K frame conversion to .32?

S.B.

S.B.

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I own a model 15, K22 barrel & cylinder but, don't know a gunsmith to put this together for me? I'd need the cylinder bore to .32 and the barrel rebored to .32 with proper twist, anybody have any thoughts on this?
Steve
 
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As you noted, it can be done in theory but the cost may be prohibitive. Bowen Classic Arms did some similar conversions in the past but no longer, but there are other shops that might try it.
 
Had a couple made, Andy Horvath charges abt 600-650 to convert to .32. The problem is getting the bbl bored to .32. Not sure if anyone can do it. With the prices on model 16's, it's cheaper to make one. The most I paid was 1600 total including the price of the K-22. Had a few extra custom things done to that gun. Figure you'll have abt 1000-1200 in it depending on what you paid for the model 15. Green Frog is doing another one also. I have a 4" full lug .32 mag bbl and a .22 cylinder ready for another one. Good luck, Larry
 
Steve, do you want your final product to be chambered in 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R, or 327 Fed Mag? The parts you have should be able to be made up into any of these you wish.

As I suggested in the other thread, you can get a lot of ideas about how to proceed with your project from the three page thread on Project 616.

One major change however, is that apparently Clearwater is no longer doing doing reboring, so you will have to find a new source for this process. The fact of the matter is, your whole project is really pretty simple for a good gunsmith except for the barrel. If you are going to build a 32 S&W Long or even a 32 H&R, you can perhaps get by with having your 22 barrel drilled and a 32 liner installed or even doing a reline of the original 38 caliber barrel to step it down. Another option, one done by Jebus35745, is to have a custom barrel turned up from a blank. This does require a fair amount of skill (as well as machinery and tooling) to be used by the maker of such a barrel.

I can highly recommend Andy Horvath's work for all the rest of what is needed, while I hear second hand that Hamilton Bowen (who also built guns like my Project 616) is now limiting his work to Rugers. I am currently looking into another K-frame 32 build and have a gunsmith who has recently opened operations fairly close to me here in Virginia. I'll post information about him as it becomes available.

Perhaps someone reading this thread will chime in soon with the name and address of a current barrel maker or someone capable of reboring barrels the way Clearwater did. I've heard a couple of names bandied about but nothing definitive.

Froggie
 
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Steve
 
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Just how do I get in touch with Andy Horvath? I did a search but, nothing came up? Does his business go by something else?
Steve
 
Google contact info on him. He has no web site, very old fashioned. He doesn't say much either when on the phone. Better to call 9am-ish but he should return your call. Look up Diagnal road gunshop also. When you search him, your may have to read some of the threads to get his number. Ask him how far behind he is running also, usually abt 3 months. Larry

Diagnol road gun shop 1-440-458-4369. Hope this helps. He is about 30 minutes from where I live.
 
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Also, his contact info was in the 616 thread... i have to go back there to find it myself. :rolleyes:
He's in LaGrange, Ohio, so wherever you are in Illinois, you may be closer to him than I am. Jebus35745 lives pretty close to him, so he can drop by about any time, but it's a major trek for me to get up there. For that reason, I'm going to visit the new gunsmith I mentioned, David Sams. He's here in VA and is building some PPC guns on the S&W platform, so he should be good for this job too. We'll see.

Froggie
 
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Green Frog said:
Steve, do you want your final product to be chambered in 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R, or 327 Fed Mag? The parts you have should be able to be made up into any of these you wish.

As I suggested in the other thread, you can get a lot of ideas about how to proceed with your project from the three page thread on Project 616.

One major change however, is that apparently Clearwater is no longer doing doing reboring, so you will have to find a new source for this process. The fact of the matter is, your whole project is really pretty simple for a good gunsmith except for the barrel. If you are going to build a 32 S&W Long or even a 32 H&R, you can perhaps get by with having your 22 barrel drilled and a 32 liner installed or even doing a reline of the original 38 caliber barrel to step it down. Another option, one done by Jebus35745, is to have a custom barrel turned up from a blank. This does require a fair amount of skill (as well as machinery and tooling) to be used by the maker of such a barrel.

I can highly recommend Andy Horvath's work for all the rest of what is needed, while I hear second hand that Hamilton Bowen (who also built guns like my Project 616) is now limiting his work to Rugers. I am currently looking into another K-frame 32 build and have a gunsmith who has recently opened operations fairly close to me here in Virginia. I'll post information about him as it becomes available.

Perhaps someone reading this thread will chime in soon with the name and address of a current barrel maker or someone capable of reboring barrels the way Clearwater did. I've heard a couple of names bandied about but nothing definitive.

Froggie
Click to expand...

