Dan Wesson Revolvers Caliber Changes

[missionary5155]

Good evening
This is more than a simple barrel length swap. Take a standard DW revolver and make it into another caliber.
May be some thing so simple as a 375 Supermag to a 414 Supermag but still be able to go back to the original caliber.
Or a 44 Mag to a 45 Colt.
Or a 357 to a 32-20. This one may become a triple set as a 41 Colt just seems like something that I could enjoy as I already have a real Colt New Army 6 inch from 1907 in that grand ol' man stopper caliber.

So what have you done ?? I know there are a couple out there.
Mike in LLama Land

[rancher1913]

interesting. guess as long as you can find the cylinder and barrel of the same caliber it should work, might only want to go down a caliber as the gun may not be strong enough to go up.

[missionary5155]

Howdy
It can be a bit more involved.
DW made the revolvers with a distinct Thread for different barrel calibers in the same frame size. Years back cylinders were available through a FFL. DW did not want any one "accidently installing" a 44 mag on a 45 Colt frame with the 45 Colt cylinder attached.
You may have to "alter" a ejector star or a bolt stop or other parts to make the cylinder time right.
Not impossible though.

[Snow ninja]

I've got one in .22 that I'd like to convert to .454 Casull...:kidding:

But seriously, now I'm pondering the .218 Bee...

I gotta quit reading things on this site...

[Three44s]

Back when I first acquired my DW (Monson) in .22 rim, I spoke with a rep. with CZ-DW here in the US and she said they had a new cylinder for my revolver priced at $90 that I could have bored out to .22 Mag rim. I was a bit puzzled but she checked with their shop and was told it would be safe to run a rebored cylinder and fire 22 mag thru a standard 22 rim barrel.

I was a little cautious about that and the cylinders in stock dried up.

I also own a blued DW (Monson) in .41 magnum with a 6” vent rib full length shroud barrel. I would like to turn it into a .44 Mag if it were a reasonable conversion. I would not want to lose my .41 capability however, it is a mighty sweet cartridge as well.

As good as my S&W MG 629 trigger is that Dan in .41 Mag has a trigger in SA that would terrify the lawyers! Scares me too, LOL!

Three44s

[missionary5155]

Good evening 3Rivers
Our second DW is a 41Mag also in the 8" heavy shroud. Bought it in 1982 and it is still the most accurate 41 mag we own. We may have every barrel option for it 10" and under.
The Model 15 frame was made up to 357 mag so the 22 (same frame) would be no issue in pressure going to the 22 mag.

[dtknowles]

My first Dan Wesson was a Monson MDL 15 in of course 357 mag. I tried a few experiments.

I bought a .22 caliber barrel only to find out that it would not thread into the frame. I have a helpful friend with a lathe. We measured the threads on the .357 barrel and matched them on the .22 barrel. Actually the barrel nut and muzzle threads were the same on both barrels.

There is definitely no problem if you use barrels with bores equal to or smaller than stock as the wall thickness goes up as the bore diameter goes down.

Anyway, I am going to skip the discussion of the .22 experiments for now only to say I got something to work but it was not worth the trouble.

Next I borrowed a little bench lathe and machined some chamber inserts so I could shoot 30 carbine in that gun. I bought an take off 30 cal. rifle barrel and I had my friend machine it into an 8" 30 cal barrel for my revolver. This again was not really successful.

Then I hit gold. I found a 32-20 cylinder either the Dan Wesson parts website or GunBroker or some such. I installed it and the timing did not need to be adjusted. I have only loaded mild loads in this combo but it is the most accurate centerfire revolver I have ever shot. One inch 6 shot groups at 25 yards. I am sure I could hot rod it and match .327 mag. but since I have the .357 cylinder and barrels, what is the point. That set up was shooting so well I bought a second mdl 15 frame off GunBroker. I also had made or collected more barrels and shrouds including an 8" heavy shroud with a scope. I have quite a pistol pack. I am quite impressed with these Dan Wesson revolvers so I bought a SuperMag in .357 Max.

Anyway. I like to experiment.

What I did with the .22 barrel was I sized .357 max brass so it would fit in the .357 cylinder up thru the throats almost to the front of the cylinder. I made "sabots" from stainless steel tubes, these sabots did not have a base. I pressed .22 caliber bullets into the sabots and loaded them the that sized .357 max brass. It worked but I did not get the kind of velocity I was hoping for.

Tim

[missionary5155]

Good morning
"Sabots" is one avenue I have not tried. When I went through Tank Commander school the "discarding sabot" was explained as the M68 105mm main gun on the M60A1 tank used that round with a 37mm penetrator wrapped to fit the 105 barrel.
Never had thought about caliber .30 slugs getting launched down the .357 wrapped in a sabot.

[DougGuy]

This sounds like the perfect excuse to buy another DW rather than undertake the headaches of fitting barrel and cylinder to an existing frame.

[rancher1913]

yah but i'm in the old dan wesson camp, dont want one of the new ones, besides we got corona time to kill.

[MT Gianni]

I have a model 15 I have been looking for a 22 cylinder that might fit. I want to make a 32 H&R. Plan on reboring the cylinder and fitting a length of 30 cal barrel. Turn it down, match the threads and have it convertible if possible, though I am well fitted in 38/357 revolvers.

[Nueces]

I have a model 15 I have been looking for a 22 cylinder that might fit. I want to make a 32 H&R. Plan on reboring the cylinder and fitting a length of 30 cal barrel. Turn it down, match the threads and have it convertible if possible, though I am well fitted in 38/357 revolvers.

I have an original DW 732 in H&R, and wanted a faster twist barrel for use with heavier bullets. As all y'all know, barrels in 0.312 to 0.314 groove diameters are hard to source. Everybody makes 0.308s. My DW throats measure 0.315. Got lucky. Found a Canadian chap on ebay who had planned to sleeve a shotgun with a takeoff 303 barrel. I took a chance and bought his rifle barrel after he lost interest and put it up for sale. When it arrived, I measured the groove diameter with a precision dial bore gauge and, look at that, it was right at 0.314, perfect for my 0.315 throats.

No, I don't have it done yet, but DW barrels are a piece o' cake, just simple threads on both ends. So, if you want a real 32 barrel, you might search for a 303 blank.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

This sounds like the perfect excuse to buy another DW rather than undertake the headaches of fitting barrel and cylinder to an existing frame.

I agree!
>>> Plus, my recent mod 14-2 DW purchase had me looking for other barrels and grips and such ...and I noticed the cumulative parts are MUCH MORE spendy then an assembled gun :shock:

[missionary5155]

The big issue I have always seen is the uncommon calibers are very pricey ! Last 32-20 I saw sold for well over 1K. A 414 Supermag today is over 2k.
But you can make your own if you have a spare cylinder to ream and chamber.