I always liked the looks of the revolver that Clint used in the movie "The Gauntlet". When I started to collect S&W revolvers, that model was on the top of my list. I was disheartened to find out that Smith never produced a square butt 2.5" Model 66 and that the revolver was a custom build. Fast forward some years and I ran across the perfect donor 4" Model 66 thanks to a lead from Jim (1950jcb), a good friend and fellow Forum member. After acquiring the revolver I asked him to be on the lookout for a 2.5" 66 barrel. About a month later, he located a NOS one on a knife forum and I had the makings for building a "Gauntlet" gun. Jim contacted another Forum member about who to send the project to for the barrel installation and in about two weeks I had the revolver back. I would really like to thank Forum member bmg60 (also named Jim) for his help lining me up with his gunsmith.
I took it out to the range and it shoots wonderfully. On the third cylinder I had a misfire followed by another one. When I opened the cylinder to see what was up, I noticed that neither primer had been struck. I dumped the load and checked the hammer and sure enough the hammer nose was sheared off and the broken piece had marred the cylinder and fell into the action. The original revolver had a lot of handling marks to start with so I sent it off to S&W to have it refinished.
It's back and it's a shooter! I'm sure that there are other revolvers like it out there but this is my "Gauntlet" gun.
I'd really like to thank 1950jcb and bmg60 for their help on this project.
A few pictures are mandatory. The second picture shows the refinish more accurately. For some reason in the first picture (lack of photographic skills), the cylinder looks more polished than it really is.
I took it out to the range and it shoots wonderfully. On the third cylinder I had a misfire followed by another one. When I opened the cylinder to see what was up, I noticed that neither primer had been struck. I dumped the load and checked the hammer and sure enough the hammer nose was sheared off and the broken piece had marred the cylinder and fell into the action. The original revolver had a lot of handling marks to start with so I sent it off to S&W to have it refinished.
It's back and it's a shooter! I'm sure that there are other revolvers like it out there but this is my "Gauntlet" gun.
I'd really like to thank 1950jcb and bmg60 for their help on this project.
A few pictures are mandatory. The second picture shows the refinish more accurately. For some reason in the first picture (lack of photographic skills), the cylinder looks more polished than it really is.
