Has my 14-3 been modified to take .357?

[lefecious]

Grandpa passed and I got his model 14-3. It was stored with a box of .38 special ammo and a little bag with 6 rounds of .357 magnum, with a note that said "these are the good ones" signed by someone I don't recognize.

Now Grandpa was in law enforcement and he told me before he passed that he cleaned his gun after every time it was fired. So I'm pretty sure he knew enough to not fire .357's out of his .38 revolver.

So I always just assumed that maybe he had a buddy that said, "bro, I shoot .357 out of my 38 revolver all the time and it works great." And this buddy left him 6 rounds with the note, and my Grandpa kept them but never fired them.

However, I just saw another thread on here where someone found a model 14-3 that has been modified to take .357 magnum. So now I'm wondering if Grandpa's gun is like that.

What do I need to look for to see if this gun has been modified and can safely shoot 357?

 

[JP@AK]

If .357 Magnum cartridges will fit all the way into the charge holes in the cylinder, the cylinder has been modified to accept them. An unaltered .38 Special cylinder will not accept the longer case of the Magnum cartridge.

 

[USBP SW]

I'm just going from memory but the cylinder on the model 14 is short and the barrel extension is long. I don't know of a gunsmith who would bore the cylinder to accept the .357 because of the liability. If someone put a model 19 cylinder and barrel on a model 14 frame, maybe but the barrel would be marked .357 magnum. I think most people would just buy a .357.

 

[JP@AK]

You might be right, USBP SW. I didn't pull examples from the safe to check. However, the test I suggested works either way.

That said, I would not shoot .357 Magnum cartridges out of any of my dozen plus K-38s even if they would fit in the cylinder.

 

[lefecious]

I could swear I put those .357 rounds in the gun once to see if they fit and they did.

But when I get off work I'll go do it again and take a photo.

But it sounds like shooting .357 out of this would be a bad idea even if they fit?

 

[stansdds]

38 Special cylinders are shorter than 357 Magnum cylinders, so cartridge length might prohibit chambering a 357 Magnum round, but with short bullets, the length may be short enough to allow the cylinder to close and rotate. Is it safe to shoot 357 Magnum loads in a modified 38 Special cylinder? I expect it's been done more than once and the interwebs are not littered with stories of catastrophic failures. Would I do it? No, not with the availability of revolvers that are factory chambered in 357 Magnum.

 

[lefecious]

I'm trying to read up on this gun and I can't find any info on a 3" barrel.

Wikipedia says most had a 6" barrel and a few 4", and 5" were made.

Is a 3" barrel rare on a model 14-3?

Serial # 1K41XXX

Edit: my mistake, I was measuring the barrel wrong. Once I start at the cylinder, I see it's 4 inches.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Bottom Line...............Stick one in the cylinder and see if it fits...........All questions will be answered

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

4" 14-3 with a ramped front sight-wouldn't that be a Model 15/Combat Masterpiece. ?Read of 38-44s being reamed to take .357 but they are N-frames. Recall Bill Jordan saying S&W had to use a different heat treating for the M-19. I wouldn't fire .357s through it.

 

[JP@AK]

4" 14-3 with a ramped front sight-wouldn't that be a Model 15/Combat Masterpiece?

Normally yes. But if you look closely, you will see that the frame boss (where the barrel enters) has the flat top profile and the barrel is not tapered. This is a Model 14; undoubtedly a special order 4" barrel unit.

 

[Model29-26.5]

Don’t shoot 357 mags.
Shoot 38 with the cylinder that is in it.
I am a newbie, but as far as I have read, if it was a 38 cylinder that has been bored or 357 mag, then the metal of the cylinder may not have been annealed to be strong enough to withstand magnum pressure.
As far as I am to understand it, they had to make sure the metal was annealed properly to be strong enough. As far as I have researched, the cylinder length on a model 14 is 1.46” and the magnum cylinder length on a model 19 is 1.62.
If your cylinder length is 1.62, then I assume it is a model 19 cylinder and the barrel has been shortened to allow for this, and shooting 357 will be OK.
If it is 1.46, then it means that the original cylinder for a 38 was rebored so that a magnum will fit, but the metal would be too weak to withstand magnum pressures as it wouldn’t have been annealed the same and would be dangerous.
Again, I am a newbie, but that would seem to make sense to me.

