I freely admit I don’t have the skills or knowledge to build this, but I’m sure someone here does.
Take your garden variety S&W 442 or 642, mix and match this barrel and cylinder,
https://everygunpart.com/sale/smith-...4-gwrr-00.html
https://everygunpart.com/sale/smith-...f-27fz-00.html
retime it from 5 to shots, and you end up with an airweight .32 Long.
Crazy idea? Maybe?
@JCN
I don’t think it’s crazy.Originally Posted by jandbj
I think it’s simpler than that.
Probably just use whatever J frame you have (probably would start with a 340) and just move all the parts over from that parts kit.
If you move over everything including the hand and trigger I would think it would maintain the proper timing that it had when those guns were complete.
Ruger LCR 327 would be the easy button though.
(Sorry was assuming that the donor frame size was J frame, if they wind up being dimensionally different that could affect the project).
Swapping the trigger and hand might be enough on the internals.
I’m noticing that the older donors have hammer mounted firing pins (and they’re external hammers anyway).
My other concerns are cylinder length and how much that would effect how deep the barrel would need to be screwed in. Going from older generation guns to newer where all the newer cylinders (and frame window) are magnum length.
^^^(Example of what I know I don’t know) ^^^
Parts kits above are both J frames
I think that wouldn’t matter as much because for the 9mm cylinders in the Smiths they just turn the barrel down more.
So while it might take more work, it wouldn’t kill the project.
@jandbj
Generally my motivation for projects are:
Something that isn’t commercially available at any price.
Something I have lying around as a donor that would otherwise be worthless to me (either because of damage or because something else I have does it better).
If I were looking at this project, I probably would either:
Wait for a Ruger LCR327.
Or consider the Taurus ULCH 856 which is a 6 shot 38 special and is pretty light.
The only hesitation I would have, and what I would spend some time researching, is that “I heard” that swapping barrels on aluminum framed S&W usually results in a cracked frame.
I wouldn’t doubt that.
My frankenrevolver is an aluminum / scandium frame. I just used a torch, penetrating oil, wood and a vise.
But it’s an N frame so that might be a little beefier than a J.
Right, those are Js. If you round up another .32 parts kit that's not guaranteed. Even post 1957 w/ model numbers the 30s and 31s were still built on the older I-frame until the dash-1 engineering rev. Assuming all Js today are actually J-magnum/E-frame size, you'd be potentially moving "up" 2 frame sizes. From I-to-J first, then again from old J to J-magnum / "E" frame.
I had a I-frame 31 some years ago. Previous owner bent the barrel by carrying it in his back pocket and sitting down. Not an obese fellow, either. If you want to parts swap your way to a 432 then cylinder length wouldn't be my only concern. Strength would be another. It really would be an airweight .32 long, as you noted, with the steel cylinder being suspect for a conversion to .32 magnum. Even as recently as the 00s I think S&W was still heat treating .38 and .357 cylinders differently. I would not expect the older .32 long cylinder to be "overbuilt" in any way, even on a donor that was made as recently as the 60s or 70s. You might have better luck asking Borchardt to make you a six shot cyilnder, though I don't know if he will do custom jobs for anything but Ruger.
Swapping over the old parts into the new frame, even just the trigger, could be problematic. It's way, way, waaaaay easie`r to "build a bear" into different configurations with post-MIM guns.
I think the hand stud or hand pins may have changed from 1960 to 2021. I know the hand torsion springs changed. The pre-mim torsion springs have a longer leg that interfaces with the trigger. New hands also have a 3rd stud ("torsion lever" I think it's called) that's not included on the donor 30-1's hand. (Part at Midway for comparison.) So you'd probably need to use a modern hand with a modern trigger to work with a modern frame. Which, I think, would be doable.
The old pinned barrels like in both those kits were not crush fit like modern barrels. I don't believe the frames for one can work with the other. Anyone still doing bull barrel PPC type builds (Frank Glenn, maybe Pinnacle?) could probably do a .32 J-frame barrel since those are all pretty much bespoke to begin with.
I know JCN has pics of his remounted barrel on a Scanadium frame but I'm in the same boat as Duelist re: crush fit barrel swaps on aluminum frames. I've never done it, but I understand it's very much rolling the dice.
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