9mm Luger Revolver with a 4 inch barrel

Status
Not open for further replies.

mesinge2

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
2,231
Location
Central Florida
Does anyone know if there is a 9mm Luger revolver with a 4 inch barrel? Basically a medium to large frame 9 x 19 chambered revolver.
 
It has not been in production for many years and not many were made to start with, but there was a four-inch, square butt version of the S&W 547. It used "springy fingers" made of a beryllium alloy for case extraction.
 
It's probably not what you want, but there's the Ruger Blackhawk 4 5/8 " with .357 and 9mm cylinders.
 
Nobody makes them and 547's are rare and expensive. If you really want one you'll have to do what I did and make one yourself. Find a K frame S&W in .38spl or .357mag and send the cylinder to Pinnacle High Performance www.pinnacle-guns.com. Mark Hartshorne is the owner/gunsmith/machinist and he converted a S&W Model 360 to 9mm for me, along with some other work and I couldn't be happier. His work is top notch and his prices and turn around time are reasonable. He will rechamber your cylinder, cut it for moonclips, and chamfer the holes for $250. You can get 6-shot 9mm moonclips for it from www.moonclips.com for $47.95 a 10-pack.
 
And the way forward .38 Spl chamber throats?
And over-size .38 chambers giving the bullets a running sideways start?

Just seems there would be a lot of gas blow-by / power loss in the too long & loose chambers to me.

rc
 
Thanks for the advice. I am actually going to look for the S & W 547 and if that doesn't pan out I'll send my gun to Pinnacle High Performance.
Thanks everybody.
 
I once reloaded some 9mm 125 gr. JSP's into a .38spl case with a small charge of W231. The accuracy was very good.
 
I called Mark Hartshorne of Pinnacle High Performance www.pinnacle-guns.com. He said he could convert my gun to 9mm for only $280.00. That's Great! Cheaper than guying a new gun and easier to find.
 
Last edited:
I'm really curious to hear how the Pinnacle 9mm conversions work out. I have 9mm guns, but only one .38, and it'd be kinda neat to have it use the same ammo as everything else.

I take it that since he's reaming a .38 cylinder, moonclips are totally necessary? With my 9mm SP101 you could just drop them in and they'd headspace on the neck. You could shoot them, but you had to pull the brass out with fingernails or knock them out from the front with a pencil. I take it that's not an option with a reamed cylinder?

Also tempting that his S&W L-frames can take the whole gammut of cartridges:
S&W 6-shot L-frame cylinders
Rechamber to 9x23 and shoot-
9mm, .38 super, & 9x23!
$250.00


That'd be pretty slick if you handload. The used to have a S&W 686 in .38 Super for some shooting games, since it could reload faster and whatnot, so similar idea. I could really go for a tricked-out 686 that takes those rounds, with a nice trigger-job, and maybe the barrel sides flattened like on the SSR version. Nice custom grips and a Tyler T-Grip, it'd be drool-worthy.

178012_large.jpg


My main concern, as mentioned above, is the difference in bore diameters. Does it really matter much, or is it a pretty minor quibble considering the relative size?

Looking forward to hearing how this works for folks.
 
I have a 642 with a 940 cylinder and it shoots 9mm's with just about the same accuracy as 38 specials but it kicks a whole lot more.
I have thought about getting a mod 17 cylinder and having it bored for 9mm for a model 10.
 
I was looking at those S&W 686s in .38 Super. Limited run for Performance Center some years back.

Does anyone know: did they change the bore diameter for the .38 Super models, or just use the regular .38/.357 bore diameter?

Overall, does it seem a better deal to just buy a S&W 686 PC in .38 Super for $800-1000, or buy a S&W 686 for $400 and have Pinnacle or some other 'smith convert it to 9x23mm and trick out the action?

EDIT: Also, can you or can't you shoot 9mm Parabellum in a 9x23mm/.38 Super revolver? I've heard mixed things.
 
My 9mm 360 conversion has worked out extremely well. The accuracy is on par with what it was before the switch. I personally don't feel the recoil is excessive (my gun weighs 13oz), not much worse than hot +P .38spls, IMO, and nothing like a .357mag.

With these conversion moonclips are required. Because the cylinder is reamed to 9x23, the regular 9mm rounds don't headspace. Personally, I like the moonclips. They're superfast to reload and the S&W ones hold the rounds very securely so you can drop a couple in your pocket and not worry about them falling out of the clip.

I don't have a chronograph but I've seen where a guy with a 940 is getting 1157fps with 124gr Gold Dots, I assume +P. One of these days if I get the chance to borrow one I'll post the results.

Mark also did an action job, polished and rounded the trigger, half bobbed the hammer, installed a fiber optic front sight, and chamfered the forcing cone a bit.
Here's a pic of my gun-
gun6.gif
 
Looks pretty sweet. I do find my 642 to hurt my trigger finger. But only when I fire it.

J
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top