4" 27-2 in Nickel

[AC Man]

As a N frame collector I seem to find more 5" than 4" in 357 but that's just me. Which is odd. I have several blued in all barrels. my nickel is 5" my 4" is blued.

 

[ENNE-FRAME]

The model 27-2 is my favorite Smith. I have several in different barrel lengths but the 4" eluded me for a long time. A club member informed me about one for sale about three years ago. I made the contact and made arrangements to examine it. It is blue with the 3Ts but no red ramp. No box or papers. The price was fair but firm. I bought it.

Great shot
for me the Blue 4" with black ramp is one of the most beautiful 27s ever built.
Alas, I have 2 blue ones with red ramps, and I'm happy but I would change them immediately.

 

[raljr1]

I walked away from a "6 nickel 27-2 at a show last weekend....i hope the guy has it at the next one...at $1000 i should not have walked away.

Robert

 

[Muley Gil]

As a N frame collector I seem to find more 5" than 4" in 357 but that's just me. Which is odd. I have several blued in all barrels. my nickel is 5" my 4" is blued.

Not really. The 4" barrel was not a cataloged length until late in the .357 Magnum/Model 27 production.

Besides, the 5" is a better choice.

 

[ladder13]

Mine must have shrunk

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Those 4" 27-2's were a hard sell when they came out competing against the new L frames. I've owned 27's and other 357's over te years and liked them all but am down to one now-a 681 which I will not part with. Smoothest double action around and single action is to die for. When I got it from the police officer who used it for shooting competitions I sent it back for te "M" modification and they pretty slicked it up to new. Carries up perfectly, breaks cleanly and is just perfect for my uses in every way. Much as I love the 27's have owned a bunch over the years and always find myself babying them and fretting over them lest tat tiny spot of rust appears. Not so with the stainless 681.
Only problem is finding full power 158 gr loads to shoot as that is what the sights are regulated for.
The big mystique about the 27's in my opinion was fostered by the gunwriters of the era. I firmly believe that if the 586 and 686's were around when Skeeter was writing, we would not have heard squat about the 5" 27's as he would have been all over the L frames. This has been evidenced by his writings as he often complained that the only shortcoming of the N frames was too big for the cartridge

 

[Retired W4]

Good point Cajie. Some have said the 19/66 was too small for full blown 357's, hence the development of the L frame. i do like the 581/681.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I have read the original loading of the .357 in 1935 was a lot hotter than today's, Jeff Cooper wrote he fired some-"Fierce!"
I paid $250.00 for my nickel M-27 in 1985, no box or papers, had an action job. Thought that was a reasonable price back then.
Firing 38 WCs out of a N-frame S&W is like firing 22s. Hence I tell people an N-frame S&W .357 is as close to an all arounder as we'll ever have.