Can we discuss Customizing Smith revolvers... the long and short of it...

[lawandorder]

Have had 3 revolvers and one semi worked on by talented folks.
Mostly, sight , action , and carry modifications.
Not changed a great deal, just function and purpose improved.
These are firearms that I depend on should the need arise to keep my life, or that of others, safe.

The base gun being near what you are seeking makes a lot more sense.

 

[steelslaver]

I am a gun modifier. But, I don't think I would do anything to that 19. It was gift from a important person in your life annd as said 6" 19 are not as hard to come by as 4" Find a 4" 19. 66 or maybe an L frame 4". Can't have to many S&Ws.

esides by the time you buy a barrel and have it fit to the gun you will be around 1/2 way to the cost of a used 4" gun and yours wil lose value.

 

[WC145]

I think some of the coolest Smith revolvers are ones that somebody has put personal touches on. I like factory guns too. There's no denying how great they are. But a gun that is tailored to someones desires, when done properly, can be a really really neat thing. Especially when you kind of agree with what they've done. I mean some things I wouldn't do for myself, but you can just repsect the jobs they've had done. Like engraving. I sort of like it but not really. It grows on me the older I get but kind of fru fru for me. I'm more of a no frills kind of a guy. Except that I like nickel. LOL.

Anyways.. I've seen a few custom guns on this site that really make me go wow and if you would like to post your custom jobs up here, I would love to see them.

I sometimes think about if I want to butcher up my Step Dad's Model 19 that I received as a gift. It seems like it would be a shame to do it. On the other hand, I think it could be better for my needs.

I hate the way the partridge sight looks and I wish the barrel was shorter. It's so front heavy. I also like magna type grips with Tylers but don't like that set up with such a front heavy, long barreled gun.

Personally I'd like to cut this barrel just in front of the lug and put a ramped front sight. And then either refinish it in Nickel and put some White type grips on it. Either stag or bone or something cool. With a Tyler T grip. OR, leave it blued with the same.

But part of me thinks it would be awful to cut it up. They don't make them like that any more. Plus I'd want to pony up the dough for a proper job and there is always the chance it could go wrong. Plus it shoots really really well as is and that could change.

Did any of you that did custom touches worry about what it was going to do to it?

I mean it's just so danged lanky. LOL. It is a joy to shoot though.

You can tell I have a lot of time on my hands. Talking about Smith revolvers is a wonderful pass time. And really, I hope to be out there shooting these things again very soon.

I can't leave guns alone, most of mine have been worked over to some degree, from sights and action jobs to full builds. That said, I'd leave that model 19 alone if it was mine and go shopping for another with a shorter barrel. For the cost of the work you'd want to do you'd be well on your way to paying for another gun.


Of the custom S&Ws I currently own, one was bought already done, one I bought brand new specifically to have worked on, and the other two were someone else's Bubba projects that I bought and had built into what I wanted.

My 28-2 45ACP 'Crowbar' was built by Marc Krebs back around '87. It's a pretty cool piece, a modern gunfighter's wheel gun.


My other 28-2 was junk when I bought it that I had converted to 3" .41mag by Mark Hartshorne using a M58 barrel and M357 titanium cylinder.


My 360J .38spl/9mm convertible was also done by Mark Hartshorne. Bought this one for the 9mm conversion about 10 years ago and had him fit the titanium .38spl cylinder to later.


The 10-6 was someone's PPC project that was neglected and never finished and the base gun was pretty beat cosmetically, I probably never should have bought it. I had a local 'smith, Robin Dietrich, fix what it needed and mill the sides of the barrel, and then I sent it to Mahavsky's to be hard chromed. It's a pretty slick shooter now.

 

[BAM-BAM]

As the lucky owner of 3 three inch, round butt 66s. I've got what you're looking for and it is a great configuration. Smith should have made more than 5500 -2s to -4s. ( mine are -3s and a -4)

There are so many variations of Smiths out there including some pretty rare 3" 19s with fixed (made for export) and adjustable sights (IIRC Navy/NCIS)........and some 4" round butt 19s from the 70s....... all guns post 1995/66 are round butts..... I've got a nice 4" factory round butt 586.

I will confess that prior to getting those 66s I modified 2 Smiths in the 80s a 4" 617 and a 4" 686...... to round butt. The tough part of round butting a square butt gun is getting one with the Serial # in the right spot.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

You've seen this one before, but maybe not these shots.

September '52 Baby Chiefs (three months younger than me). It was a Montgomery, Ala, police officer's bug and through the years got mighty "used" so I didn't mind sacrificing it to the mod gods.

One guy did the metal mods and applied the Cerekote, and he had a friend re-case color the trigger and hammer and another friend etch my Chiefs stripes on the side plate. Craig Spegel did the magic on the grips, including insetting the $5 gold piece from the year I retired from the 'Force.

