52-2 frame with 39 slide?

[Rgbonej]

I apologize if this has been asked/answered, but I didn't find much in a search about this. I seen plenty of about 52 slides on 39 frames but not the other way around.

Anyway, I came into a model 52-1 recently and, and was letting a friend of mine shoot it. He said that he had a 9mm slide for a model 52, and that he would let me have it cheap. I assume it is a 39 slide, since I don't know of any 9mm 52 slides. The slide seems to fit on the frame fine, very little play and no binding at all. Question is, will it/should it function? Will it cause any damage to the 52 frame to fire it in this configuration? While it would be neat to have a 38spl 9mm convertible, I am certainly not wanting to damage the 52 frame. Has anyone tried such a swap? Or should I get rid of this thing before the temptation become too great and I do something stupid? Luckily I have no 39 magazines to tempt me immediately!

 

[Jeppo]

52-2 converted to 9mm?

 

[Rgbonej]

I appreciate the link but that does not really answer the question. The threads posted do talk about 52s converted to 9mm, but neither say that it was done with a standard 39 slide, with one of the post ouright saying it was done with a machined 52 slide, so these don't really answer my question.

 

[dave1918a2]

You don't need a 39 magazine. The 52 mag will work just fine.

 

[gmborkovic]

I own mod-52s and 39s And read several posts on this subject.
All ways thought, why? Its like putting a Yugo body on a Ferrari chassis.

 

[Naptown_Gaijin]

I own mod-52s and 39s And read several posts on this subject.
All ways thought, why? Its like putting a Yugo body on a Ferrari chassis.

Maybe because 9mm is cheaper than 38 wadcutters?

 

[Art66]

Due to my ignorance of this model, I looked it up on wikipedia. I noted this statement: "During early testing, a few Model 39s were produced with a steel frame. This steel-framed trial model provided the basis for the Model 52 target pistol. The Model 52 had a longer (5 inch) barrel and slide..."
So you would be putting a 4" slide into a frame possibly designed for 5" parts. You would probably also need the 4" barrel and recoil spring.
S&W made a Model 952 for 9mm. All the kinks are worked out.

 

[Rgbonej]

Well I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. It seems to work just fine, and as dave1918a2 said, the 52 magazine even worked for the 9mm rounds.