I have been shooting and working on revolvers since about 1975. I have found that you always pay for your education one way or another. Maybe college tuition, maybe mistakes in life, maybe ruined parts.
I can build or modify any revolver to be anything I want it to be. I have definitely paid my dues in years of study of every minute detail of revolver actions and interactions and replacing parts. The problem is - you never know where the limits are until you go past them. This is part of knowing how it all works. To all those who are trying to learn this, I will say Measure twice, cut once. Weld, repeat.
So I encourage those who want to learn to go for it. You may scrap some parts, but S&W parts are available. You will have to spend money on tools and parts. That, and lots of time is the cost of the education. After all this time I still learn new things too, but it usually is cheaper now.
I only build my own guns to use in matches, not for anyone else.