I have a delightful M36-1 square butt with a three-inch barrel. What has always puzzled me is that the corners of the butt of the frame were rounded after the frame was blued. Was this done in the factory? Or, was it done by a previous owner? In other words, were the corners of the frame originally square as on a square butt K-frame?

It's difficult to see in my bottom detail photo, but the actual blending of contours is far from perfect. This is what makes me doubt it was done by the factory.

BTW, this is a delightful little gun to shoot and I shoot it a lot. It's become my BUG in local IDPA matches. It's quite accurate.

In case you're wondering, that "sock" on the trigger is electrical heat-shrink tubing. I don't like a serrated trigger. This makes it more comfortable.

Unrelated question: What is the photo archiving service some are using that displays a small single image that expands into a larger collection of images when the cursor is passed over it? This is far more elegant than Photobucket as I'm using now.

If the lower grip frame contours fit the stocks but have blue loss, either the blue has been worn off or the frame has been "recontoured" by someone. If the stocks don't fit, then definitely the latter.

If you use the Forum photo posting system, the thumbnails appear. There is a post in the FAQ section about this, I think.

__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

This is the best picture I have of mine that somewhat shows the lower corners. They are also rounded like yours but the bluing in intact on mine.

__________________
Rick
SWCA #2727 , SWHF #435

Great idea with the heat shrink tubing!

The stocks fit perfectly, but but the bluing loss is not from wear. They are original -- all numbers match. The "corners" have been reshaped after bluing.

Thanks for the lead on posting photos.

Thw photo you posted is perfectly normal for a square butt J Frame. They do not have sharp corners like other frame sizes but are "sort of square-ish". The corner radius varies somewhat depending on period of manufacture and if the serial number on the stocks does not match the gun it is possible someone modified the frame to fit the stocks he had. This is not at all likely however. It is much more likely that the corners were dinged some way and the previous owner polished out the marks.

This was NOT done by the factory.

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

Apparently the same party who rounded the corners on the grip frame of your M36 square butt at one time owned the dozen or so J frame square butts I own or have owned, because they all look just like yours.

Mine's the same, too:

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

That's the first tme I've heard of putting heat-shrink on the trigger blade. I don't care for the serrated triger either, but I like to sand off the serrations and round off the sharp corners & edges-- much nicer for double-action shooting. But then again some people don't like to deface the gun. That heat shrink seems like it'd be great for single-action, but might not let your finger move back & forth on the trigger in DA mode. ?

It honestly doesn't affect double-action mode. In fact, that's why I put it there. Shooting the M36 (or any other S&W with a serrated) trigger isn't a problem in single-action mode. It's double-action mode that makes my finger sore.

I didn't want to visibly alter the gun, but I did sand the "tooth" off the edges with 320-, then 400-grit silicon carbide paper. After treating the tiny smoothed edges with Brownell's Oxpho Blue, the alteration is totally invisible. But it's still not smooth enough for long shooting sessions or dry fire practice to improve trigger control. The heat-shrink tubing works perfectly and costs next to nothing.

Background: This little gun is so much fun to shoot that I shoot it a lot. Shooting it a lot has proven it's really very accurate. It's my BUG in local IDPA matches.

Shooting nice guns is what's important to me; more than just looking at them. But with TLC this little M36 shows little more for its wear than the cylinder ring. I have more than 3K of my handloads through it. But I don't think it was shot much during its previous life. It looked like new when I bought it.

Yep , my 3in HB 36-1 looks the same way.