Best option for K-frame custom work?

[Nephrology]

Hello -

I am looking into sending my Model 19 away for some TLC. Specifically, I am looking for the following:

Action Job (Duty oriented, i.e. not just for federal primers)
Chamfer Cylinders
Re-Blue
Replace rear & front sights with something a bit more durable and useable
Check timing, cylinder lockup, forcing cone etc etc...

So far the people I am looking at are Cylinder & Slide and the Bowen custom house. Anyone else I should include? I don't mind something of a wait but I'd like to be able to get the gun back in my hands within a reasonable timeframe... So far C&S are looking good, but I don't know much about the quality of their revo work or their customer service. I am also having a hard time decoding exactly which sight package I would want to purchase from C&S - any help in this regard?

Thanks all

[JHC]

I've gotten burned by local gunsmith favorable word of mouth so I too would only go premium for such things. I'm presently trying to get a shipping label/Return Auth # from S&W for much less interesting simple maintenance on an older Model 18 that's been DA shot out of time and its taking me weeks to do so.

Several folks I trust say Karl Sokol up in NH is top notch also. Good luck.

[Dagga Boy]

I am a big fan of Bowen Custom Guns, but they are not cheap. They are insanely good at what they do. I am getting ready to send them a couple of sick revolvers.

[Alpha Sierra]

I have no first hand experience, but have heard good things about him on M4C:
http://www.superiorfirearmsllc.com/

He's not all that far from me and I'm of the mind to send him my Model 64 and $300.

[LHS]

I've had good luck with Nelson Ford in Phoenix. He's done J-frames for me and a few friends, and did an outstanding DAO conversion on a friend's M10HB a few years back.

[Robinson]

It's great if you find a local smith who you can trust to do most of that sort of work. I am fortunate to have a local guy that I really trust with my revolvers -- but only after taking some small jobs to him first so he could prove himself. He's a guy who truly understands 1911s and S&W revolvers. If you're not in the position to do that, I think the C&S and Bowen options are solid.

As for the sights -- I have had both the C&S fixed rear sight and the Bowen Rough Country sights installed on my guns and overall I prefer the Bowen sight. It is very well made and sturdy, plus it is adjustable and offered in three blade heights to work with just about any front sight. They are both quality parts though.

[Totem Polar]

I find this thread timely. The bottom line is that we're losing the art of tuning revolvers as wheelies fall from favor as general EDC guns. I've owned one C&S-tuned snubby Model 10 that, while a thing of absolute beauty (with perfectly dovetailed sights) had the geometry so reworked that it *couldn't* be resprung heavily enough to light primers reliably without a resultantly monsterous trigger pull. No thanks. I also tried for several years to get on one name 'smith's wait list, only to get on 4 years ago, and I'm still waiting.

If the S&W performance center could do sights, I'd just send my 65-3 to them, but I'd prefer to mail the wheelie only once and get it all done. I'll be interested to see more names crop up in this thread. For example, I'm pretty sure that Tam has a line on one old-school smith that she uses. Speaking of which, someone here must have experience working with Gemini aside from the weigand porting packages...

[Nephrology]

I am a big fan of Bowen Custom Guns, but they are not cheap. They are insanely good at what they do. I am getting ready to send them a couple of sick revolvers.

I'm interested in Bowen but from reading their website I can't tell if they actually offer a revolver package that will be suitable for my gun. It says online that the package I would be interested in is only for "late-model S&W revolvers with the round-tang rear sights." However, they also list a sight model on their parts catalog that seems to be able to be adapted for the square-tang rear sights (which I assume would include my late 70's manf. Model 19-3). Am I reading that wrong?

[Nephrology]

I've owned one C&S-tuned snubby Model 10 that, while a thing of absolute beauty (with perfectly dovetailed sights) had the geometry so reworked that it *couldn't* be resprung heavily enough to light primers reliably without a resultantly monsterous trigger pull.

Really? Wow. Did you send it off to them for work, or did you buy it second-hand?

