Well, here we go.

My 1921 .44 2nd model project gun.

I always wanted a short barrel pre-war N-frame and I knew the only way to have one is to make one. So I acquired the custom short barrel from Hondo44 (3-1/2") and bought this gun from a friend.

It's been reblued already (including hammer & trigger) and the barrel chopped a bit once before - so I'm not wrecking a nice gun here.

I have an NOS hammer and post war.400 target trigger, though I would rather have an original pre-war trigger with "great case coloring". (Anyone have one cheap?)

Timing is good but needs a new cylinder stop which I have.

I'll post pictures as I make progress

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Also you need blocks to clamp the barrel in a sturdy vise while you turn off the frame. Maybe someone would loan you what you need. One time I made up a K-frame wrench out of angle iron which worked OK, but that was long ago, and it's long gone. Don't use a hammer handle through the window, as some who should know better recommend.

I DID IT!!!!!!

I successfully removed the barrel without frame blocks! (Don't try this at home)

I was very carefull.

I pre-soaked the threads for 24 hours, then used a "very little" amount of heat so as not to take the hardening out of the frame - and off she came without stressing the frame at all.

I was lucky!

Looks just the way I hoped it would with the short barrel

Now the real work begins. Polishing and re-bluing, and reassembly to make it all work well.

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I will watch your progress carefully. I'm planning to do the same metamorphosis to a 32 hand ejector that I have. I bought the gun to get some parts off of it for a 32 Target, and now that that's complete I've got a short-barrel I'm going to install on a hand ejector.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Bravo!!

Yep. I agree. 3 1/2" is a good length for that frame size.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Yeah! I like it and thats the way a project can go with a little luck and perseverance. I'm looking for something very similar, I've done a little work with a Brazilian 1917 that had already had a decent reblue, I cut it down to 4" and am very happy with it but its not a .44 and dog-gone-it, who don't like .44's. So I'm on the hunt and hope...Probably one of the major reasons you can't find a cheap model 28 anymore...

Great project there, rgm36. As with all great projects you thought it out and gathered up the key parts to start with. I can sense the sweet smell of success from here.

That Hondo44 is quite the enabler, isn't he? He's helped me out with parts and advice more than once and seems to "know where all the bodies are buried" not to mention the good gun parts! I wonder how many projects on this or other related gun boards he's had a hand in?

Keep up the good work and be sure to post more pictures of your progress. We ❤️ pictures!

Regards,
Froggie

I bet in the end the gun will shoot high, you will most likely need a higher front sight.

Be Very Careful!! Project guns can become a passion beyond simple collecting to the point of a holy grail obsession for parts, special tools, diagrams, and books. I just finished my first Triple Lock project with help from Hondo44. It shipped off to Fords yesterday for plating. This is one of my 44 projects using a MKII .455 frame that had a cut barrel. Its now a 44 Spl. with a 5" barrel and jigged bone grips. You can't stop with one.

I've got the barrel on now with a bit of trouble. It hand tightened at 3:00 so I had to machine the barrel flange so it would hand tighten at 11:45.

Then I lock tighted it and bench tightened it to 12:00 and installed the pin.

I will have to shorten the extractor rod (which Jim is sending me) the same amount cause now it is too long to fit into the barrel lug since the lug moved forward when the flange was machined. Everything to do with the cylinder release and extractor will have to be custom fit to the lug locking bolt.

I've wet sanded the frame with 600 grit - then 1000 grit. It didn't need much so no stamping was affected. Its ready for bluing but am working on installing the innards and fitting everything to work first.

I want to get everything working first - then disassemble and blue.

The cylinder stop was a hassle! I needed to replace it with a wider one to hold the cylinder tighter when locked into position. The cylinder rocked quite a bit with the old one. The new one is wider than the slot in the frame so I had to file that slot to accept the new wider cylinder stop. Then I had to hand fit it's depth into the cylinder lock slot. Now its nice and tight. It was worth the 2 hours it took to get it right.

The NOS hammer replacement was LOTS of work. It did NOT just drop in. I had to file the frame about .010" at the hammer stop so it would pull far enough back to lock into the trigger. It had easy push off because it was not fully locking into the trigger. Then I had to sharpen the edge of the trigger where it locks into the hammer when cocked. It was worn and not sharp edged any more. NOW its perfect. You can't push it off now no matter how you try - nice and safe and proper. Single and double action and cylinder lock up and timing are finally perfect!

I have reused the trigger by de-bluing it and case coloring it with a torch.

I do not recommend doing this type of project unless you have all the tools, parts, patience and knowhow. It is frustrating figuring out everything that is not right and coming up with the solution. These things are VERY complicated and everything works together. If just one thing is wrong - it will affect everything else. I had MANY things wrong with this old gun - so it was WORK!

I'm only an ASE certified auto tech. but have the ability to trouble shoot mechanical problems. I have had to custom fit everything once I figured out what the problems were.

I don't know if I'll do another one soon.

Pictures coming when I get it blued.

Stoked with Keith handloads, this will probably be the perfect fighting gun.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

IT'S DONE!!!!!

I received the last part needed to finish my gun, thanks to Hondo44. It was an extractor rod that I had to machine shorter to fit.

The machining of the barrel flange made the distance from the barrel lug to frame shorter. Therefore, extractor rod had to be shortened to fit.

This was accomplished by machining the seating flange of the rod that seats down in. Nothing had to be done with the threads. When threaded in it just threaded deeper giving me the clearance that I needed to have proper engagement of the locking bolt in the lug.