It's a bit over-the-top, and a Navy Chief friend calls it the ultimate vanity gun. It's with me every waking moment (except in the shower), and that's the job I had it redone to fill.

I have some other Baby Chiefs roughly equal in condition to the OP's 19. I would never consider molesting them.

 

[Muley Gil]

My first centerfire handgun was a new .45 Colt Ruger Blackhawk. I installed a red insert in the front sight and a white outline rear sight blade. I also polished the aluminum grip frame.

I have round butted a number of new S&W revolvers, installed red inserts and white outline blades. I have had two N frame .357s, a M27 and a M28, and two Old Model Ruger Blackhawk .357s converted to .44 Special.

You might say I'm not afraid to make over my firearms to suit ME.

 

[bigggbbruce]

Buy another barrel..

 

[Roller Delayed]

I will chime in to say that I think the OP's problem is purely economics - replacing a 6" 19 handgun with whatever barrel handgun he wants is going to be much cheaper than spending customizing money on a slightly valuable gun. Just buy what you want, sell the 6" and tell yourself that the replacement is your step dad's gun. No one will be the wiser.


In terms of the broader question, people get too hung up on "original" guns, as if we all have to honor some future generation of collectors with too much money to spend. As long as your custom S&W is the same quality as a factory S&W, why worry about shrinking the number of factory, mass produced examples of a common gun by one when you are going to replace it with a unique and more interesting gun that will also make some future accumulator happy?

I posted a picture of someone's Raiders of the Lost Ark custom, and I think it is mighty cool that someone went to the trouble to give us a gun that S&W never made, but is just as nice as anything they could have made.

 

[H Richard]

I normally don't "customize" my S&W's, but I found this 19-4 in my LGS and it had been the victim of getting wet in a gun rug after a fire and left for some time. The rust and minor pitting had done a number on the finish, but the gun had not been shot more than maybe a half box. I cleaned up the rust as well as I could, and sent it off for a Metaloy finish (tough as nails), leaving the top strap and front sight black, and keeping the hammer and trigger in it's natural finish. I ground and polished out the grooves in the trigger for double action shooting. I did a minor trigger job and added the rosewood boot grips. I got the gun so cheap because of the damage, that with all the work I have about the price of a new one (2008 price) in it.

 

[WC145]

You've seen this one before, but maybe not these shots.

September '52 Baby Chiefs (three months younger than me). It was a Montgomery, Ala, police officer's bug and through the years got mighty "used" so I didn't mind sacrificing it to the mod gods.

One guy did the metal mods and applied the Cerekote, and he had a friend re-case color the trigger and hammer and another friend etch my Chiefs stripes on the side plate. Craig Spegel did the magic on the grips, including insetting the $5 gold piece from the year I retired from the 'Force.

It's a bit over-the-top, and a Navy Chief friend calls it the ultimate vanity gun. It's with me every waking moment (except in the shower), and that's the job I had it redone to fill.

I have some other Baby Chiefs roughly equal in condition to the OP's 19. I would never consider molesting them.

That is crazy cool! Who did the checkering on the back strap?

 

[lawandorder]

WC145 , Bob's little Chief caused me to seek similar work.
You know that old saying , imitation is the most sincere form of flattery thing.

Model 10 Work

 

[CH4]

About a year ago I was in the same spot. I had bought a LNIB 681 and immediately gave serious thought about sending it to Magnaport to have the barrel shortened grip round butted, etc. After a brief discussion here I agreed that butchering a nice example of a desirable Smith would have not been practical because I could get a 65 in the configuration I was after; I also already have myriad Smith snubbies of all flavors. I found the 681 a new home.

 

[ABPOS]

OK, for the sake of discussion.... I'll add some more of my 3 cents in.

First off, two-bit cowboy: I freaking love that gun. I do remember it and it is one of the ones I think about being a good custom job. And I feel like if I saw that gun in a store, I would find it MORE desirable than a run of the mill 36. Which is part of the problem and discussion. The argument that customizing an older gun that is no longer made because it hurts the value is certainly true. But it may end up being more desirable to some.... Probably not all, but some. So.. Now obviously if it's a horrible job, the less people it will be desirable to and would be a shame.

But like that relief on the trigger guard, I find that a smart mod. Some people might not. I actually have this problem more with my model 19 than I do the 442 but when you are holding the gun at a low ready, and your throw it up to slay your paper target quickly, sometimes my trigger finger does not make that transition very intuitively or well on my 19. It gets hung up. And I've never really noticed that on any other gun I have. It feels a bit awkward. So if I was going all out, I would do that.

It's also one of the issues with milsurp rifles that I sometimes don't get. Someone will post a 1917 or 03 that had been nicely modified to a sporter gun for hunting. And invariably several people will say about how it's an injustice. And I get that at some point there aren't going to be any more. And if we just modify them all, there won't be any examples of the gun in it's WWII form. But I think we have a long way to go before that happens. And I guess people either don't know or forget that those guns were kind of like, prevalent and that's just what people did for hunting rifles a lot back then.

