Recently I've taken to modifying guns as a hobby; since I have a knife making shop it's not too great a stretch. My most recent project came about because of my fondness for old guns and snubbies. My wife bought me a couple of S&W .38 hammerless safety revolvers as a present- largely because I had a project in mind. One of the two guns was a pretty nice blued gun with excellent mechanicals and a near-pristine bore. This one she bought specifically for me to 'molest.' The other is a nickel gun with pearl handles that she will throttle me if I mess with.
The first thing was to make an ergonomic Cocobolo grip; I can't grip the factory handles properly owing to a large middle finger. I kept the very nice factory grips, of course. Next I removed the front sight, cut the barrel to 1-5/8 inches and re-crowned it. I remounted the factory front sight, though it is staked rather than pinned. I touched up the bluing a bit with Birchwood Casey Super blue and it was done. You can see the results below.
At the range the gun shoots low naturally, but using a modified sight picture I had no difficulty putting shots where I wanted them at 7 yards. The gun is a pleasure to shoot; recoil is negligible and the trigger, while heavy, is silky-smooth and breaks cleanly with almost no over-travel. By the end of the evening I was able to shoot a 3-1/2 inch rapid-fire group at seven yards.
I modified the gun just for my own amusement, but more and more I find myself dropping it in my pocket when I go out to my workshop or around the property. It's lighter and smaller than even a J-frame, and I just love it. I suppose I'll load up some hard-cast SWCs for it. As a replacement for a pocket .22 or .25 I think it's a nice choice. I did make an IWB holster for it, but pocket carry works out for now. Yes, it does work with HKS J-Frame speedloaders.
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. Snarky and easily butt hurt. Favorite animal is the Cape Buffalo....likely indicative of a personality disorder.
Originally Posted by nyeti
