S&W 28-2 new to me

[4D5]

Mod 28-2 Highway Patrolman
DOB ~1966

I scored this on one of my recent LGS rounds. It is in excellent condition, hardly fired, except for; the side plate middle screwhole, someone messed up the sideplate by the screw and lightly scraped the bluing with a screwdriver. I offered $500, $50 less than the asking price because of the cosmetic issue. LGS checked with owner and the owner ok’d $500. I touched up the mark with a blueing pen and its considerable less noticeable now.

It came with a blue box, not the correct box, no tools papers. Didn’t have original stocks and the ones on it were a bit grungy. I cleaned them up and gave them a new coat of finish and they turned out well.

I cleaned the bore and chamber and took it for a quick test drive and everything worked fine. Second trip with paper found it shoots very accurately. Only thing is I had to crank the rear sight to the far left to center hits on the target at 7 yards. I don’t know if I’ll worry about the sight alignment too much as it shoots very accurately. Only thing is that it is annoying to have to crank the rear sight all the way to the left.

 

[CajunBass]

Very nice.

 

[rswartsell]

Yes indeed, gotta get me an N frame.

 

[bainter1212]

Very nice. Mine says "S.F.P.D." on the barrel (San Francisco police dept). Everyone needs an N frame IMO lol

 

[content]

Hello friends and neighbors // Nice snag /save on the Highway Patrolman , I need to find one with the 6" barrel.

 

[gazpacho]

The 28-2 is an absolute joy to shoot, and I'm glad you found one in such good condition. Savor it.

The one I found was in not so good condition, so I decided to use it as the basis for a custom build. Here is a link if you with to take a gander:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=685111&highlight=88+magnum

 

[murf]

if your sight is that far left, your barrel is probably turned. if so, send it back to s&w, like i did my 28-2, and they will fix it for you.

murf

 

[bainter1212]

What is this "barrel turned" thing. I have an H&R that shoots like that.....not to hijack the thread......

 

[weisse52]

I love those guns. I think they a great platform for the .357.

 

[4D5]

if your sight is that far left, your barrel is probably turned. if so, send it back to s&w, like i did my 28-2, and they will fix it for you.

murf

Yes I though about sending it to S&W. I may do that in the future. It should be an easy fix as the barrel will only have to a very little taken off the base so it can be rotated just a bit more to the right. The barrel cylinder gap will be still be fine as there's enough gap to still be within spec.

bainter1212. In my case the barrel was not rotated enough to have the front sight correctly aligned so that the barrel axis is aligned with centered front and rear sights.

The correction results in "clocking" the barrel so that the barrel bore axis is in alignment with the sights.

 

[md2lgyk]

Nice. A couple of years ago, I scored a NIB 28-3 from my LGS. Now if I could only find S&W target grips for it. I don't own many revolvers but sure love this one.

 

[bannockburn]

4D5

Looks like you came away with a very nice Model 28 at a decent price. Congrats on the find.

 

[BYJO4]

The model 28 is hard to beat.

 

[longknife12]

Carried one 45 years ago....still have it. You'll love it!
Dan

 

[BCRider]

Due to being a pinned barrel I simply can't see the barrel being turned. But to ease your mind carefully examine the manner in which the barrel ribs register against the frame and how exactly the pin in the lug seats into the end of the ejector rod. If for some inexplicable reason the pin is tweaked so the barrel isn't correctly clocked then you should see some evidence of it in the way the front of the ejector rod engages the sprung pin in the lug.

While you are at it check the barrel to frame for alignment. One way to do this is to start with a 1/4 or 5/16 inch range or cleaning rod. Then use some electrical tape to bush it out for a snug but pushable fit in the bore. Place the tape bushings so they sit just inside the muzzle and just ahead of the forcing cone when the end of the rod can touch the recoil shield. If all is well the rod will be centered on the firing pin bushing or mark from the primers slamming the shield. If it's not then the rod will be off to one side. Rotate the rod so that if it is the ROD which is bent at least it orbits around the true centerline. That center line again should be on the firing pin hole or darn near it.

I suspect that it's more likely that the rather fat target grips shown simply don't fit your hands all that well so they are forcing your grip to be off center. Or if you're a fairly low round count revolver shooter then perhaps you're simply not using a revolver friendly grip style.

I'm assuming a little here I know. But generally unless the guns are tweaked in some nasty sort of way the sights are generally going to end up pretty near the middle.

In any event you got yourself a beauty of a 28 there. I just hope I'm all wet about the possible kinked barrel or frame and it's simply something else.

 

[4D5]

Hi BCRider. Thanks for the input.

I've only shot it a couple of times so the verdict is still out on what's going on with it. I've checked the barrel/frame rib alignment and you can see there's about 8-10 thousands more rotation needed. However the ejector rod pin engages perfectly with the ejector.

As you say, it being pinned, there is little chance it is not correctly aligned. In any event, messing with it might only make for more issues.

I'll try the ranging rod test, I have one, and see if there's an issue there.

When I was shooting I had a Hogue rubber grip so the grip factor is not an issue. I took the picture with the grip that is came with.
I have several revolvers and this is the only one I have an issue with.

After I shot it some, I was able to group 12 shots at 7 yards that could be covered by a silver dollar.

 

[Checkman]

The 28 is a great revolver. Love it. Congratulations.