I'd prefer to stay with the original .32 Long chambers. IMHO the magnums are not needed with this cartridge. I put a phone mail into Mr. Horvath's shop.
Steve
 
Steve,

If you are going stick with the lower pressure of the 32 S&W Long, Andy may be willing to simply sleeve/reline the existing 38 caliber barrel down to 32 with a TJ's or other high quality liner. This would certainly be both cheaper and faster than buying the 22 barrel and having it rebored, and would be significant for both the time and cost of your build. I've been looking around on the InterWeb since you posed your original question, and I'm not finding anybody immediately available who has stepped in to take Jim Dubell's place. Back in the halcyon days of schuetzen, some rifle shooters believed that a relined rifle barrel would actually shoot better than the original boring. I personally would be confident to trust Andy's opinion on this. :)

Be sure and keep us informed of your progress on this build and remember, we all like pictures here! ;)
 
I talked to Mr. Horvath this afternoon(he called me back) and yes the shop that did his
barrel re boring no longer does this. I discussed another project with him a .224 Harvey
Kaychuck on the same frame and he confirmed this possible. Disappointing that this didn't
take shape. Would a relining job work with the K22 barrel I already own? The model 15
barrel is a 4"er and not what I had in mind.
Steve
 
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The .22 bbl could be relined just like the .38. Check here in the gunsmith section back a few pages for the Question of anyone reboring barrels. Not sure who may have been mentioned. Or search it if you understand how. I'll look right now and bump it f I find it. Larry

SB, just bumped it up close to this thread.
 
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Steve,

This shop is the new source for some of the pros:

BARREL RE-BORING
Alan Siegrist
8752 Turtle Road
Whittemore Michigan 48770
989-873-3929

Of course 32 long can still be fired accurately in chambers for either of the 32 mags. So you'll have future options for the H&R Mag and 327 Fed Mag cartridges. Of course the 32 Long chambers can be extended anytime to shoot the mags as well.
 
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Thanks Hondo44, gives new hope to my project. I'll give them a call and leave a message, later today.
Steve
 
K frame conversion to .32

I have one of these conversions, done by Mr Bowen.
Mine is a Model 15 frame, a Model 16-4 4" barrel and a k-22 cylinder that he bored to 32-20!
I really, really like it, shoots wonderfully, but wish it were a 32 H&R , only for
ease of reloading.
The brass that is, not the cylinder of the gun.32/20 cases being thin and bottlenecked, they put a crimp in my 99% straight walled pistol reloading.
if I like a gun I tend to shoot it a bit.
This gun is really nothing fancy, I had a fancy one of his that I traded for here on this forum, a Model 25-5 that he had rebored a model 29 cylinder for, so throats of cylinders were "perfect" he does very nice work, that gun had also been glass beaded and blued, sort of a beautiful "french gray" look, sort of like the Model 25-7 that I sold a while back....
 
PattonTime, you are actually in good position already. Getting another K-22 cylinder and having it rechambered and fitted to your gun will involve a lot less time and expense than what you have had done so far. If you decide to abandon the 32-20 altogether, I would be willing to wager you wouldn't have a bit of trouble selling or swapping off that cylinder... in fact I've been thinking of making my current K-32 project just such a dual cylinder setup, so let me know if you want to go that way.

Froggie
 
Well I finally got in touch with Alan Siegrist and sent my barrel off to be done in .32 caliber, today's post. Also talked to Andy and he said Siegrist is good man, has seen a couple of his works.
Steve
 
Sounds good, S.B. Please keep us apprised of your progress. I posted elsewhere that my only experience with Siegrist's work was a Winchester High Wall barrel I got from a friend who had gotten it rebored by Siegrist from 32-40 to .338" for Harry Pope's 33-47 target round. The work was excellent, and he has a fine reputation among the single shot rifle community. Information about his pistol barrel work will be quite valuable to the S&W community, IMHO.

I'm very pleased you have this project going on, and will be waiting with bated breath for any and all progress reports.

Regards,
Froggie
 
PattonTime said:
I have one of these conversions, done by Mr Bowen.
Mine is a Model 15 frame, a Model 16-4 4" barrel and a k-22 cylinder that he bored to 32-20!
I really, really like it, shoots wonderfully, but wish it were a 32 H&R , only for
ease of reloading.
The brass that is, not the cylinder of the gun.32/20 cases being thin and bottlenecked, they put a crimp in my 99% straight walled pistol reloading.
if I like a gun I tend to shoot it a bit.
This gun is really nothing fancy, I had a fancy one of his that I traded for here on this forum, a Model 25-5 that he had rebored a model 29 cylinder for, so throats of cylinders were "perfect" he does very nice work, that gun had also been glass beaded and blued, sort of a beautiful "french gray" look, sort of like the Model 25-7 that I sold a while back....
Click to expand...

When I run out of re-loaded 32-20 for just the reason you mentioned, I just shoot my 32 H&R Mags in my 32-20 cyl. They shoot fine. And being straight wall, much more likely that I'll re-load more of them and sooner than my 32-20 cases. In fact since they expand a little more in the 32-20 chambers, I resize half of my 32 Mag cases in my 32-20 resizing die just for shooting in my 32-20 revolver and Winch '92 32-20 carbine.

I ran a 327 Fed Mag reamer into the chambers of my Ruger single action and shoot all three in it; 32-20, 32 H&R Mag and 327 Fed Mag.
 
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