J&G Gunsmith special projects better added below

[steelslaver]

Fist up is one that I just fit a model 10 heavy barrel to. Not much to that one but change out the 2" ejector rod for z longer one and fit the barrel. Only about $260 in it with barrel and FFL Fees

next one got a recessed nickel model 13 cylinder and barrel to become a fake pinto model 13 Maybe $325 in it

Then one got milled for adjustable sights from a model 28, a recessed model 19 357 cylinder and a 4" Python barrel. Had to mill out the slot for the ejector rod just a touch, install a ball detent on the yoke etc ect. Changed the angle of the barrels ramp slightly, so it came out matching the front of the model 28 sight sights tang. Lots of monkeying around to make it all come out right Barrel was given to me for reaming a cylinder to 327 so I only got about 300 in it with the grips and cylinder.

The last one got a K22 cylinder reamed to 327 Federal. Plus Itook a piece of 32-20 rifle barrel and machined it so that part of it was threaded to fit a K frame and the rest was turned to 7/16", then I took an old heavy K22 barrel and cut the barrel extension off and cut it down and then drilled and reamed it to 7/16" so it would just slip over the 32 ca barrel. I tinned the inside of it with silver solder and the outside of the 32 cal piece and pressed them together hot. Ended up with a 32 cal barrel with a full thickness forcing cone areal, The K22 barrel just made a chunk of shroud" with a lug on it. Had to polish off the 22lr marking and the now way off center Smith & Wess. I rounded a bunch of the rib off it so it matched the 10-7 frame on top and then milled a slot in it for the front sight which was salvage from a mini 14 I stuck a stiffening sleeve and flash suppressor on the end of the barrel. Had serrations on the ramp. Silver soldered blade into the slot. Was trimmed to just over 3" crowned and fitted. Maybe $300 for a 3" K frame 327 Federal.

I have 2 more of the frames and cylinders and when I am done they will all get a bath in the bluing tank

I am thinking longer barreled 327 Federal with adjustable sights and I am undecided on the last one. Maybe just save it for something really odd like a 9mm as I don't own any 9mms at all.

 

[keithhagan]

I am thinking longer barreled 327 Federal with adjustable sights and I am undecided on the last one. Maybe just save it for something really odd like a 9mm as I don't own any 9mms at all.

I say definitely need a longer barrel .327.

I have a shooter model 53 with a shot-out 8 3/8" barrel that's currently with Al Siegrest to be rebored to .32 caliber. The auxiliary 22lr cylinder is getting reamed to .327 federal and the 22 jet cylinder is getting reamed to 321 GNR.

 

[steelslaver]

I have a nice6" model 17 barrel and a nice model 6" 19 barrel, but not sure I want to do anything drastic to them. I do have a heavy model 17 barrel someone messed up the muzzle on. I could make a 5" 327 and using that barrel. Use a contouring cutter in my mill to round the top off to match the model 10 frame.

The model 53 (or a 19) barrel with the shroud would be a sweet looking, but you know that the 22lr cylinder for a model 53 is worth far more than any K22 cylinder, although the setup your talking about would be cool a 327 and a bottle necked 32, but I have to wonder just how much more velocity you will get over the 327.

My dream is a long N frame 44 mag length cylinder with a .308 throat and a shortened blown out 30-30 case. A shortened 30 Herrett. Unfortunately small bore N frame cylinders do not exist. My choices are to make one or to sleeve one. I am thinking of reaming out a 44 mag cylinder right to the point of air at the stop notches. Then take some heat treated 4140 and bore and ream 6 pieces to 19/64 (.2968) ID and turn the out side to .001 larger than the holes reamed in the cylinder. Taper the end of each slightly then. Head the cylinder to about 450f and stick the inserts on dry ice. Shrinking the inserts and enlarging the cylinder holes. Then insert 2 pieces opposite of each other, reheat the cylinder then inset another 2 then reheat and finish. Machine the excess off the inserts when finished to have a cylinder with slightly under .300 bores, Then have roughing and finishing reamers made up to ream them to size. The only real reason for the slightly under sized roughing reamer is you could use it to make a sizing die. Take a N frame barrel and line it with some 308 barrel and have a hot rod 30 caliber. Why, I don't know, I already have a Contender in 30 and 357 Herrett and an XP 100 in 6mm Remington. But, it would be cool to play with and a great challenge in the shop.

