I know these belong in the custom revolver section and under any other circumstances they’d be shown there but to keep in step with our other SHOT Show post view threads I figured I’d put these right here...
We managed to bring quite a few pistols to this past SHOT Show and the vast majority were “bottom feeders” in the form of both John Browning’s masterpieces, the 1911 and Hi-Power. But there were a couple of “round guns” in tow with us this year and both threw a bit of a curve ball at the norm for carry revolvers.
Both of the guns here started out as plain ol’ Smith and Wesson M65s. The 65s, along with their carbon steel counterparts the M13, have always been a very practical and efficient representation of a defensive revolver. The guns are built on the moderately sized K-frame and feature good balance and concealability along with the classic S&W ergonomics and of course are chambered in .357 MAG, a pistol caliber that’s pretty hard to argue with. While the M65s are fixed sighted guns, which is a preference for quite a few revolver shooters including myself, the sights also happen to be somewhat of a flaw... being made from stainless steel the factory sights are “white” and quite often hard to see. But where there’s a problem there’s also a solution and, as you can see in these photos, Ted came up with a very trick way to outfit these guns with high-visibility
carbon steel sights that blend right into the pistol as if they grew there.
In addition to the sight work these guns were also treated to a complete carry conversion including the following: complete action job, radius and polish trigger face, shorten hammer spur, fixed over-travel stop, face back barrel one turn, true receiver face, set B/C gap, lap and polish forcing cone, shorten ejector rod and center pin as needed, chamfer cylinder edges, machine rear sight channel for increased depth and width, re-crown barrel, satin matte finish, Spegel stocks, and more.
Now I know these may not seem to be tactical... nor have a fancy name... nor be chambered in the latest and greatest super-whiz-bang cartridge... nor finished in the newest wonder finish craze... but as a good friend of mine likes to say, “wheel guns
are real guns” and in this case I think most folks will be hard pressed to disagree. Set up just as these are and accompanied by the excellent Sparks leather show here, I wouldn’t hesitate to take these guns anywhere. Enjoy the pictures!
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