Tennexplorer posted this one HERE a few years ago, but here is the back story on it, as well as some more pictures.
My father purchased this well worn 1937 Brazilian Contract 1917 in 1986 with the express purpose of shortening it to a carry gun. It was nothing special, just a kinda beat second contract 1937 bought for the princely sum of $125 from some gun shop in Denver while he was there at Colorado School of Trades. He rebuilt the front sight in 1991 and opened up the notch as a stopgap to make it more shootable, but the project stalled there. In 1993, it got damp in storage and rusted, so he stripped the finish and kept it oiled with plans to rework it in future. In the meantime, it was the first centerfire handgun my brother and I shot, and it was taken out occasionally for a range day and was generally one of the central handguns in his collection. You can see in the first picture the dykem and scribe mark at 4” that he had on there for almost 20 years.
Fast forward to mid 2019, and he'd never gotten around to it, and unfortunately got a cancer diagnosis. Drastic times calling for drastic measures, my younger brother shamelessly "stole" it out of his safe and brought it to me to do the work, since I had finally gotten my own shop opened.
Dad had always had an obsession with a 3.5” RM/M27, but with a family to support and the usual other expenses, never stumbled on one cheap enough he felt comfortable buying. (This is an interesting part of another story I will likely tell at a later date) Therefore my brothers and I decided to make this gun into a 3.5” gun to have the same feel, minus the rib and shroud of course.
On receipt of the appropriated revolver, I shortened and recrowned the barrel to 3.5”, machined a new M10-5-esque ramped front sight from bar stock, and fixed the endshake and timing issues it had developed in the 73 years it had been around. While it was apart it got a trigger job, and since the original case hardening on the hammer and trigger were long gone, they got polished, and the trigger face radiused for better DA work.
Refinishing was the final step, with the majority of the revolver was satin blued similar to original, but the front sight and entire topstrap were matte blued for anti glare.
Also while I had it I had a J. W. O'Rourke holster made for the 3.5” barrel, and put some faux ivory magnas and a BK twin clip grip adapter. We presented it back to him at Thanksgiving 2019, and he called us all names that might violate forum rules, but he absolutely loved it.
Dad completed his battle with cancer in Sept of 23, and I keep this close at hand now. It gets shot a lot, and everyone with even a tiny bit of revolver appreciation who handles it attempts to buy it.
My father purchased this well worn 1937 Brazilian Contract 1917 in 1986 with the express purpose of shortening it to a carry gun. It was nothing special, just a kinda beat second contract 1937 bought for the princely sum of $125 from some gun shop in Denver while he was there at Colorado School of Trades. He rebuilt the front sight in 1991 and opened up the notch as a stopgap to make it more shootable, but the project stalled there. In 1993, it got damp in storage and rusted, so he stripped the finish and kept it oiled with plans to rework it in future. In the meantime, it was the first centerfire handgun my brother and I shot, and it was taken out occasionally for a range day and was generally one of the central handguns in his collection. You can see in the first picture the dykem and scribe mark at 4” that he had on there for almost 20 years.
Fast forward to mid 2019, and he'd never gotten around to it, and unfortunately got a cancer diagnosis. Drastic times calling for drastic measures, my younger brother shamelessly "stole" it out of his safe and brought it to me to do the work, since I had finally gotten my own shop opened.
Dad had always had an obsession with a 3.5” RM/M27, but with a family to support and the usual other expenses, never stumbled on one cheap enough he felt comfortable buying. (This is an interesting part of another story I will likely tell at a later date) Therefore my brothers and I decided to make this gun into a 3.5” gun to have the same feel, minus the rib and shroud of course.
On receipt of the appropriated revolver, I shortened and recrowned the barrel to 3.5”, machined a new M10-5-esque ramped front sight from bar stock, and fixed the endshake and timing issues it had developed in the 73 years it had been around. While it was apart it got a trigger job, and since the original case hardening on the hammer and trigger were long gone, they got polished, and the trigger face radiused for better DA work.
Refinishing was the final step, with the majority of the revolver was satin blued similar to original, but the front sight and entire topstrap were matte blued for anti glare.
Also while I had it I had a J. W. O'Rourke holster made for the 3.5” barrel, and put some faux ivory magnas and a BK twin clip grip adapter. We presented it back to him at Thanksgiving 2019, and he called us all names that might violate forum rules, but he absolutely loved it.
Dad completed his battle with cancer in Sept of 23, and I keep this close at hand now. It gets shot a lot, and everyone with even a tiny bit of revolver appreciation who handles it attempts to buy it.
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