Model 58 EFFECTOR 41 Magnum with Hurst Stocks

Well after quite some time looking, I finally found one of my grail guns. Some of you good folks may have seen my WTB ads looking for Jovino, or Behlert modified Smith & Wessons. I came across this on a website for a fairly large firearms dealer in Houston. I called and asked a lot of questions, then made an offer to purchase. It was subsequently accepted by the seller and shipped to my local FFL.

For your review and entertainment, here is a Smith & Wesson Model 58 EFFECTOR in 41 Magnum.

The EFFECTOR trade name was given to big bore snubbies tht were modified by the Jovino Gun Shop in New York City, NY. Most of the EFFECTOR line was stainless steel and most started life as 6" revolvers. The barrels were cut down to a minimum length for ease of carry and concealment. At this time, Smith & Wesson was not producing short barrel large bore revolvers, they soon saw the error of their ways and began producing 3" barrel N frames on a regular basis.

A few of the standard hallmarks of the Jovino's - changed the grip frame to a modified round butt profile. Smith & Wesson did not have a standard profile for the N frame, so they got fairly close to the K frame size, but had a few differences, but most stocks could be modified to fit. The hammer was re-shaped into a 'teardrop' shape. The trigger was radius-ed and polished. The action was smoothed. Early guns (most prior to the EFFECTOR) had the barrel cut down to the end of the ejector rod, then had a ball-detent added to replace the locking device at the end of the ejector rod.

Since the Jovino modifications generally affected the gun's finish (except for SS), the guns were refinished. Some were refinished in high polish blue, some were nickeled, and some were hard chromed. I believe the finish on this gun is hard chrome, but I welcome your opinions. It is somewhat dirty / yellowed like you might see with nickel, but some of the less dirty areas have a more blue tinge, which is what leads me to believe it might be hard chrome. Also, the lack of rub marks, and finish loss that you would see in a satin nickel are noticeably absent.

For the longest time, all of the EFFECTOR marked guns that I had seen were cut down in length, and all had an ejector rod shroud. This Model 58 EFFECTOR has no shroud, and the barrel has not been cut.

The hammer has been profiled, and the trigger was replaced with a wide, smooth, target version that has been radius-ed and polished. The grip frame was modified, but it does not appear to be the standard profile that we associate with K or N round butts.

Here are some photos of the gun.....I will begin another post regarding the stocks in the next section.

A few more photos.....

The stocks

At first, the stocks were a bit of a mystery....I haven't had any quite like these before. I have a buddy, who is a member of this forum, and he was part of the LAPD group that included greats such as Fuzzy Farrant, Guy Hogue, and John Hurst. A quick email with some photos brought him to the quick conclusion that these stocks were the work of John Hurst.

The threaded screw escutcheon is in a blind hole in the offside stock, the stamping 'Del Rey', and the flue-de-lis were are pointers to the work of John Hurst.

Given the odd shape of the grip frame, and the precise fitment and the very fine and exact checking with border lead me to believe that these stocks were made specifically for this gun.

They are a near perfect fit for my hands, and the double swell leads to a superbly accurate alignment when pointing.

Without further ado, here are the photos. I welcome your comments and input on the stocks as well.

Very interesting! I did not realize Jovino ever offered a full-length 58 in their Effector series. There's always something "new" here, it seems. Thanks for showing us that one and congratulations on adding it to your 58 collection.

Not entirely convinced those are Hurst grips. An internet-wide search for grips marked Del Rey yields a few other examples, all featuring fleur-de-lis, including some for semi-auto pistols:



Described as Del Rey grips here: Did anyone see the custom hi power on GB a few days ago - 1911Forum

More Del Rey grips here: Mystery grips

The problem is none of these resemble any of Hurst's other work we're familiar with. The jury seems to still be out regarding a conclusive answer as to the exact maker of these Del Rey-marked grips (personally, I suspect a New York connection for reasons I might explain at a later time). After some years in the game, I've noticed a group tendency to automatically (conveniently?) claim Hurst, of whom relatively little is known compared to, say, Hogue or Farrant, when it comes to any kinda-sorta LAPD-style custom wood "mystery grips" when there's often little real evidence they're from Hurst's hand. In this case, the only thing we see Hurst-like is the blind screw hole, which a number of other gripmakers (the aforementioned Hogue, Farrant, Stark, etc.) have used and continue to use (Spegel, for example).

