The Wiry Irishman
Member
I was at my local gunshop/range this past week perusing guns after a range session and stumbled across a rather unusual revolver. It immediately piqued my interest because of its uniqueness, sights (I enjoy precision handgun shooting), and my desire to own a .38 special at some point. If I want thump from a gun, I've got a .44, so I have no real interest in .357, but .38s are a boat load of fun to shoot from fullsize guns, and I've been wanting one for a while, ever since a friend let me put a few through his Model 19. I sold my plastic auto that I didn't really like to a friend and picked up the 34.
Here it is:
As you can see, it has a 6" heavy bull barrel, a full-length sight rib, and a custom underlug/barrel weight. All told this little .38 weighs more than my 8 3/8" 629. Some people don't like heft in their guns, but I'm not one of them. I love steel and recoil-absorbing weight, and all the extra on this gun makes it a real pussycat to shoot.
The rear sight is a four-position PPC style, the presets changed by the numbered dial in the center. I love the rear sight blade, it provides a wonderfully clear sight picture.
The front sight is adjustable for elevation, as well. Some of the black has rubbed off, I need to paint it or smoke it to get the sight picture looking nice and clean again.
The entire rib is removable, and is screwed directly into the bull barrel. There are two small rail cutouts so the gun can accept optics as well.
The underlug/barrel weight attaches the same way.
The muzzle is slightly recessed and the crowned. Also visible in this picture is the only thing I can find wrong with the gun - the underlug/barrel weight is slightly off-center.
The backstrap has been hand-stippled, as well. It looks like it was done by repeated peening with a very narrow chisel. It looks decent, and is quite grippy.
If you look closely at the stippling, you can tell that the gun isn't bead blasted stainless, but has been hard chrome plated.
And adjustable trigger stop has been installed. There has been some internal trigger work, as well. The gun has been modified to double action only. The action is buttery smooth and the break unusually crisp, which also hints at trigger work. Although the action is very smooth, the pull weight is very heavy, more so than any S&W I've ever come across. I'm wondering if this was done on purpose, as well, perhaps a stronger return spring for faster DA shooting?
Chamfered charge holes.
Extended cylinder release.
My other Smith is a -8 revision, so I don't know if this a feature of the older guns or a result of the attachment of the custom underlug, but the cylinder does not lock into the frame via a spring-loaded nub that engages the ejector, but instead a spring-loaded ball bearing on the crane that engages a cutout in the frame. It seems to lock more positively than the ejector locking on my 629, but I'm no expert, and that's totally subjective.
A shot of the cylinder to give you an idea of wear. The cylinder notches are almost totally square with little wear showing. The bore is pristine, and if there hadn't have been a tiny amount of leading in it when I bought it, I might have believed it was unfired. Timing is perfect on all cylinders, and lockup is incredibly tight, ranging from no movement at all to hardly any depending on the cylinder. The loosest cylinder on this gun is still much tighter than on my .44, which is still tight as factory new. Cylinder gap appears the same as my .44, but I do not have feeler gauges to confirm this.
Also from this picture you may notice the cylinder flutes are polished, while the rest is left matte.
Here it is:
As you can see, it has a 6" heavy bull barrel, a full-length sight rib, and a custom underlug/barrel weight. All told this little .38 weighs more than my 8 3/8" 629. Some people don't like heft in their guns, but I'm not one of them. I love steel and recoil-absorbing weight, and all the extra on this gun makes it a real pussycat to shoot.
The rear sight is a four-position PPC style, the presets changed by the numbered dial in the center. I love the rear sight blade, it provides a wonderfully clear sight picture.
The front sight is adjustable for elevation, as well. Some of the black has rubbed off, I need to paint it or smoke it to get the sight picture looking nice and clean again.
The entire rib is removable, and is screwed directly into the bull barrel. There are two small rail cutouts so the gun can accept optics as well.
The underlug/barrel weight attaches the same way.
The muzzle is slightly recessed and the crowned. Also visible in this picture is the only thing I can find wrong with the gun - the underlug/barrel weight is slightly off-center.
The backstrap has been hand-stippled, as well. It looks like it was done by repeated peening with a very narrow chisel. It looks decent, and is quite grippy.
If you look closely at the stippling, you can tell that the gun isn't bead blasted stainless, but has been hard chrome plated.
And adjustable trigger stop has been installed. There has been some internal trigger work, as well. The gun has been modified to double action only. The action is buttery smooth and the break unusually crisp, which also hints at trigger work. Although the action is very smooth, the pull weight is very heavy, more so than any S&W I've ever come across. I'm wondering if this was done on purpose, as well, perhaps a stronger return spring for faster DA shooting?
Chamfered charge holes.
Extended cylinder release.
My other Smith is a -8 revision, so I don't know if this a feature of the older guns or a result of the attachment of the custom underlug, but the cylinder does not lock into the frame via a spring-loaded nub that engages the ejector, but instead a spring-loaded ball bearing on the crane that engages a cutout in the frame. It seems to lock more positively than the ejector locking on my 629, but I'm no expert, and that's totally subjective.
A shot of the cylinder to give you an idea of wear. The cylinder notches are almost totally square with little wear showing. The bore is pristine, and if there hadn't have been a tiny amount of leading in it when I bought it, I might have believed it was unfired. Timing is perfect on all cylinders, and lockup is incredibly tight, ranging from no movement at all to hardly any depending on the cylinder. The loosest cylinder on this gun is still much tighter than on my .44, which is still tight as factory new. Cylinder gap appears the same as my .44, but I do not have feeler gauges to confirm this.
Also from this picture you may notice the cylinder flutes are polished, while the rest is left matte.
