch. Maybe 25 years ago I was in a LGS that had a 28-2 for $199 and I grabbed that sucker. It was the perfect host for the .44 parts in my stash, as it was mechanically excellent, finish-worn, but without rust, pitting, or signs of abuse. I waited until my head was in the right place a few years later (after finding another, 5-screw, S prefix, HP that I liked even more). I got to work on the conversion, using the Kuhnhausen shop manual, and taking my time.
Everything was going well. With the Special barrel mounted, I used my drill press to chase and clear the pin hole in the frame to prep for tapping the original barrel pin back into place. Using a small ball peen hammer to set the pin in, somehow the pin broke about halfway into the process. I attempted to remove the broken pin with a punch, but found that the punch was getting bent, yet the pin wasn't moving.
That's when I made a serious mistake: I used judgement, stopped what I was doing, and went to a professional.
Telling the gunsmith what the problem was, I asked him to simply drill out the pin remnant, and replace it with a new one. If that enlarged the original hole slightly I expected a new pin of appropriate size to be inserted. Simple. Just the stripped frame with the new barrel were left with the Smith. In fairness, this smith has done superb work on some nice shotguns, and other work.
A couple of weeks later I called to check on the job, and was told it was ready to be picked up. I said fine and started over on the 45 minute drive to get there. When I arrived the smith had a really embarassed look on his face. Apparently he had waited until I was on the way over to start the job. Somehow the frame came loose in his milling machine or drill press, spun around, and broke off a carbide drill bit in my frame. The entrance and exit of the pin hole were both bunged up, and there was a nasty scratch across the top strap and rear sight. Since he couldn't get the broken carbide bit out, let alone whatever was left of the barrel pin I had wanted replaced, he tried to cosmetically cover the mess by inserting short pins in from either end of the pin hole. It looked like the stuff that comes out of the southern end of a north bound cow. The smith had the grace to volunteer that he had performed a poor job. He didn't use the word "poor." I agreed.
I have no desire to revisit the remainder of that conversation. He was not paid for his services. I was hot enough that I very nearly flung the gun into a deep snow bank on the way out of his shop , but restrained the demon attempting to claw its way out of my chest, and drove home observing the speed limit. I put the gun into the back of the safe and tried to keep the whole thing out of my head forever. Kind of like having voted for the wrong president. It has remained there for about ten years.
Recent threads on 44 Special conversions have reminded me that I have an unfinished one in my safe, and that as I have aged I have embraced a measure of stoicism.
So, after venting and whining, how can I fix this gun? The last photo is of my other HP, showing how the barrel pin should look on a S&W of that era. I want to somehow get the junk and wreckage out of the pin hole and get a pin properly installed, so that it looks, when finished, like an original. So I seek advice and recommendations. My ultimate goal is to get the gun refinished in a decent blue job, and then use it until it or I wear out completely.
The photos show the current state of the project. Note the crappy pin holes, which I have tried to clean up. The gun shoots well. In single action one of the cylinders carries up a little stiffly, but I'll fix that. The balance and handling are everything I have wanted. It's a good gun that deserves being worked up to its potential. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
As a Skeeter Skelton acolyte I always wanted a handy S&W .44 Special, but when I was young in the 1970s and early 1980s they were rare and commanded prices that were too high for me. Smith just wasn't making them anymore, and everybody wanted a magnum of some sort, which soaked up all of the new N frame production for years.
When Smith finally produced the M24-3 in the mid eighties they sold so quickly that I missed my chance at a 4-inch. Deciding that I once again would have to make my own if I was ever gonna have one I was able to get a new, 4-inch 44 Special barrel and cylinder from S&W while they still had some. Then, because life is unpredictable, a brand new 6.5 version that I could afford on a very tight budget popped up before they, too, were all gone. Forty years later I stil have it and enjoy it. Shot alot of field pistol silhouette with it using the classic, heavy Keith loads.
But I still wanted a 4-inch. Maybe 25 years ago I was in a LGS that had a 28-2 for $199 and I grabbed that sucker. It was the perfect host for the .44 parts in my stash, as it was mechanically excellent, finish-worn, but without rust, pitting, or signs of abuse. I waited until my head was in the right place a few years later (after finding another, 5-screw, S prefix, HP that I liked even more). I got to work on the conversion, using the Kuhnhausen shop manual, and taking my time.
Everything was going well. With the Special barrel mounted, I used my drill press to chase and clear the pin hole in the frame to prep for tapping the original barrel pin back into place. Using a small ball peen hammer to set the pin in, somehow the pin broke about halfway into the process. I attempted to remove the broken pin with a punch, but found that the punch was getting bent, yet the pin wasn't moving.
That's when I made a serious mistake: I used judgement, stopped what I was doing, and went to a professional.
Telling the gunsmith what the problem was, I asked him to simply drill out the pin remnant, and replace it with a new one. If that enlarged the original hole slightly I expected a new pin of appropriate size to be inserted. Simple. Just the stripped frame with the new barrel were left with the Smith. In fairness, this smith has done superb work on some nice shotguns, and other work.
A couple of weeks later I called to check on the job, and was told it was ready to be picked up. I said fine and started over on the 45 minute drive to get there. When I arrived the smith had a really embarassed look on his face. Apparently he had waited until I was on the way over to start the job. Somehow the frame came loose in his milling machine or drill press, spun around, and broke off a carbide drill bit in my frame. The entrance and exit of the pin hole were both bunged up, and there was a nasty scratch across the top strap and rear sight. Since he couldn't get the broken carbide bit out, let alone whatever was left of the barrel pin I had wanted replaced, he tried to cosmetically cover the mess by inserting short pins in from either end of the pin hole. It looked like the stuff that comes out of the southern end of a north bound cow. The smith had the grace to volunteer that he had performed a poor job. He didn't use the word "poor." I agreed.
I have no desire to revisit the remainder of that conversation. He was not paid for his services. I was hot enough that I very nearly flung the gun into a deep snow bank on the way out of his shop , but restrained the demon attempting to claw its way out of my chest, and drove home observing the speed limit. I put the gun into the back of the safe and tried to keep the whole thing out of my head forever. Kind of like having voted for the wrong president. It has remained there for about ten years.
Recent threads on 44 Special conversions have reminded me that I have an unfinished one in my safe, and that as I have aged I have embraced a measure of stoicism.
So, after venting and whining, how can I fix this gun? The last photo is of my other HP, showing how the barrel pin should look on a S&W of that era. I want to somehow get the junk and wreckage out of the pin hole and get a pin properly installed, so that it looks, when finished, like an original. So I seek advice and recommendations. My ultimate goal is to get the gun refinished in a decent blue job, and then use it until it or I wear out completely.
The photos show the current state of the project. Note the crappy pin holes, which I have tried to clean up. The gun shoots well. In single action one of the cylinders carries up a little stiffly, but I'll fix that. The balance and handling are everything I have wanted. It's a good gun that deserves being worked up to its potential. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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