Wonderful guns. Bill!
As a rookie deputy sheriff, I settled on a then-new 6 inch Model 66 to carry on my duty belt. The extra 2 inches really tamed the blast and racket of the Federal 125 grain .357 Mag ammo I favored. I had a 5 inch Model 27 that also was better than my 4 inch guns that way, but the Model 27 was just too much heavier than I wanted to tote all day.
I wanted a 5 inch Model 66. I conversed with S&W. They would cut barrels but had to remove at least 1-1/2 inches, probably to get the entire front sight and base off. This would have left me with a 4-1/2 inch barrel, not enough difference to warrant the expense. If the Model 19 and 66 barrels had been 6-1/2 inchers, I would have gotten what I wanted made, or if they had made any 8-3/8 inch barrels, which would cut down to 5 inches handily, I would have had what I wanted, but, no joy.
And then S&W's service department quit cutting customers' barrels at all.
I still think I need to take the better of my 2 old Model 66 6 inchers and send it off to Hamilton Bowen for the 5 inch job. That gun would have been perfect.
