627-1 Target Champion

[mus]

After getting all approvals and paperwork done, last Saturday I picked up the revolver I bought about a month ago. Shot it some in the afternoon at my local club, but did not manage to get great groups (yet).
And since we're officially in full lockdown too as of Monday night here in the Netherlands, the range will be closed at least till January 19 so further testing will have to be postponed...

Which did give me the opportunity to clean it and take some pictures for your enjoyment (I hope).

Some notes:

- Looks like a previous owner gave it a mirror polish finish instead of leaving the more subdued matte bead blasting which is usual on the 'Target Champion' versions - this is still present on the top of the barrel and frame.

- I'd appreciate any advice regarding age (S/N CAF6xxx), condition (especially of the ratchets and forcing cone/top strap flame cutting), accuracy to be expected, anything else?

- The revolver feels great in the hand but after cleaning & taking good looks in better light I'm underwhelmed with its mechanical state so far... According to the dealer it wasn't shot much but I beg to differ, looking at the gun in general. Am I right?

Thanks a lot,
John

 

[mus]

Pictures part 2:

 

[colt_saa]

Congratulations on the new addition to the family

 

[reddogs]

Nice gun congratulations.It doesn't take long for 125 and 110 jhp to flame cut the top strap.It won't get any worse.Should be a good shooting gun and worth keeping up.Hope you get out shooting it soon.

 

[Protocall_Design]

Nice gun. The 3 things that will kill group size on a revolver are bad forcing cone, barrel constriction, bad muzzle crown. It looks like the muzzle crown is OK, check to make sure the forcing cone is smooth, centered, and the right size. Check for tightness in the barrel where it screws into the frame.

 

[PatriotX]

Congrats on the gorgeous gun, that’s one of my ‘grail guns!’

 

[swagmeister]

A beautiful gun!! To me, it doesn't show excessive wear or abuse. Others might disagree with more knowledge than I have. As far as the dealer telling you that it had not been shot much, he might believe that 1000 rounds or more was not much; that was just part of his hype for a selling point to you. It certainly does not look abused in anyway to me. Those big N Frames are made for extensive shooting with little or no problems. I enjoyed seeing it. Thanks for showing.

 

[bronco45]

Forcing cone and top strap show evidence of a fair amount of Hot 357s in the 125 grain loads. I would switch up to a 140 to 158 grain load and the gun should be good to go or years to come. I would check for thread choke or barrel constriction where the barrel screws into the frame. Do this by putting gun in a padded vise with cylinder removed and tapping a lead oversize slug, .360 or above down the bore with a hardwood dowel, no steel rods, pure lead slug. When the slug gets to where the barrel is threaded into the frame and it becomes harder to drive the slug through then you have "thread choke" or barrel constriction. If so you can lap the barrel( several methods on internet) and it will shoot lead bullets with excellence. If you have it and don't it will shoot jacketed rounds just fine. I'd hang onto that 357.

 

[mus]

Thanks for all advice given!

I'll see if I can get my hands on a pure lead slug in this size. The crown looks good to me, I'll post some detailed pictures of the forcing cone later. It certainly looks very different to the one on my ex-686. Better, to my untrained eye

Ideally I'd like the revolver to shoot plated and FMJ bullets well. My intention is to put it on a steady diet of 148 grain .358" hollow base wadcutters (plated) in 38 Special and 158 grain .357" FMJ (various types) in 357 Magnum, nothing loaded to absolute max.

But first I'll have to wait for the lockdown to be lifted so the range is opened again...

 

[wrangler5]

If you haven’t tried ‘em already you might consider the polymer coated bullets. Lots of shapes in lots of weights from lots of sources. My experience has been very clean shooting at prices not much higher than lead.

And sometimes you can get the same bullet in different colors. I use red for normal and black for hot in my 32H&R loads, for example, so they’re easy to tell apart even if they get separated from the label on their box.

 

[Nightowl]

I have been wanting one of those for 25 years!! I have 627-2s, but they have unfluted cylinders, I am wanting a fluted cylinder in the 5 inch full lug barrel.

I see your muzzle has been crowned and the cylinder charge holes have been beveled for faster reloading. Tastefully done, not to the extreme that some folks do. the back of the barrel has some erosion to go along with the flame cutting on the topstrap. This gun has been shot more than represented to you, I believe. However, the important thing is the timing and the workings of the insides. If that is good, that gun will last for many thousands of rounds. Most things that will wear out are replaceable parts, like the hand and the ratchets.

Enjoy your 627-1 for many years, it looks great and I'm sure will give a lifetime of service.

 

[BigBill]

Nice purchase.

In the beginning of shooting handguns it was full house magnum loads with my Rugers and colts. Now I’m aged like fine wine it’s loaded down leadcast mainly. But I ccw carry jhp’s. My smiths are babied, pampered.

 

[kennyb]

Looks great! Congrats!!

 

[mus]

Thanks for the words of encouragement and additional information! I'll get back later with additional pictures.

 

[mus]

More pics

More pictures of the forcing cone. I've inserted a VFG cleaning pellet to reflect the light better.

 

[mus]

Top strap pics

And some more pics of the flame/gas cutting of the top strap

 

[mus]

Ratchets and recoil plate pics

Note the marked sections of the ratchets - I've never seen this before. (The cylinder cycles smoothly but it's only barely in time.)

 

[mus]

Crown pics

And finally, some more pics of the crown from various angles. Can't see anything wrong here myself...

 

[Protocall_Design]

I agree with SJ. The barrel looks hardly used, the flame cutting is more than normal. There is still a lot of steel above that flame cut. The frame is good for a lot of years to come. I'm pretty sure the barrel had to be replaced for that situation to exist. The barrel looks better than most.

I have never been able to get plated bullets like Berry's or Ranier to shoot a group in any of my revos. The people that seem to think they are great never shoot anything over 15 yards and can't shoot a good group anyway. My personal observations, YMMV. The same several guns that won't shoot plated bullets will shoot tight groups with quality cast and lubed, polymer coated, and jacketed bullets.

S&W has cut the ratchets several different ways over the years. This one is probably just another variation.

 

[CLASSIC12]

I have to agree, I have never seen such a deep flame cut, and I’ve got quite a few S&W .357 revolvers, some of them which I shoot a lot

Also this wear pattern seems quite deep