S&W model 15 barrel profile

[Engine49guy]

My thinking kinda goes that a heavier barrel K Magnum makes sense from the perspective of adding weight up front to tame recoil but with .38 special which is already relatively a tame round it doesnt.
Im guessing the factory fealt the same way and was the reason the lighter narrow rib K38 continued life as a 4" offering , dont forget the wide rib initially came out to add weight to the 6" K38 so its weight matched the K22 not to tame recoil.
If a customer was willing to place a large enough order SW would produce a run, sometimes its a small run of wide rib four inch 14's and in the Hanens case the customer wanted that heavier Model 10 barrel.
Kinda neat because its a fairly low production niche variation to add to the mix IMO but has no real purpose other than being a slightly different flavour than vanilla or chocolate.

 

[Doug M.]

In fact, I had a Smython built that I carried for a while and nearly got in trouble with it. Our inspections unit came in and brought me in to initiate charges for it. They couldn't find a specific rule I violated and dropped it.

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They should have been fired, if for no other reason than they initiated a frivolous action (no rule for which a violation could be alleged.) Tolerance of that by command is intentional misconduct and should have resulted in discharge too.

 

[Palmetto Sharpshooter]

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They should have been fired, if for no other reason than they initiated a frivolous action (no rule for which a violation could be alleged.) Tolerance of that by command is intentional misconduct and should have resulted in discharge too.

To be fair, the guy that raised the issue didn't have a great reputation.

Back to the topic, we didn't have many people that carried Model 15s. I personally knew of only two. Most people that had to carry .38s, carried the issued Model 10 or their own S&W or Colt .38/.357 limited to .38+p.

I carried a Colt until 1988. That's when I was told I wouldn't win a PPC match with a Colt. I accepted it was true. I started transitioning my revolvers over to S&W and saw immediate improvement. Seeing that, I started carrying S&Ws on duty, first a Model 19 then a 586.