The bluing is not great as all I did was rub some Walmart bluing agent on the whole thing for a couple hours. NOT the right way to blue a gun - but it's better than it was. I may yet have it professionally blued - but it aint too bad this way.

I had complete confidence in my work as it did time and lock up perfectly - so off the shooting range I went.

It works great! I shot a full box of hot load 180 grain jacketed hollow point .44 specials.

I thought I was shooting a .44 Mag with that short barrel and those hot loads!

FLAMES shot out the end of the short barrel as I went through load after load. I quickly shot all 50 rounds to heat the gun up as much as possible to be sure no clearances were too tight. I've had some guns where the cylinder would bind once the gun got hot - but this one worked flawlessly to the end.

The frame is a military inspected frame and the cylinder is factory heat treated so I was not worried to shoot the hotter loads. Go big or go home!

I need to put a gold dot bead on that skinny front sight blade because I could hardly see the sight blade while fixing my vision on the target. I kept guessing where the blade level was while firing and seemed to shoot 2" high at 30 feet. Right to left is perfect.

The frame and cylinder are the original matched pair with matching numbers. The new custom short barrel has no numbers.

Enjoy the pictures of the finished gun. rgm36

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Fun project, turned out nice.

thanks for showing us.

Looks great!

Question, why not just cut the original barrel down a little more? Wouldn't that have saved some of the fitting work?

I've got your gun's (former self) twin and I'm looking to do the same eventually but I don't have the machining abilities.

That's a valid question. The answer is that the original barrel had already been cut down and it was done very poorly. All the stamping was polished off as well. It was not worth reusing.

That looks GREAT!
Tell me more about this "Walmart" cold blue you used.
Is it actually Birchwood Casey brand?
I know my local Wally's carries some of their products....

That looks sexy. My take: Hondo44=Santa Claus.

Great project, Hats Off to both of you...

That's a beauty--nice work.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Bravo,

That's great work, what a difference!

Is the trigger already torched for some simulated CCH? It should look mottled with blue and grey areas, by holding a small point heat source at different points on the trigger for different lengths of time to get different colors.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Looks good to me.. Nice job. Hot blue chemicals are avalible and you do not need a big setup to do handguns. A big enameled turkey roaster on top of a propane burner. Hard part for me is storage of chemical when done. I have a few I need to do. Just like to do them all at once and with me it seems another is always in the process.

Very nice job. My only problem is that the front sight looks too much like a C#%@ New Service.

Bob

I'll take it!

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S&W Forum Member #721

That's finer than frog's hair.

Very well done.

I have a similar one in 45 that I carry a lot of the time.

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Eccentric old coot

"I need to put a gold dot bead on that skinny front sight blade because I could hardly see the sight blade while fixing my vision on the target."

Hate to tell you this, but you are sighting incorrectly. Your eyes cannot focus on all three planes-rear sight, front sight, target- at the same time. When we are young, it SEEMS that we can, but the brain is changing focus rapidly. As we age, this ability goes away.

The front sight should be sharp, and the rear sight and the target should be blurred. If you have practiced enough, your sight alignment should be automatic.

Repeat after me-front sight, trigger squeeze; front sight, trigger squeeze; front sight, trigger squeeze.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Who says I can see the target!?

You should see me drive.

I think it looks really good...an excellent rescue of a fine ol' revolver.

I'd leave the bluing as it is. If you have it blued "for real", the whole thing will have to be taken apart and polished again, which might take away some of the crispness of the rollmarks.

That gun would look good with a nice vintage holster and belt.

Congratulations on a job well done.

all I can say is w o w...... w o w..... what a great job, I would love to have one just like it.

I still want to hear more about how you got the cold blue to look so good. My results haven't been nearly that good, and I'd like to know the secret.

Great job! Very satisfying to take an old gun and make it new again.

Wow, indeed. That's some serious skills on display there. I suspect you'd have a waiting list of customers if you went into 'smithing full time.

+1 on the amazement at the look of that bottle blue. Prithee spill the beans!

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TEAM DNF

The bluing was a LOT of work.

After prepping the surfaces I "started" with Super Blue by Birchwood Casey from Wal-Mart and a "hot gun" from the oven at 215 degrees.

The heat really made it instantly penetrate deep BUT left it blotchy. I could not get even coverage no matter how many times I re-did it.

Plus, my wife discovered I had accidently left the oven on all night long and shook her head at me just like my father always did when I was a kid.

Not a good start.

I switched bluing agents and ended up using "VANS INSTANT GUN BLUE" by C.S. Van Gorden & Son from Bloomer Wisconsin on a "cold gun". No more oven and disappointed looks from the wife.

This did not penetrate as well but applied much more consistently. I just had to apply it 100 times.

I mostly applied with un-lotioned tissue paper since tissue removed the bluing agent as fast as it applied. Why is this important? Because if you leave it on too long, some areas will over blue giving you an inconsistent coverage again.

At times I needed to apply the bluing with 0000 steel wool VERY lightly to remove (blend in) the over blued areas to achieve uniform coverage.

I have more time than money, so I had at it and it's good enough for me - but I spent days working at it.

Thanks for the compliments.

Super well done,,,a great story, thanks for sharing.

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NOT SO FAST,, NOT-- SO-- FAST

I have a bottle of Vans that I use for "touch ups". A gunsmith friend told me its what old timers used "back in the day" to hide scratches. Never thought of doing a whole gun with it. Your work looks super, I may have to try it. I've got an old brown shooter that might be a candidate for a facelift! Good job!!!

I know you are proud of the finished product...I would be!