What's that you say, bunkie? You say that the thought of a 32 H&R snubby appeals but you haven't got the scratch for a one of those Lipsey's special runs and the older ones on GunBroker cost more than your first three cars put together. You say the 327 seems to be too much fun, and the Taurus and Ruger offerings leave you cold. Well, have I got a deal for you. It's easy, doesn't require a work room full of tools nor a grand in special tooling and if you can remove your cylinder and tap a screw hole, you can do this. What I am talking about is converting a J-frame 32 S&W Long model 30-1 to 32 H&R. I have just finished my second, and it's not hard.
Well, as the rabbit stew recipe has it, first catch your rabbit. You want a model 30-1, or a 31-1, serial number 712954-826977. The earlier guns, the Hand Ejectors and the model 30's and 31's no-dash, are built on the I-frame, and the cylinders are too short to allow the longer cartridge to fit. Once you have it, you need a tap wrench and a 32 H&R finishing Reamer, cutting oil, and a padded vise to do the job. I bought a Clymer, piloted, cylinder finishing reamer from Midway, but I understand they are available for rent. You do not want one for a rifle, unless you are going to use a mill or a lathe and can set the depth precisely as you ream. But all we are doing is deepening the charge holes .155", from ~.920 to ~1.075".
Once you have all the tools, remove the cylinder and clamp it securely in a well padded vise, extractor up. I use scrap leather for pads, although I have cast lead to make non-marring jaws for my old Sears vice. Make sure it is firmly held, but not so tight you squash something. Fit the reamer into your tap wrench. Liberally oil the reamer with your cutting oil and insert it in the first charge hole. Then it is just a matter of slowly turning the tap wrench, while watching the stops on the reamer. Do not reverse direction, you'll damage the reamer. When you are about halfway there, having gone a 1/16th of an inch or so, carefully extract the reamer, clean the metal chips off of it and swab out the cylinder. Re-lube the reamer and resume the cutting. It takes me about 15 minutes per charge hole, though I am sure if I did a lot of these, I wouldn't need that much time. When the stop touches the cylinder, stop. Don't turn it any more. Remove, clean and oil the reamer and go onto the next hole. Continue until you have all 6 holes done.
Now I know we are going to have all the collectors swarming out of the woodworks saying, "No, No, you'll destroy the value, It will never be the same, The S&W collectors association will tar and feather you, your children will be born with the mark of the beast , and you'll be shunned by all mankind." And right behind them will be the safety Nazis, "You'll blow yourself up, fragments will destroy the entire area and it will be 50 years before mankind can return safely. To both of these groups I sniff and say "Hogwash."
There is no external difference before and after conversion. It will still chamber 32 S&W Long. And will still shoot about the same as it did before. Unless you mark the barrel, no one will know unless you tell them.
My guns are my guns. I didn't buy them for the next guy. Besides which, Smith made oodles of them and a purist can look for another one if it bothers him.
The safety guys are overly cautious, in my view. Provided you are not going to hotrod the H&R, but are going to stay with standard 32 H&R loads (ignore the Ruger owners who will tell you they load theirs right up to 327 velocities) you will have ample strength. The cylinder walls are thicker than those on the K frame 38's and those are rated for plus P, MAP 18,500, while the MAP for the 32 H&R is 21,000. Larry Gibson has measured 32 S&W factory cartridges at 18,000+ psi and Smith stated those were safe for use in their 32 revolvers. People have been doing this for 40 years now, and if ever there was a problem with it, I am sure the stories would be coming out of the woodwork by now. I would also ignore the guys who say just buy Buffalo Bore and leave the gun as is. Aside from the expense, I view their claims of magic powders that give 20 percent (or more) greater energy at the same pressure level with a very jaundiced eye. I know that independent testing by our own Larry Gibson showed that some so called 38 plus P was really more like 357 lite. Anyway, I have done two now, and will post a photo or two as soon as I get my computer to cooperate.
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Originally Posted by rintinglen
