ltwguns.com

Spegel grips, bobbed hammer, C&S fixed rear sights & meprolight front night sight, Electroless-nickel internals, etc.

I need a lightbox and a better camera and maybe some photography skills, but here is what I've got:

That's a little cutie. Very well executed.

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Nice BRT. Who did the work?

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"Domari Nolo"

Very nice round gun sir!

Very nice!! I'd love to have one like that. I also regret not buying one of the Custom 66's that Wilson did for a couple of years...

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"There is a true glory and a true honor, the glory of duty done, the honor of integrity and principle."--Gen. Robert Edward Lee

Fantastic! What was done and who did it?

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God Bless
45Fundi

Thanks for the nice words everyone. I did the work myself. I was a hobby gunsmith for about 15 years before I got my FFL about two years ago. Most of the work I have done has been on shotguns and the AR family of rifles.

This took me a few weeks working on and off, with inspiration drawn from all over with special thanks to Grant Cunningham.

Its had an "action job" to smooth everything out & the internals electroless nickel plated (I'm currently experimenting with Nickel Boron Nitride to further reduce friction). Hammer was bobbed and single action notch removed. Barrel was recrowned & the forcing cone was recut. Charge holes were chamfered. Trigger was polished and radiused. The revolver was bead blasted except for a polished band on the cylinder where the bolt rides (less friction). I also "registered" all the screws.

Springs were swapped out for standard power Wolff mainspring and 14 lb rebound spring which gives a nice smooth 8 1/2 pound pull with 100% reliable ignition on CCI magnum primers. A reduced power mainspring and 12 lb rebound spring brought the pull down to the mid 6 pound range, but I was getting light strikes on the CCI's. Grips are from Craig Spegel. Rear sights are Cylinder & Slide Extreme Duty Fixed Sights. Front sight is Meprolight night sight. Thumblatch is from SDM Fabricating.

Wow,you did the work... I barely have the skill to read out my credit card number to my gunsmith!

Could you explain the forcing cone work? Does this in some way necessitate truing the cylinder?

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God Bless
45Fundi

Kevin,

Very nicely done. I really like the dehorning around the trigger guard. Are the C&S fixed sights a swapout deal or did you have to machine the frame in any way? Been a while since I drove through Long Mott. May have to make a trip that way, and buy you lunch just to get a better look at it.

tex

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"In Texas, if you kill someone, were gonna kill ya right back"

Ron White-Blue Collar Comedy Tour

The C&S fixed sights are a swap out for the later model S&W's that have the rounded rear sight leaf. On the older S&W's you have to drill and tap a couple of holes.

A properly cut forcing cone allows for the smooth entry of the bullet into the bore which cuts down on bullet deformation leading to greater accuracy. It does not necessitate truing the cylinder. If anything, it allows for slightly more cylinder misalignment before it starts spitting lead.

Very nice Kevin. It reminds me of the CS-1's (IIRC) that were for U.S. Customs Officers. A little snazzier of course though. Love the 3" barrel length.

EricO

VERY NICE "Roundgun"!!! Coupla' questions...Does the Meprolight front sight in combination with the C&S rear sight shoot to POA for you? If so, with what ammo? Who are you using to nickel the lockparts, and are you happy with the results? I noticed that the DREADED "Integral Lock" is still in place...any reason you did NOT remove it??? Thanks....mikey357

That's some real nice looking work there.

John

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I will never forget you Lou......February 21, 2009

John Ralston
5 SHOT LEATHER, LLC - Finely Crafted Custom Handgun Leather

http://www.5ShotLeather.com

At 15 yards it shoots slightly high with 158 gr. Speer Gold Dots. I haven't had a chance to run a bunch of different kinds of ammo through it yet, or put it in a rest. I nickel plated the internals myself and am happy with the results.

I've heard stories of the lock self-engaging, but those mostly fall into 2 categories - lightweight heavy recoil guns, like the 329PD, or a broken spring on the mechanism allowing the lock to rotate without resistance. This is a steel framed .357 and the spring checked out ok. I'm not happy about the internal lock, but I'm not too worried. If one were to grind off this little tab...:


(not my picture, credit goes to 500 Magnum Nut from smith-wessonforum.com)

On my next one, I may plug the hole and come up with something to take the place of the "flag". I just have to figure out the best way to do it.

I've had a 629 Mountain Gun's Internal Lock lock up the gun 3 times with 4 trips back to S&W! The last trip I had to send it back loaded. The first trip it was shooting so left you couldn't adjust the sights all the way over and hit paper. They said the barrel had been installed misaligned. While it was there I had the Custom Shop do a full everything backcountry carry job on it and it came back to me with the internal lock screwed upwhich locked the gun up and it did it every time they returned it 3 times. It now works fine and is very accurate with my CorBon bear loads in it, but I don't trust the internal lock and it really p......me off! If I don't find one with out the lock, I'm going to have it removed and the hole filled one day.

I'm at this moment sitting in the house of a former DA and Special Prosecutor who has put more people on death row than any other prosecutor in US history (so I'm told) and he says that in a shooting you either did it right or you did it wrong and all that messing with safety liability only counts if you did it wrong.

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God Bless
45Fundi