Friends,
A buddy shipped out a couple of his handguns for me to use for load development. He also gave permission to carry them as I wished, though that will be on a somewhat limited scale as they are irreplaceable as far as I am concerned. One is an S&W .41 Magnum N Frame and the subject here, as it is precisely what I have contemplated building a great many times in my mind, only chambered for a different cartridge.
Anyways, my friend Bob shipped this out, just saying he was shipping a .41 out.
Needless to say I was pretty excited, even if it is just on loan!
Note the barrel says S&W .357 Magnum. That is because it is a 27-2.
This started life as a standard 27-2. Apparently it was in fairly rough shape, and you can see a few rough spots on it, making is absolutely perfect for a conversion, then for field use. I personally love guns like this. A bit of rust on it, some scuffs here and there. All of which will clean up. It is not a collector's gun, and you won't mind carrying it hunting, camping, fishing, etc.
This one had its 5" barrel rebored by JES, and Bob's gunsmith fitted a Model 28 cylinder to the gun, cut the shank back and forcing cone, then re-blued it.
I have long thought that the 5" is the sweet spot for N Frames for the way they balance, as well as the shootability characteristics of them. While I love my 5" 29-2, I always wanted to build a 5" "Mountain Gun" which is basically what this is. This tapered barrel, which is what Smith used on many of their old guns balances very nicely. Truly a shame they went away from it.
This 5" Smith is what the factory should be offering, in cartridges such as .357, .41, 44 Special, .44 Mag, and .45 Colt.
Smith did actually offer what I would consider the ideal version. A 5" skinny barrel, just like what is shown above. It was chambered in .44 Special. It was the 1950 Target Model, though there were just a few built. I have no idea about the numbers and have never seen one in the wild.
Anyways, thought I would share pics of this seriously cool old 5" Mountain Gun.
Cheers!