Long Barrel J Frames.

[Cal44]

Does anyone have a list of J frames with barrels longer than 4"?

The most recent one I can remember was a 5" Model 60 in 357 that was marketed for a few years. I think it was around up until about 2015.

But also, I believe there were some 6" kit guns back in the 60's. Model 35's I think.

Plus the catalog talks about a few long barrel 36's.

What else is out there?

 

[Lobster Picnic]

The Model 63-4 was an 8-shot .22lr kit gun with a 5" barrel.

 

[22hipower]

Model 35, 6 inch 22LR.

Ok, correction, 35-1.

And here's a 63-4.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[JP@AK]

I believe there were some 6" kit guns back in the 60's. Model 35's I think.

Model 35, 6 inch 22LR.

The Model 35 did have a 6" barrel, but it wasn't a Kit Gun. By definition, the Kit Gun had a 4" and later a 2" barrel. The Model 35 was the .22/32 Target model. Both had a common origin in that they were .22 caliber revolvers built on the I frame. The target model (.22/32 Heavy Frame Target) was around for about 25 years before the Kit Gun was introduced in the mid 1930s.

By the early 1960s they were being built on the J frame, so the Model 35-1 fits your criterion, but the Model 35 does not.

 

[JP@AK]

.22/32 Heavy Frame Target from 1925. An I frame gun that eventually became the Model 35 in 1958. In 1960, it was transitioned to the J frame and was renamed the Model 35-1.

Kit Guns - the nickel plated 4" is a Model 34-1, built on the J frame. The 2" blued gun is a Model of 1953 .22/32 Kit Gun from January, 1958. It is an I frame revolver with no model number.

 

[JP@AK]

Ok, correction, 35-1.

Jeff
This made me laugh out loud! Thanks.

 

[Alk8944]

Don't forget the 60-18, the 5" .357 Magnum with a two-piece barrel.

 

[dr. mordo]

.22/32 Heavy Frame Target from 1925. An I frame gun that eventually became the Model 35 in 1958. In 1960, it was transitioned to the J frame and was renamed the Model 35-1.

That .22/32 Heavy Frame Target is a beauty! I'd love to stumble on to one of them. Did they make an similar pistol in .32 S&W Long?

 

[JP@AK]

Did they make an similar pistol in .32 S&W Long?

Some undisclosed number of prewar .32 Regulation Police revolvers had target sights. They are relatively scarce, although I don't know whether or not they are rare. That would be a good question for Hondo44, who knows I frame guns better than anyone else I know. The RP could be had with a 6" barrel too, so it seems reasonable to believe that some of the target sight RPs had the longer barrel. But the truth is, I don't know for sure about either of those related matters.

The late 1930s saw the introduction of the K-32 Target model. It was, of course, a K frame gun, so it was larger than what we are talking about here. My understand is there were fewer than 100 of them made before the war. Don't expect to find one at your local gun shop!

 

[vrichard]

34-1 with 6in.barrel.
Dick

 

[Green Frog]

While there were quite a few pre-War I-frames with 6" barrels (mostly RP and RP Targets in 32 and of course HFTs in 22) the longer barrels don't seem to have survived the War. The sole exceptions seem to be the Model 35s in 22 and its few post-War predecessors. One of the parts vendors on GB had a 6" RP(??) barrel in target style and bored to 38 S&W, apparently all factory. I never actually saw it in person, but IIRC I told David Wilson about it and it ended up in his stash. I haven't been able to confirm the existence of a whole gun in this configuration (RP or RP Target) in a 6" configuration for 38 S&W, so the existence of this barrel remains a bit of a mystery. The upshot of all this is that S&W seemed much more willing to make 6" I-frame revolvers before WW II than to make the longer barrels for J-frames.

Froggie

 

[joe44va]

60-18 with a 5" barrel. Bought it to carry in the woods but never did, so I've sold it.

 

[H Richard]

I know there is one Mod 63 with a 6" barrel. My understanding the only one. Hopefully later this spring when my new replacement knee is fully operational I will get a chance to contact the individual that has it and get a chance to photograph it.