Interchangeable handgun

I think the cylinder insert idea might work along with interchangeable barrels on the DW plan and could even include .22 LR with a firing pin system like the S&W Model 53. So start with .44 Magnum and inserts/barrels for .357 and .327. A potential problem I see is that the .357 insert might not have walls thick enough to fully contain the pressure so it would swell up and couldn't be removed. Easy enough to try, though, with any .44 Magnum revolver. Modifying a Ruger .44 Magnum shouldn't cost more than a couple of thousand.

Edited to add: Just had an evil thought. Will any gun company market a product with so much potential for disaster? Joe Slob puts on his .357 barrel but forgets the inserts and stuffs the cylinder with .44's with predictable results. Or he puts on the .44 barrel and loads up with .357 and then posts on good old TFL that his new Model X is inaccurate! Maybe not so good an idea, after all.

Jim
 
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There was once a custom shop doing quick change Ruger Blackhawks.
As I recall, they juggled cylinder lengths and barrel tenon lengths so you could not put a large caliber cylinder in behind a small caliber barrel. You could mismatch it the other way but a .357 bullet jumping .10" to a .430 barrel isn't going to blow up.
 
I have a custom S&W 360J snubby that will handle 9mm, .38ACP, .38 Super, 9x21, 9mm Largo, 356TSW, 9x23, etc. using moonclips.

I also have .38 Super Colt 1991A1 being customized that is going to be a 3 caliber gun with separate barrel/bushing sets for 9mm, .38 Super, and 9x23 Winchester.
 
Janz revolvers are pretty impressive...and expensive!
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....and made by a company that specializes in camera repair and laboratory equipment for the food and dairy industries. ;)

They do look sexy...


Edit:
I just did some digging. The Janz 'quick-change' revolvers appear to start at about $6,800 - before adding additional cylinders, barrels, options, export fees, import fees, shipping, etc....
 
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I really don't get the caliber swapping thing. Trading one effective SD caliber for another doesn't seem like something that makes the extra barrel worthwhile. Even if there is an obvious cost difference between calibers, you have to shoot a lot of rounds to make up for the barrel cost.

.22 adapters make more sense, but you can usually buy a .22 pistol for the cost of a .22 adapter.

As far as I can tell, most Magnum revolvers are already very caliber convertible.
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there is more to life thatn effective SD calibers. My SD has been taking care of for a while. Everything I buy now is for fun
 
g.willikers said:
The timing issues, with different calibers and size cylinders, would be a hassle.
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I don't see why timing would be an issue at all.

Dan Wesson did the switch barrel thing years ago, so we know that can be done. To expand that to multiple calibers, you just base the gun on the most "robust" caliber you want to include in the mix (say either .45 Colt or .44 Magnum -- or maybe .44 Special would be sufficient) and build a six-shot (or five-shot if you want to keep it a bit smaller) revolver around that cartridge. Once that's in place, all the other cylinders get the same number of holes, so timing remains unaffected. Cylinder size is a constant -- just drill smaller holes in some of 'em.
 
Similar to the one size cylinder with inserts we've been discussing.
The consensus is that it's apparently possible but not probable.
 
You really don't even need to keep the same number of chambers in the cylinders. A properly designed hand will work with multiple cylinder ratchet 'stars'. You just have to tune each cylinder to that hand.

I can't remember who it was at the company, specifically, but even Ruger brought that up when they introduced the 8-shot Blackhawk in .327 Federal. Although the hand for the .327 model has its own part number, now; the prototypes were built by tuning the cylinders to unmodified hands in frames from 5-shot .45 Colt Blackhawks. ...Nearly twice as many chambers in the cylinder, and teeth on the ratchet, but it worked without a hitch.
 
It only makes sense if you buy the kit that has the interchangable barrels/calibers all at the same time.

The cost of interchangeable kits after you bought the original gun you can do it on is usually just fifty dollars below buying an entirely new handgun.

I would buy a Ruger 22 /22 magnum single six revolver though.

In stainless.:D
 
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