No more .357 8 inch?

[Belegkarnil]

Hi,

I am a newbie and I do not know well guns. Since I am a child I always wanted to use a .357 magnum Smith & Wesson with a long barrel like "city hunter".

In Europe, especially in my country, it is not easy to legally own a gun.
Now I have time to proceed the administrative procedure. I am looking for the Smith & Wesson revolver and I cannot find a new one (8") on the official website. What I found is some second-hand ads.

My question is Smith & Wesson stopped to produce such long barrel for the .357? If yes, why? Will they reproduce it one day?

 

[stansdds]

Welcome to the S&W Forums.

It would appear that S&W is no longer producing revolvers with barrels longer than 6 to 6 1/2". Their 8 3/8" barreled revolvers were never as popular as those with 6 inch or shorter barrels, so it makes economical sense for S&W to drop them from production.

Will S&W return to making revolvers with 8 3/8" barrels? If a distributor placed an order for several hundred, then yes. If Colt's 8 inch Python and Anaconda prove to be popular items, then S&W might return to producing revolvers with 8 3/8" barrels.

 

[murphydog]

Welcome!

The last 8 3/8" barrel .357 revolver made by S & W was the L frame model 686 in the early 2000 decade, so 20 years ago. If you can legally buy either a used 686 or a larger N frame model 27 both are excellent guns.

 

[Old_Cop]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Belegkarnil]

Thank you !
Ok I will definitely buy a S&W.
I will search for a used one first as you suggested.

 

[M29since14]

If you have the time to seek out a nice second-hand Model 27 with the 8-3/8” barrel, you might as well do so. I don’t see much likelihood of new production, but one never knows with our friends at S&W.

The long-barrelled S&Ws were always a bit controversial, where I live. Most shooters acknowledged their strong points (ballistic efficiency and longer sight radius) but they were not popular with most users except the metallic silhouette shooters. I’m speaking generally about the magnums. In the K-frames, the story was similar with the varmint hunters and the .22 Jet. The 4- and 6.5-inch barrel lengths were always more popular, and my own thoughts were that the 6.5-inch magnums were a nice compromise of handiness and efficiency, and served to somewhat tame the nasty recoil of the 4-inch guns. Remember, too, that 6.5-inch gun is something of an odd duck in the Model 27. If you find a good one at an acceptable price, I’d buy it without hesitation.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Oldsalt66]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your search.

 

[wcat94]

The model 27-5 was the last 27 series with 8 3/8 barrel. Discontinued around 1991 I think.

 

[llowry61]

Welcome to the forum. My first S&W pistol was a 586 8 3/8 357. I still have it today and it was made in the late 80's. The guns can outshoot the ability of the average shooter. I can hit an 8" plate easily at 50 yards and even 100 (even though the sight covers the plate). The long tube tames the recoil, they are simple to maintain and just plain old fun. If you are going to shoot a lot reloading is the way to go.