Now lets say I said I was going to mod up a currently made lock gun. Most people would not have an issue with that at all. But what if Smith came out tomorrow and said they're closing their doors and you will no longer be able to get any newly made smith and wesson revolvers. And that came true. Wouldn't all of a sudden that change the perspective? I mean the old ones that aren't being made any longer are desirable to people. More than likely the new crop of revolvers will be desirable to people, if they no longer were making them. But we can't predict what's going to happen. That could happen with a certain model.

So to me the argument of never modifying a gun that isn't being made any longer doesn't completely hold water. I get it. I understand we want to preserve them. But if you fall down on this side of the argemnt you almost have to take a no custom policy with any gun. Cause honestly, there's a good chance any model could be discontinued like tomorrow. And even though a lot of people have a problem with the lock models, they may one day be desirable.

Anyways.....

I feel like customizing a gun is someone's prerogative. Regardless of the condition of the gun or desirability of others.

Now, what do I want the gun for? Home Defense. I have 3 revolvers right now. The 442, The 19 and a Colt DS. The Colt DS I can't shoot for **** and it irritates me. EXCEPT, I like all of it's features much more than the smiths. 6 rounds, the stocks are great, it feels great. The size is great. If I shot it well, I would not want for another revolver. But I don't. And it's the nature of that trigger I think. But really that gun would be a really good choice for Home defense and carry. Like the best of both worlds. But things never are that easy in my world.

So, I have a 442 for my carry gun and the 19 works for home defense. But the 19 is just big. It doesn't need to be so big to be a good home defense gun. And I don't need adjustable sights for that.

So yeah, really I just need another gun. A 2" 10. A 3"10. Etc etc. There are so many that can fit the bill. But therein lies the problem. I have the 19........

But I suppose it's true, it would be cheaper to buy another than cut up this one. However, if I had the money to, I might be inclined to make this gun just how I want, so I could have what I want, and still have a connection to my Step Dad all at the same time. Would that really be that bad of a thing to do? I personally don't think so.

I hope I didn't irritate anyone. I'm just talking about it and I don't disrespect anyones position. I totally get the desire to conserve them how they are if possible. But I also get that if a guy just wants something, I say go for it. LOL.

 

[RKmesa]

I've purchased more than a handful that have been customized and I really like them. Here are a few:

Pre-war 38/44 Outdoorsman cut to 4" with a custom front sight:







...and this 3" Model 66-2 with a gold bead Patridge FS. It has also had a trigger job from Nelson Ford.







... and one more - the Smolt/Smython Highway Patrolman - the changes are pretty obvious...








... then there are these kinds of modifications that include a lot of banging, scratching, pounding, a little gold, custom grips, a refinish and in this case ... a custom Huey case.







As far as your model 19 goes - I would definitely leave it as is...

 

[ABPOS]

Oh and one more thing. I'll be darned if I didn't think it was a "partridge" front sight. I must have though that for years now. LOL. I never looked that close. Thank you for filling me in Art Doc.

 

[mtgianni]

I am a tinkerer but my rule is "don't mess with a shooter". If money is tight I believe you are better off with another gun than eroding the value on that one.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

That is crazy cool! Who did the checkering on the back strap?

Thank you. Our very own TheShootest1894 did the work.

WC145 , Bob's little Chief caused me to seek similar work.
You know that old saying , imitation is the most sincere form of flattery thing.

Yes, it is. With his permission I copied the work and the worker of ISCS Yoda's Model 64: It has arrived - Smith 64 'Airweight' Custom, Semi-Fitzed Snubby

First off, two-bit cowboy: I freaking love that gun.

Thank you, too.

I'm honored by this level of attention, and I believe you all help make the point that whatever you do to make something your own is a very personal thing. If everyone disliked the mods I had done to this little Baby Chiefs, I'd still love it.

 

[326MOD10]

I would not do any work to the one you currently own because of the shape it is in.

I picked up a couple of LEO trade in guns cheap and had some work done to them. For some reason I cannot post pictures right now but will try to add some later.

Also cheated off of WC145's concept and had a 360J cut for 9mm.

 

[mm93]

I've seen all sorts of customized S&W revolvers over the last 5 decades, and I enjoy those that are well executed. But for every nicely done custom I see, it seems I see another done by Bubba that's an eyesore and makes me saddened to see what happened to a fine S&W.
So if the customizing is minor and can be reversed, it doesn't matter. If it's done by a professional who does great work, it's great too. But if it's anything else I'd rather see it left alone.

 

[RMFnLA]

It's your gun...........do what you want with it! It's not a triple lock or a Registered magnum! I don't like the six inch barrel on a 19 either!

At one point people felt the same way about triple locks and registered magnums.

Today's average gun is tomorrow's treasure.