 

[mmande]

Love the "Smolt"! I have two of them myself.
Mike

 

[stansdds]

Nice, but what sort of camera did you use? My Apple iPhone 11 likes to take yellow pictures under incandescent light unless I alter it's exposure setting.

 

[steelslaver]

Busted out a decent camera, but did not setup my light box for these

The fake pinto 13 357

the smolt 357

the heavy barrel 38 special

the 327 Mag

You can see how in front of the trigger guard I used a slack belt on my 2x72 to remove the import markings and never colt blued there. They all have a bit of colt blue here and there. But, I will eventually clean them up and give them a once over for marts and then hot blue them. I prefer to do a bunch of blue at once as it is a pain to set up and I like to do it outdoors as the fumes suck and cause rust

But aside from a bunch of time spend in my shop figuring out how to do things tinkering I probably have maybe $1600 tied up in the 6 frames and parts (and I had squirreled away most of the parts when I found them cheap) already have 4 cool shooters.

I also made several jigs when I was working these, a small hardened piece W1 tool steel that slides on a yoke tube locks in place with a set screw, so you can trim the end of the tube and stay dead square, a thin nut that fits a K frame barrel and one brass and one steel piece that fit a K frame barrel so you can tread them on and lock up with the nut and stick them in a lathe chuck without messing up the threads. The steel one is hardened so you can use it to slowly trim a barrel extension and keep it dead flat. I also set a piece of 2" pipe up so you can set up a barrel in it and use brass 1/4 20 machine screws to center it and turn it in a lathe using a steady rest. I made 2 brass tapers that have 5/16 threads in them so you can run (carefully of course) 5/16 all thread down the bore and thread a taper on each end tighten them up leaving the rod short on the end you want to machine on, That way you can set it up in the lathe spinning on bore center using a live center on the one end. Great for the outside profile on the muzzle of turning the shoulder back to make the barrel time right. I get to tinkering in my shop I sometimes spend as much time making jigs and tooling as I do actually working on the project. Oh, yea and I modified my trailer, so I can drive my Polaris on it with the door on and then open it to get out of the cab.

 

[stansdds]

Much better pics! My favorites would be the Smolt and the 3-inch 357 Magnum.

 

[steelslaver]

Thanks but the only 3" gun is a 327 Federal magnum. The others have 4" barrels

 

[stansdds]

Thanks but the only 3" gun is a 327 Federal magnum. The others have 4" barrels

Oops! My bad! I saw a "3" a "7" followed by "magnum" and my brain misfired and told me it was a 357. Not to mention that I often forget about the 32 and 327 Magnum cartridges.

 

[Rodan]

Looks great. Love the Smolt!

I still have one of these in the safe that I was planning to build into a 3" carry gun, but I recently lucked into a 3" M65 that will fulfill that role. Maybe it'll become a PPC build... haven't had one of those since the 80s...

 

[Dieseltech56]

Isn't it amazing the lives these guns have lived just to be brought back over here and frankensteined back together as functioning firearms.

For some reason the one I did is my cheapest gun but also one of my favorites. So much so that I've constantly had my eye open for the right barrel or parts kit. I just recently found and purchased 13-2 4 inch parts kit, I need to see the condition of it to decide on the donor gun. It'll be a model 10 but I may need one in a little better shape than the J&G frames.

 

[steelslaver]

Most of the frame I received are in pretty good shape. One was missing a thumb piece and 3 of them had partially bobbed hammers (check hammer on the 327 gun). The import marks are not much of a problem. I first tap on them repeatedly with a small hammer to flatten the stampings out as much as possible then use a slack belt 400 flex belt on my 2 x 72 belt grinder and it removes them and if you keep the gun moving in and out so the belt just starts to ride up the start of the trigger guard the belt forms to the shape and slowly removes the stampings. Look at in front of the Smolt trigger guard.

Thing is it is hard to find decent low cost frames for project guns.

 

[keithhagan]

If you're interested in something a little more unusual...

 

[steelslaver]

I think I will make some 9mm cylinders for use in the K frame 38 specials I have as I have an abundance of 38 cylinders. Not a 9mm fan, but having a way to shoot the ammo might come in handy if ever run across a bunch.
I have a narrow rib model 15 barrel and more adjustable sights so will make on into an adjustable sight 38 with a extra 9 mm cylinder. The other will be getting a 327 cylinder and a longer barrel as well as adjustable sights. I am think a 5" barrel