-db- said:

Not entirely convinced those are Hurst grips. An internet-wide search for grips marked Del Rey yields a few other examples, all featuring fleur-de-lis, including some for semi-auto pistols:

Described as Del Rey grips here: Did anyone see the custom hi power on GB a few days ago - 1911Forum

More Del Rey grips here: Mystery grips

The problem is none of these truly resemble any of Hurst's other work we're familiar with. The jury seems to still be out regarding a conclusive answer as to the exact maker of these Del Rey-marked grips (personally, I suspect a New York connection for reasons I might explain at a later time). After some years in the game, I've noticed a group tendency to automatically (conveniently?) claim Hurst, of whom relatively little is known compared to, say, Hogue or Farrant, when it comes to any kinda-sorta LAPD-style custom wood "mystery grips" when there's often little real evidence they're from Hurst's hand.

Click to expand...

db - the Del Rey was a model that Hurst supposedly used. My buddy is a member here and a gun writer....perhaps he will join us in the discussion and share a few more details.

The stocks on the HP are really quite neat. Thanks for sharing those.

I have never modified a S&W revolver but had friends that did. Model 28's to 44SPL and Model 25's to 4" revolvers to better serve them.
I have always been a Model 58 fan.
Your modified 58 is a real beauty and the modifications enhance its usefulness as a combat/duty revolver.
It is always great to get a grail gun. You did very well!

Great looking revolver and I must say the way you presented it in front of the cartridge boxes display is very nice .So A+ for the picture also.

S&WsRsweet said:

Great looking revolver and I must say the way you presented it in front of the cartridge boxes display is very nice .So A+ for the picture also.

Click to expand...

Thank you. The picture is a S&W print. It is fairly large, but I do manage to catch the lower part in some of my pics. It was a gift from my dad.

Scott, you know I like it. Fantastic 58, one of my most favorite models.

Well done Scott!

SAFIREMAN

Does it get meat at both ends??

That's really a nice looking revolver.

One of our department armorers would reshape our Model 58s to take a K frame round but grips. I wish I would have done that now in hindsight. Some of the guys also had their barrels magna ported too and ended up with some very nice 58s. Me? I just left mine alone.

I still have it and it really does need to get to the range this week.

It looks like a standard round-butt job but without the changes to the front of the grip frame.

Very cool and definitely not what I expected to see when I started reading!

usmc2427765 said:

SAFIREMAN

Does it get meat at both ends??

Click to expand...

The custom stocks go a long way towards mitigating the brutality the shooter must endure. There is a noticeable benefit with these Hurst stocks that you don't feel with the standard PC Magnas.

Remington 210gr JSP @ 1400 FPS is certainly memorable with the PC Magnas, and somewhat less so, with the Hurst stocks.

Meat at both ends? meh, I will stick with the non-fiery end

M29since14 said:

Very interesting! I did not realize Jovino ever offered a full-length 58 in their Effector series. There's always something "new" here, it seems. Thanks for showing us that one and congratulations on adding it to your 58 collection.

Click to expand...

First 4" Effector I've seen as well. Very cool variation and a great catch, congrats on finding it.

Ugh... always wish they made a 3" round butt 41 magnum with fixed sights. This is pretty dang close.

This 3 inch model 58 belongs to Joe Kent. Gee, Joe - it's been ten years.

As to Del Rey. I'm with -db- in being skeptical. Hurst friend OIF2 was certain that the Mystery Grip was not Hurst. I'm eager to see more.

The_Truth said:

Ugh... always wish they made a 3" round butt 41 magnum with fixed sights. This is pretty dang close.

Click to expand...

How about this one?

This is not my gun, but a picture that I saved from somewhere.....If I could recall, I could give credit, but alas....one too many memory cells gone....


And this one.....started life as a 58, and is now 58-29....
This one is mine

A Model 58 converted to .45 Colt (the barrel inscription was .45 Long Colt) by Vern Ewer of Spokhandguns.