[HCM]

QUOTE=Sidheshooter;216304] I'll be interested to see more names crop up in this thread. For example, I'm pretty sure that Tam has a line on one old-school smith that she uses. [/QUOTE]

I think you are referring to Dennis Reichard at Sand Burr Gun Ranch http://sandburrgunranch.com/gunsmithy.php

[BN]

Al Greco did my 3" Model 10. He had quit doing revolver work a while back, but he still lists it on his web page. http://www.alscustom.com/revolvers.php

DOA trigger is 6 3/4# and sets off rifle primers. :)

Randy Lee at Apex Tactical does really good work too. He did my 4" Model 10. http://www.apextactical.com/services.php

[Tamara]

QUOTE=Sidheshooter;216304]
I think you are referring to Dennis Reichard at Sand Burr Gun Ranch http://sandburrgunranch.com/gunsmithy.php
Yup. He comes well recommended by Mas Ayoob, too. I believe you'd have to talk to him about who he uses for refinishing.

[theJanitor]

I've used Frank Glenn for many projects, but not for several years.

I have heard great things about SDM, and Ten Ring, and Alan Tanaka but have never used them. They are also Pistolsmith Guild members

[Totem Polar]

Really? Wow. Did you send it off to them for work, or did you buy it second-hand?
Oh, definitely second-hand--to be clear--but I bought it from the guy who did send it off, with work receipt. I also talked to the guys at C&S about the gun, and what it would take to make it work again with my usual fodder, with some fairly (to me) shocking information from the conversation. C&S will evidently do things for a customer that I would not be comfortable asking for, myself (eg. shaving stock springs down). Bottom line; it would have had to go back for a re-working on my dime and time, so I sold it at a loss to a guy who loves to tinker.

I will say that, with the re-worked C&S spring, it was the lightest DA revolver pull I've ever experienced by a long ways, and the craftsmanship was flawless. But that idea of re-cutting the mainspring and changing internal parts: that means that no standard spring (and by standard, I mean Wilson, Wolff, et al. in any power level) will ever work well again. I wouldn't put out an action job like that, especially in a 2" model 10 snub with other obvious carry mods (brass bead front sight, chamfered cylinders, etc), but everyone's got their own opinion. That said, the original onus is on the first guy, who obviously spec'd the lightest/shortest possible pull--but sometimes the experts need to save the customer from themselves, and this is a case where that didn't happen--again, totally IMHO.

I'm sure that if I sent, say, my 65 or 13 in and specified a duty tune that the results would be great, but I was a bit put off by some of the answers in my conversations with C&S, from a liability standpoint, if nothing else, and that's enough to make me shy away. OMMV.

Take all that with a grain; it's not like C&S hasn't cultivated a stellar reputation for as long as I've been legal to buy and CCW.

[Wheeler]

I picked up a cosmetically challenged 3" Model 36 a few months ago as a project gun. As there was no emotional attachment to it I finally screwed up enough courage to take the side plate off (properly) and remove all the little fiddley bits. I reassembled it and it still worked so that was a bit of encouragement. Headhunter was good enough to come by and chamfer the cylinders, rough bob the hammer and rough round the trigger. I finished the hammer and trigger and put it all back together again, it still works. :)

The project has been put on hold until I can get around to finding someone that will help me recrown the muzzle, bead blast and refinish it. I'm thinking about a cerakote but might go with a satin bluing. I also want to do away with the hideous Baughmann ramp, probably an 80 degree cut and some hi viz paint.

While I had all the internals scattered across my desk/tinker table/world domination command center I ran some 0000 steel wool over all the contact surfaces. I'm not quite bold enough yet to try my hand at stoning.

[okie john]

Several folks I trust say Karl Sokol up in NH is top notch also.

+1 on Karl Sokol. He breathed new life into my old Model 29-2.

Hamilton Bowen is a class act, truly a gentleman of the old school. I've dealt with him on a number of occasions. His work is far from cheap, but it will add to the value of your revolver, whereas the work of most others will detract from it.


Okie John