S &W 25-5 cylinder switch

[lathesmith]

I am still working on a potential cylinder switch for my S&W 25-5, and a possible candidate is a cylinder from a 625 or 625-2. I don't mind putting stainless parts on a blued gun; however, there is another potential problem with this swap. Apparently, the 625 cylinder requires a "floating" hand; it indexes differently than the old 25-5 cylinder with a "non-floating" hand. Does anyone know if a non-floating hand can be replaced with a floating hand? If so, are there any parts besides the hands that need to be switched? Any other compatibility issues? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks,
lathesmith

[JMax]

The floating hand was introduced by S&W to speed up fitting time reducing the number of hands required to time the revolver. Thankfully that monstrosity has disappeared. Pull the floating hand stud from the trigger, quickly dispose of it and replace with proper hand, enjoy shooting revolver a lot.

[KCSO]

I made a special cylinder for mine, I took a 45 LC cylinder and turned it to take moon clips. This just fits 45 Win Mag brass and when loaded properly gives you either a very nice moon loaded 45 Colt duplicate or greatly expands usefull powder selections for the gun. The longer case also makes up some really good shot loads. BUT this is not for full house Win Mag loads and I mark the brass as special.

[lathesmith]

JMax, I take it from your comment to stay away from a floating hand setup. I can do this, it sounds like you have had some (negative) experience with these. I am undecided as to what to do next, though. It looks like my current hand can be modified to work with the 625 cylinder--but I am unsure of this. Either the current hand must be modified, or the ejector ratchet notches will need to be. Hmmm....
That 629 cylinder I got from you has the right ratchet setup, and indexes fine with my revolver hand the way it is. I just had to make a new bushing (I think S&W calls this a gas ring) to tighten things up, and now that cylinder fits better than the original. I may go ahead with my original plans and re-chamber this cylinder. I had found these 625 cylinders online, and thought I might make use of them. I think, though, that re-chambering a cylinder might be easier for me than trying to re-time the revolver.

KCSO, that is a good idea on the re-chamber. I had thought of that idea, and under certain circumstances that would work well. Like you said, avoid full power stuff and you won't have a problem. Of course, for me my original cylinder has .460 throats, so it is pretty much useless junk, and it won't shoot well no matter what 45 cartridge it's chambered for.
lathesmith

[JMax]

I was a police armorer for years and saw a lot of floating hands in L-Frame revolvers. Serviceable but when I built a match gun, out it comes and in goes a regular hand of the proper width. If it works keep it but if it needs to be timed then a proper hand will fit.

[lathesmith]

JMax, thanks for your comments on this. I could tell you have had considerable experience with the internal workings of S&W revolvers in particular, and your input was just what I needed to figure out my problem. After further studying how the hand and the indexers on the back of the extractor interact, I decided to attempt to remove a small amount of material from the indexers. Viola! This works beautifully. I only had to remove a small amount from each one, and now the revolver is timed perfectly! I wanted to keep the original hand for several reasons: 1) Your comments on avoiding the floating hand; 2) It keeps the gun to where I can return it (easily) to original form at any time; and 3) The gun will now function with both the new cylinder and the cylinder I got from you. Why is this important to me? Because I want to re-chamber that 44mag cylinder to 45 Colt-- and I now will have a rather unique switch-cylinder S&W revolver! I am also fitting a new 5" full lug SS barrel to this gun. I will have to rechamber and shorten the 44 mag cylinder some to make it work, but 255 grain loads will still chamber just fine(I have already checked this). I know there are some people out there who will look down their nose at my bastard handgun, but I really like the way that 5" SS barrel looks and feels. I also don't mind mixing SS and blued parts, this is done on custom guns all the time to great effect. I'll be sure and post some pics when I am finished, and I do look forward to giving my new creation a workout. Thanks again!
lathesmith