I think it should have been though. Magna-port was unnecessary, but I'll take it as a value-added feature. This is a 686-2 round butt, a 696 cylinder and internals, and a 629 4" barrel re-marked for .44 Special. A tapered Mountain Gun or 624 barrel would have been nice, but I'll keep it as-is. The pics are from the guy I got it from, I'm getting lazy.

How does she shoot?

After all bullets an target is what it is all about.

There has been a waiting market for five shot K and L frames in 44 special and 41 mag since the 60s. I can only imagine there must be unsolved technical problems with creating them to function safely. If I remember correctly, Bill Jordan and Elmer Keith had envisioned a 5-shot K frame in 41 mag to be used primarily with mid-range 'police' loads, but which could also use occasional mag loads, instead of the N frame model 58 and 57 that Smith produced.

I know Taurus has made K frame sized five shooters in .44 special and .45 acp. I wouldn't mind one with a 3-4" unported barrel in .45 acp or .45 Colt.

Same for Rossi 720's. There's a glut of 2 and 3 inch guns out there, but 4 is uncommon.

It appears to have more support of the barrel root than the 696.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

...made up 23 K-frame 5-shot .44 Specials back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He gave one to Elmer Keith to field test and it made the cover of Guns magazine (Nov. 1979?). He took the idea to S&W and tried to sell them on the idea, but they were afraid of people taking Keith's 17.0 grains of 2400 loads and shooting them in the little K-frames (obviously a bad idea). He still has 3 of those guns left (no they are NOT for sale, I have tried....). Shortly thereafter S&W introduced the L-frame, and then later in the 90s, they revisited this idea and introduced the L-frame 5-shot .44 Special (696). I bought the first 696 that came into this region and immediately took it over to show my buddy, and he pulled out the gun that EK field tested (a 4" by the way) and we compared the two side-by-side while he told me stories about this project.

One of those stories was that while he was making these .44 Specials, he also made a 5-shot .41 Magnum K-frame (also a 4"). Partway through the second box of factory ammo, he bulged a chamber, so he brought the gun home and disassembled it (I have seen the pieces of this gun, including the cylinder with the bulged chamber).

He also made a 5-shot K-frame .45 Colt. Needless to say, the cylinder walls and forcing cone are getting pretty thin when you put a .45 in a K-frame, but he did, and he said it worked just fine. Obviously the .45 Colt was only fed low pressure loads (<15,000 psi peak pressure). I have tried to buy this gun, and each time he just looks at me, smiles, and chuckles to himself....

Nm

Good tale...I tried to buy one back around 82 they were not to be found...

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

He is retired now, but he and I get together to go plinking about once a month.

One of the reasons S&W came out with the L-frame would've been to make some five shot big bores, in addition to making more durable 357s. The 696s seemed like a great idea, wish I could afford one.

That is great info about SPOKANGUNS, knew some people had to be doing it. I bet others have done it as well.

Back in the 70's or 80's, there was an article in American Handgunner or Combat Handguns about a Ruger Speed-Six converted to a five shot .44Spl. It was on the cover and, if memory serves, was a product of the people who made the ASP 9mm pistol.(Seventrees?)

I took it and my new Cimmaron .44 Special to the range today. Unfortunately I only had some PMC 180gr factory ammo to use. Both guns were shooting really low at 25 yards, but grouping well. I need to roll up some 240gr over Unique and do some sandbag tests.

On a side note, I HATE indoor ranges. Had a free pass to one that just opened near me, and they let some goobers in the handgun side with an AR pistol right next to my lane.

that's how bad I wanted one. Great gun. He did a really nice job with it and I enjoy shooting it. It is very accurate and a nice trail gun.

Matt/PA

And most all I've seen we're ported. Heavy, slow bullets don't do very well with porting.

However, I'll play with it and see how it goes. If I ever stumble upon a tapered Mountain Gun or 624 barrel I may have it switched out. The ports weren't a dealbreaker on this one though.

the issue of fixed sights.
Bought her sight unseen and love her.

I think Stonewalrus was shocked when I took scotchbrite pad to that highly polished SS gun.
Lil AA#5 and a 200 grain RNFP cast projie and she shines!

Wish I had a 441 to compare for a few years.

I have been researching putting an N-frame barrel on an L-frame, and it doesn't work. So it appears that this was possible a re-bore job. The only thing that throws me is that the ejector rod locking bolt is missing on this, and there is no evidence that it ever had one. There is a detent ball on the crane that locks into the frame. However, since the barrel is not a full-lug, someone could have done some creative welding.

I wish I had some knowledge of who built it. Looked all over it for a name with no luck.

milled down to that profile.

Also, for some reason, the ejector rod slot looks "long" to me. Perhaps it was lengthened and that is why the front lock is missing?

And you are right, the ejector rod housing has been elongated. However, the pin hole on the right side is gone too.

I need to take Tuco's advice. "If you are going to shoot, shoot! Don't talk." I need to just shoot it and be happy.

...the proper spelling is SPOKHANDGUNS, and Dave operated that business from sometime in the 70s, up to about the mid-80s, at which point he got a hired as an armorer for a LE/security force. He still continued to do some gunsmithing on the side for several years (which is how I met him back in the early 90s), but I'm not sure when he dropped the Spokhandguns name on the guns he built (none of the guns he's built for me are so stamped, so I am guessing that he dropped it sometime in the late 80s). Dave is a treasured friend, and has built some amazing guns, an example of which is shown below -- a .44 Special birdshead snubbie built on a 3-screw SBH, with ram's horn grips (this photo does NOT do the grips justice!), and the barrel is machined with the rib and the ejector rod housing integral to the barrel (he has hundreds of hours in the barrel alone). Engraving by John McFadden.

Start with a 696, buy a spare 5" barrel from the limited edition 686, reborn it to .430 dia.

But not too surprising for someone with the technical expertise to manufacture and fit their own cylinders. People with that kind of knowledge are getting very rare.

That never had the crane lock prepared in the end of the ejection rod slot? Would be a lot easier to mark it for 44 spl if it had no other marks previously. The detent and ball for the crane is a pretty common system when installing aftermarket bbls without provisions for a lock at the end of the ejector rod. Brownell's even sells a kit to do it.

Bought one when they were first available. My wife loves it, and shoots it way better than I do, double-action only at that.

It's my night-table piece with Silvertips.

I MAY have a lead on a standard 629 barrel let me ask a friend.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

I researched it, and N frame barrels don't work. After my first 50 rounds through I may be preparing to part with it. It's cool, but not pushing the right buttons. Going to drag it around the show this weekend looking for a 624.

past Sunday. He was asking $680 for it at the show, but he offered it to me beforehand for a little less. No box or tools, and it has camo Pachmayr grips but it's been babied since the 80s or 90s.

It is on GB. I'm watching it. I still have his number, I should have thought to call him about one.

picutres?

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Of the Troops & For the Troops