Smith to build 'baby 586' ?

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psween

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I have a 30-1 that I am considering having some serious work done, if it's even doable. What I really want is a baby 586 on the .32 J frame. Would involve new barrel and milling topstrap for adjustable rear sight, and maybe, probably, deepening chambers for .32 H&R. What I want is a 3" full lug barrel like the 36-6, but in .32. Am I nuts to think this would be the ultimate kit gun? Any suggestions of smiths who could or would do a job like that?
 
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Anything is possible with enough money and a willing gunsmith...

Since S & W has not made a full-lug J frame .32 (or .22), my guess is you would need to sleeve a .38 barrel down to the proper diameter. Anyone capable of doing that should be able to convert it to an adjustable rear sight. Hamilton Bowen comes to mind if he is still taking on work of this kind.

Edit to add - his website states he stopped taking S & W work in March, 2016.
 
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If this is really what you want and you have fairly deep pockets and the time to wait to get ahold of somebody to do the work and then wait for them to actually do it, you go for it. You are talking about putting a lot of money into something that would possibly have very little value to anybody but yourself, but that's OK. It's your money.
 
That would be a great gun.

Rechambering the cyl to .32 Mag is too easy to pay someone to do. There's so little metal to remove. Mine took 20 minutes with a rented reamer.

The sights are no particular challenge. The key is to have a .22 Kit Gun in hand to study how much and where to mill the the cross cut above the hammer. There's no key slot to mill for the J frame rear sight elevation adjustment screw. Tap and drill hole to attach front end of the sight tang. I've even seen the two milling cuts needed done by filing (with skill) that one could not tell from a milled job.

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The barrel shroud is the most difficult and costly. Relining the barrel with a .32 liner needs the proper expertise and tools.

John Taylor does relines and uses TJ's barrel liners which are probably the best.
Taylor Machine – Your source for custom machine work!

J E S Rifle Reboring http://www.35caliber.com/ has also done handguns.
 
I have a Model 30-1 also and was going to lengthen the cyl holes to .32 H&R. Instead I bought a Charter Arms Professional 3" heavy full shroud bbl in .32 H&R mag, seven shot cylinder. Have owned many Smiths but this was the first Charter Arms and I have been very happy with it. It would have to have an adjustable rear sight added to meet your requirements. Good luck with your project as one of my Smiths is a 586 4"bbl. and they are wonderful revolvers. Apologize for the digression on your thread.
 
When I think "mini 686" I think of the Models 60-4 and 60-10. I could get all heated up over the ideal of a 32 caliber J frame in that configuration, but to do it right, I'd use a huge SS blank and put it in a 5 axis CNC machine to profile it properly, duplicating the 60-4 design but probably in 4" length. I would then use a common 631 (snub bbl, no adjustable sights) as my donor gun and make the alterations you mention. I plan to do this as soon as I hit the Mega Millions Jackpot! ;)
I have access to the 4" adj sight 631 now to console me, so I don't play the lottery much. :)
Froggie
 
I'd be happy with a 3'' K frame 32 like a model 16. No need to reinvent the wheel. Heck, it could even have 7 holes in the cylinder and I wouldn't complain.

I have a 31-1 and the J frame is a little small for me to shoot well. Adjustable sights wouldn't help.

I also have a model 36. That one isn't my idea of a target gun either. My very best short barrel target work is done with a 2.5'' model 19 using 38 spl. loads. A 32 would be even better.

It's my understanding that 32 is a very popular caliber for target shooting in Europe.
 
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I was lucky enough to stumble on to a 36-6 a few months back. Like it so much I wanted to try and build a 22 cal. . Been looking for a 63 for the gun part and would need to have a barrel relined. In my messing around I found 3" 36-6 barrels on numbrich for around 100. So got the barrel before they disappeared. Maybe they still have them.

I just looked and they dont seem to be there anymore.Like a lot of things there, gone fast,or I bought the only one.
 
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Turning a full lug 38 J frame barrel into a 32 would be easy. Get some 32 barrel, turn it to .500 and thread about an 1 1/2" it 36 to the inch. Cut the extension off the 38 barrel, drill and tap 1/2" to .500-36 then drill and ream rest out to just over .357 and turn barrel in front of treads to that. Coat with read loctite slide in and then thread tight. Trim off excess at muzzle. Then fit it to frame cylinder. Basically same idea I used to make 2 K frame 32 barrels
 
Yeah, that's easy enough!

Then once the two pieces are loctited together, fitted to the frame, and head space set, you could turn off the last 1/8" of threads on the barrel shank and it would look just like factory.
 
steelslaver said:
Turning a full lug 38 J frame barrel into a 32 would be easy. Get some 32 barrel, turn it to .500 and thread about an 1 1/2" it 36 to the inch. Cut the extension off the 38 barrel, drill and tap 1/2" to .500-36 then drill and ream rest out to just over .357 and turn barrel in front of treads to that. Coat with read loctite slide in and then thread tight. Trim off excess at muzzle. Then fit it to frame cylinder. Basically same idea I used to make 2 K frame 32 barrels
Click to expand...

Jim,

Why mess with turning new threads? The donor barrel already has the correct threads doesn't it? Maybe I am missing something, but it would seem a bit easier to just bore the rifling out, turn down the liner barrel, loctite, insert, let cure, done! Or am I missing some obvious detail?

Kevin
 
Just lining the barrel would not leave much metal for forcing cone. Shank on a J frame is .500 before threads. Say .490 in bottom of thread. 490-.312 leaves .178 divide by 2 leaves less than .090 so if you make .312 liner to split the difference it would have .045 walls and so would shank. That .045 would be almost gone at beginning of forcing cone bevel leaving a paper thin piece of liner where bullet strikes it l wouldn't and didn't even try it on a K frame with a .540-36 shank.
 
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steelslaver said:
Just lining the barrel would not leave much metal for forcing cone. Shank on a J frame is .500 before threads. Say .490 in bottom of thread. 490-.312 leaves .188 divide by 2 leaves less than .094 so if you make .312 liner to split the difference it would have .045 walls and so would shank. That .045 would be almost gone at beginning of forcing cone bevel leaving a paper thin piece of liner where bullet strikes it l wouldn't and didn't even try it on a K frame with a .540-36 shank.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I knew there had to be a reason.

Kevin
 
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