.357 milled cylinder

**silkworm** · January 5th, 2012, 03:21 PM

I was at a buddy's before the holiday's and he showed me his S&W revolver in .357 with a 4" barrel, didn't think to check the model# but it was a K frame that the original owner had bought in the 80's, that along with a target grade trigger make me think it's a model 66.

The question I have:
There seemed to be milling on the cylinder and extractor that I have only ever seen done before on .45LC revolvers in order accept .45ACP in moonclips and clear the frame. This didn't seem the same though, and as I can't think of any auto round that would fit (even put an empty .380 casing in my .357 and the fit was a bit too snug) I thought I'd ask here. Nothing life or death but it piqued my curiosity.

PS- The only info I could find online was this wikipedia entry for the model 19, which with all of the extras I was almost certain this gun wasn't.

19-5 (1982): Eliminate cylinder counterbore.

so why was the counterbore done to begin with?

**knight0334** · January 5th, 2012, 03:29 PM

I'm not all that familiar with all the S&W's out there, but it could have been milled for .38spl/.357 moon clips.

Counterbore have been around for a long time, not sure why they did that - maybe to provide a little more support to the brass. Today though its considered a sign of better design and production, and often desired attribute when collecting guns.

**BionicMan** · January 5th, 2012, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by knight0334

it could have been milled for .38spl/.357 moon clips.

My first thought as well.

**39flathead** · January 5th, 2012, 07:10 PM

Look up Pinned and Recessed and you'll probably find your answer.

This was done with the advent of the .357 as a way to assure pressure problems would not arise IIRC.

**ScotsGuards** · January 5th, 2012, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by 39flathead

Look up Pinned and Recessed and you'll probably find your answer.

This was done with the advent of the .357 as a way to assure pressure problems would not arise IIRC.

You are correct. When the .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced it was the hottest thing going in a handgun. The rebating of the cylinder was done so as to minimize flash and absorbe any over-pressure. The original .357 Mag round as introduced was VERY hot. Fortunitly S&W chose their big "N" frame to produce this "Big honkin' handgun" as my wife calls it. The chances of one letting go were pretty slim. These early production revolvers were built to order and many were "registered" to the owners. The successor to those was the Model 27.

In 1982 the counterboring was eliminated as a production step. Appearently it was felt by S&W that this was no longer needed and the practice was dropped along with pinning the barrels in the frames. It was also two less costly production operations that could be eliminated to reduce the cost of the final product. This is considered by many to be step backwards in the quality of product of a great firm who still makes ther best revolvers on the market and a shining example of cost reduction to a consumer who will pay less for a product that is "Almost as nice". Work that comes from the S&W Performance Center used to be standard on all S&Ws that left the factory.

Silkworm: Oh and you/he can look inside the crane when you open the cylinder and the model mumber should be stamped on the frame. Is your friends revolver stainless steel or blued? If it's a "K" frame with adjustable sights and blued it's a Model 19. If it's SS it's a Model 66.

I hope I was able to enlighten you a bit.