 

[steelslaver]

The ops photo shows that the cylinder is a short 38 special. Because it was his Grandpa's I would leave it alone, reamed or not. Plenty of those were reamed to 357 without any ill effects, but not the best plan. If I want to convert a 38 special to 357 I fit a factory 357 cylinder by shortening the barrel extension and re-cutting the forcing cone or installing a 357 barrel. Neither the barrels or cylinders are hard to come by. I have yet to see a frame that let go where the cylinder remained intact.

As far as the 6 rounds with 357 head stamps go. I would NOT use them to see if the cylinder was reamed. They may well have been shortened by whoever gave gramps the "good ones". I would check with known factory 357 brass.

 

[Timber Wolf]

As far as the 6 rounds with 357 head stamps go. I would NOT use them to see if the cylinder was reamed. They may well have been shortened by whoever gave gramps the "good ones". I would check with known factory 357 brass.

Excellent point and not something I thought of. You can’t take much of anything for granted when dealing with old guns and/or ammo. ; )

 

[jculloden]

My 14 3 PPC 6" had a .357 cylinder

 

[steelslaver]

I have stuck model 19 cylinders in several K frames that were orginally 38s and never had a problem.

 

[lefecious]

Don’t shoot 357 mags.
Shoot 38 with the cylinder that is in it.
I am a newbie, but as far as I have read, if it was a 38 cylinder that has been bored or 357 mag, then the metal of the cylinder may not have been annealed to be strong enough to withstand magnum pressure.
As far as I am to understand it, they had to make sure the metal was annealed properly to be strong enough. As far as I have researched, the cylinder length on a model 14 is 1.46” and the magnum cylinder length on a model 19 is 1.62.
If your cylinder length is 1.62, then I assume it is a model 19 cylinder and the barrel has been shortened to allow for this, and shooting 357 will be OK.
If it is 1.46, then it means that the original cylinder for a 38 was rebored so that a magnum will fit, but the metal would be too weak to withstand magnum pressures as it wouldn’t have been annealed the same and would be dangerous.
Again, I am a newbie, but that would seem to make sense to me.

I just measured the cylinder and it's 1 9/16" which as a decimal would be 1.5625"

And yes, to the guy that suggested it was a model 15, I double checked and it's stamped 14-3. Not sure how it got the 4" barrel, but between that unusual barrel length and the unusual cylinder length, I suppose Grandpa modified this thing quite a bit.

 

[thinklikeido]

Grandpa passed and I got his model 14-3. It was stored with a box of .38 special ammo and a little bag with 6 rounds of .357 magnum, with a note that said "these are the good ones" signed by someone I don't recognize.

Now Grandpa was in law enforcement and he told me before he passed that he cleaned his gun after every time it was fired. So I'm pretty sure he knew enough to not fire .357's out of his .38 revolver.

So I always just assumed that maybe he had a buddy that said, "bro, I shoot .357 out of my 38 revolver all the time and it works great." And this buddy left him 6 rounds with the note, and my Grandpa kept them but never fired them.

However, I just saw another thread on here where someone found a model 14-3 that has been modified to take .357 magnum. So now I'm wondering if Grandpa's gun is like that.

What do I need to look for to see if this gun has been modified and can safely shoot 357?

If the barrel dosen't have 357 S&W Magnum inscribed on it, it's not safe to shoot them out of it no matter how easy it was to hammer them in to the cylinder, Da!

 

[steelslaver]

IF it has a 357 cylinder it doesn't matter if the barrel says 38 special. The barrels are all relatively soft and a 38 special bore is exactly the same as a 357 bore. DA

 

[RebCop]

I read an article by Massad Ayoob back in the 80's , there was a gunsmith that re chambered M-10's to .357 and cut and welded the grip frame to make it smaller. According to him the heat treating and metal on both was the same and just had to use lighter shorter bullets.

​

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

I would get rid of the 6 rounds.