Model 28 musings

[rjkelso]

Hi Guys,

Before I ask my question I would like to comment on the friendly nature of this forum and the overwhelming breadth and depth of knowledge available here. Wow.

So here goes. I was flipping thru my pile of magazines for the tenth time when I noticed an article about the .38special cartridge, an okay article. However there was a picture of a revolver built for Icore out of a model 28 frame. A six in. 686 barrel was installed as well as a 686 7 shot cylinder. I am now thinking of installing at least the barrel on my 28. The cylinder is already clipped. Do you think it was a lot of work to put that 686 barrel on the larger 28 frame? Or is it easy? Just wondering. I would love to hear what you guys think.

By the way I picked up a Model 14-5 6in. with a full lug to shoot USPSA. It's very nice looking and easy to shoot. Also a 5in 625-2 to shoot major. Dig it.

Thanks

Rick

[Bones]

I think finding a good 6" 686 plus is a much simpler solution.

I am not sure how or why one would mate an L frame (686) cylnder to a N frame.

The Highway Patrolman is a great gun, but the cylinder mass of a six shot N-frame works against you most of the time, especially in high rate and volume applications.

You can probably find a 6" Model 28, or better yet a 627, if you want an N-frame 357.

Craig

[festus1]

rjkelso, I have a 686 six inch barrel that i'd sell for $80 shipped if you decide to go that route. I don't know how that could work though in an N frame.

[vrmn1]

Seems like a lot of work for for what you get.

For a lot less work/time/money you could have a 7 shot 686 or a 8 shot 627.

[pskys2]

My guess is someone wanted a full underlug barrel, the M28 is tapered.

[Bubber]

rjkelso, In the for what it's worth department, I measured a barrel Outside Diameter at the forcing cone and on the N frame model 28 goes about 0.548 in and the L frame 686 goes about 0.505. The model 28 has a custom barrel on it but I believe it was fit to the frame with no mods. It seems to me that you would have to add some meat to the 686 barrel or some way weld up and redrill the frame. To fit an L frame cylinder to a N frame as the cylinder of the L Frame is quite abit smaller in Diameter and the holes would not line up unless you offset the bore of the Barrel. Which could be done by recutting the groves so that the bore is off center. Bauman (SP) did make 7 shot cylinders for the N Frame 357's back in the day. But then again I may be all wet... and cold too... later rdd

[David Sinko]

If you have the dollars there are gunsmiths out there who can make you ANY barrel contour or configuration your heart desires. But keep in mind that some shooting disciplines prohibit non-standard barrel configurations.

Dave Sinko

[Kingman]

Then the question would be, some of the smit guns use sleeves, I wonder about using a 686 type sleeve for added weight.

[rjkelso]

For some reason I thought it may have been a slam dunk. Obviously I'll leave my 28 alone.

Thanks guys.

Rick

[ocx]

Good choice. A 586/686 or 19/66 will make you very happy with .38 special loads.

[revchuck]

Good choice. A 586/686 or 19/66 will make you very happy with .38 special loads.

+1.

My 4" M28 is my "I'm going to the woods and I know it's going to rain" gun. It's a former Louisiana deputy's gun that I had bead-blast blued and got an action job from the guy at Clark's. Sweet gun, but not ideal for competition. It's kinda nice with 158s at 1100 fps in .357 Mag brass. I've got some 170 grain LSWCs that I'm going to load in .38 brass using Elmer's old load of 13.5 grains of 2400.

[rjkelso]

I've been using it in IDPA and it has been fun although it is hard to reload quickly do to the recessed cylinder. I just picked up an early model 686 4in to shoot in that division. That's why I had given some thought to doing something different with the 28. I just thought a longer barrel would be fun.

Rick