Speaking of the devil. I have a model 29-3,that I took the barrel off of, on my bench at home and a 44 Colt Anaconda barrel that I am going to cut down the 5" and thread it to .670-36, so it will thread onto the 29 frame. I will also need to open up the slot in under lug so the thicker Smith ejector rod will work and install a ball detent in the yoke. It is really not much difference than fitting a python barrel to a K or L frame. I will probably have to machine the angle of the rib from the flat where front sight mounts to where it meets the frame for that to come out just right. As the Anaconda barrel is stainless I am going to use a stainless 629 cylinder, ejector rod and thumb piece to make it a pinto.
Anaconda barrel shanks have larger threads than N frame S&Ws, so you could just turn therm down and thread them to fit. When you go to cutting the Python and Anaconda barrels your choices of length have to be adjusted because of the slots in the rib. Don't want any free hanging rib on either end and while it is possible to cut either or both ends, cutting both would be a major pain.
I would rather do it with an 45 colt Anaconda barrel, but got the 44 barrel in trade for setting up a 8" Python barrel to thread onto an N frame. Guy wanted it about 5" so I cut it off a little longer than that which was right where a opening in the rib was. With that piece of rib gone, I set it up on centers in the lathe and turned it to .670then threaded at 36 to the inch and cut a new slot for ejector rod in the under lug on my mill. Left the shank long as he had the ability to fit the barrel once it was threaded and adjust the gap.
I don't really have much interest in 44 mags. But, I have also started collecting up the knowledge and pieces I will need to set up the tooling and jigs needed to bore out and rifle handgun barrels to larger calibers. You can't just order any of it anywhere. So there is hope it will eventually be just what I want it to be.
Just 5 more weeks before I finish this job and get back home to shop. Stay tuned for more completely unnecessary gun modifications that must absolutely terrorize some of the purists.
OH, by the way. Accuracy? Neither my 4" or 6" Smolts show any better or worse accuracy than stock S&W 357s or 38s when using a machine rest. I think part of the whole deal was, if you BELIEVE it will shoot better it will. Choke barrel, different twist etc etc all Voodoo, when your talking about 148 gr wad-cutters at 700fps between 7 and 50 yard. The twist rate maybe a bit. If there is any choke it doesn't show with a pin gauges so it must be pretty small IF it exists. There are a lot of other things that affect accuracy more. IMHO
...Ben
I'd have never thought of it.
