K-frame .38/.357 with long 8 3/8" barrels?

[44 AMP]

Recently, I've come up with the idea that I'd enjoy a long barreled K-frame specifically for target work with .38 Special only.

Target work (.38 Special only) is exactly what the long barrel Model 14 was made for.

And I don't mean that because they are good at it, I mean that they were built to be target guns from the beginning. Target Hammer, Trigger, and the longest practical barrel that still meets the Bullseye match rules for sight radius.

 

[Sevens]

Given these requirements, find a model 14 and don't even consider anything else.

Actually, it kind of seems there is no other (regularly produced) Smith & Wesson K-frame .38 with the long barrel except for the Model 14.

We'll see where I get with this chase.

The project actually got bumped down the list (just one notch) because I've been chasing a certain semi-auto.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I've been doing a little bit of snooping through The Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson, by Supica and Nahas.

The Model 19 with the 8 3/8" length barrel became available in 1959.

The Model 15 also was available with the 8 3/8" barrel in 1986, discontinued in 1988.

Frankly, I'm surprised the Model 19 did not come with an 8 3/8" barrel, but I guess it wouldn't be a Combat model then, would it?

 

[Jim Watson]

I'd love to find a long barrel Model 17 to pair with the 14.

Keep in mind that if you do...
It wouldn't feel the same.

Not saying you might not also love it, but it's a smaller hole in that barrel, and smaller holes in the cylinder. That's extra metal, it adds up, and it's simply not possible for the two guns to have the same balance if they are externally the same size, but the .22cal has more steel in the cylinder and barrel.

When the Heavy Masterpiece lineup came out around 1951, S&W varied the barrel taper and rib width so all calibers weighed the same. An 8 3/8" K 22 weighs the same as an 8 3/8" K 38, 42.5 oz. Might you feel a difference in balance because the barrel profile had to account for the mass of the cylinder as well? Maybe you can, I cannot; at least not in the 4" and 6" guns. I do not have an 8 3/8" K-xx.

 

[Bob Wright]

Sevens said: I would probably enjoy a long barreled Model 27...
But it's definitely a K-frame that I'm after. No other double action revolver feels like a Smith & Wesson besides a Smith & Wesson and none of the S&W revolvers feels quite as "perfect" as does the K-frame.

They didn't call it the "K-38 Masterpiece" for nothing!


Bob Wright

 

[Sevens]

When the Heavy Masterpiece lineup came out around 1951, S&W varied the barrel taper and rib width so all calibers weighed the same. An 8 3/8" K 22 weighs the same as an 8 3/8" K 38, 42.5 oz. Might you feel a difference in balance because the barrel profile had to account for the mass of the cylinder as well? Maybe you can, I cannot; at least not in the 4" and 6" guns. I do not have an 8 3/8" K-xx.

Excellent information -- I had NO idea!

For a short time, I owned a S&W 625 with the five inch barrel. Fairly common on the 625, but a very elusive barrel length on other S&W revolvers. I went in to the gun thinking "Goldilocks"... My thought process was: "my 686 with full lug and six inch tube just feels muzzle heavy and unwieldy at times... this one is FIVE inches, full lug, and will feel PERFECT!" Well, perhaps because it was N-frame, or heck, I don't know...

...it wasn't the Goldilocks I had hoped it would be. The five inch barrel just felt light, it felt like a 4-inch L-frame in my hands.

To me, I guess I thought because it had the bigger hole in the barrel, it just didn't feel as I thought it would.

I'm even more interested in a Model 14 with the 8 3/8" now!

 

[lostintheozone]

A LGS has a model 14 with an 8 3/8" barrel. It's been there awhile because 1) nobody buys revolvers anymore and 2) with a barrel that long it looks like an artillery piece.

I would expect that a K frame with that long of a barrel would be very accurate. My model 19 with a 6" barrel is my most accurate hand gun.

I may have to make them an offer on it the next time I'm in there because I know nobody is going to buy it anytime soon. I'm a 38 kind of guy.

 

[C01]

I really love the 38/44 heavy duty.

D

 

[NotMeNotYou]

When I asked a LGS to order me a 6" (triple T)Model 14 from S&W in 1973 word came back from Roy Jenks "Don't look for the extra money you spent on the outside, it's inside, in the action."

 

[natman]

When I asked a LGS to order me a 6" (triple T)Model 14 from S&W in 1973 word came back from Roy Jenks "Don't look for the extra money you spent on the outside, it's inside, in the action."

That's consistent with my experience. My Model 14 was much tighter and smoother than usual for a K frame. Close tolerances make for accurate revolvers. As a side effect, it also had a very smooth double action pull, which was sort of ironic since a Model 14 used for it's intended purpose will rarely be fired double action.