Smith and wesson revolver work suggestion?

[1coolcat]

. Hello all,
Is there a smith on the forum who can take a model 686, change is to a 327 fed mag., and make a 32-20 cylinder.
Lead times?
sadly..I have to know... what is a ball park price to have this done.
Thank you in advance for any feedback

 

[Green Frog]

So far, no one I know of is producing "blank" L frame cylinders, so to do your project, someone would have to make two cylinders from bar stock. The price would be quite high based on hourly rate for this step alone. I fear that when evaluating your proposal, "if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it." Sounds smug and snippy, but unfortunately it's true. A highly talented machinist with a shop full of equipment could do it for himself as a labor of love, but paying him shop rates to have it done would be astronomically expensive. Sorry to be a bearer of such bad news, but it is what it is.

Froggie

 

[glenwolde]

I'm not a gunsmith but I've had enough revolver work done to know the best way to estimate it is guess high and double it, then be prepared for sticker shock. You can drop a grand in a heartbeat.

Green Frog is right. My usual reply would be "With enough money, anything is possible". This would be many thousands of dollars. It would take a considerable amount of time just to work up an estimate.

 

[series guy]

The most efficient (least costly) way to do caliber conversions is to use a smaller caliber cylinder and then rechamber it to the new (larger) round. Even this is costly when you ad the necessary barrel change and hand fitting. The catch with the L Frame is it was never offered in a caliber smaller than .357 so you have the expense of making parts from scratch. Even using the least costly way possible the cost is rather high.

 

[mikerjf]

Would liners be a possibility?

 

[teletech]

Based on my rather limited experience, assume it's going to take at least 3 months and cost almost $2k. If it comes in less than that you can be pleasantly surprised.

 

[1coolcat]

..that sucks..and I know revolver work is costly..haha..the same thought went through my head as I was typing..(if you have to ask)..
Its not like rifle work is it?....
I had a smith and wesson beautiful 32 h&r 6"..I just couldn't bring myself to have it chopped up and sold it before I did something stupid..had the old box paperwork tools..nice..but that would be the cheapest way I suppose..pick up anther 6" .32 smith and wesson model 16 k-
32 and have it chopped and dissected like a lab rat...hold on..im gonna be sick...hahaha..maybe its just more fun to talk about..I just can't justify the expense..most guns I can..very quickly..and believe me boys I have love for the revolver..but if im going to dump 5k into a gun..I want a korth..or something I know will be at least a little more even when I decide im bord on to the next one

 

[Protocall_Design]

Would liners be a possibility?

You could do liners for the chambers, but then you still have to make new extractors with perfect ratchets. You would have to make the extractors to go with new cylinders anyway, though.

 

[oneeyedpete]

Call S&W directly as a first step. You never know what they might suggest. My recommendation would be sell your gun and buy a S&W M&P in the 32-20 caliber

 

[Green Frog]

Having built two K frame 32s, a stainless 327 Fed Mag and a blue 32 S&W L, I can say that while neither was particularly cheap, either project probably could be done for less than the cylinders alone for your proposed L32. The key is using and reboring an existing K frame cylinder rather than making one for an L frame from scratch. Also there are no L frame barrels to rebore to .313".

As for relining a larger barrel to build your L32, I can only say that when I asked Andy Horvath about this when I had the stainless 327 FM built, he flat stated that with pressures involved, he would not even consider a reline.

It's an attractive concept, and if you are a talented machinist or have endlessly deep pockets, you can make it happen. I'd love to have one myself.

Froggie

PS If you could talk the folks @ S&W into selling you one or two un-bored L frame cylinders with blank extractors, and an un-drilled blank barrel forging, you'd be good to go, but that's way above my pay grade.