Jim Cirillo's Smith & Wesson/Dan Wesson Hybrid

A

Anthony

New member
Hello Everyone,

In his books, videos, and several articles Jim Cirillo (of NYPD Stakeout Squad fame) described a rather exotic revolver conversion.

It involved taking a Smith & Wesson revolver, removing the factory barrel, recutting the barrel threads, mounting a four inch Dan Wesson barrel in the same caliber, cutting back and mounting a Dan Wesson barrel shroud, and finally mounting a Bo-Mar sighting rib on top of the Dan Wesson barrel and shroud. In Cirillo's case he used a blued Smith & Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum with a four inch barrel. He touted this as the ultimate gunfighting revolver as it was neither too light for heavy loads (like the S&W factory gun) or too heavy to carry (like the Dan Wesson factory guns). Balance is supposed to be awesome.

It is a fascinating concept and I have immense respect for Cirillo as he has been there more than anyone I am aware of. Much of his training has served me well for years.

Now I'm considering the above conversion for a blued Smith & Wesson Model 57 in .41 Magnum with a four inch barrel.

Does anyone have any experience with this conversion? If yes, what did you think?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations on an excellent gunsmith who could perform such a conversion?

Thanks for the input.

- Anthony
 
Hamilton Bowen would be my first recommendation. He does all sorts of amazing conversions.

I suspect you could find Jim Cirillo's email address if you hunted for it a bit online and just ask him who did his.
 
Thanks for the input.

Actually Cirillo lists his gunsmith in the book now that you mention it. I remember trying to look him up once and not having any luck.

Off the top of my head it was a Crawford's Guns out of Florida.

- Anthony
 
No, it was definitely Crawford. It was no one I had heard of and I have known about Cogan for many years.

- Anthony
 
Somebody please splain

it was neither too light for heavy loads (like the S&W factory gun)
Click to expand...

Just how does cutting new threads and putting on a Dan Wesson barrel improve the strength of a S&W revolver? I can't think of why it would.
 
I think the comment about the weight was not meant in regard to the strength of the gun, but rather its shootability. I may be imaginging it, but didn't he specify using factory vented DW barrels to reduce recoil?

It has been several years since I read Cirillo's book, but I think that his point was that adding the heavy DW barrel and shroud made the S&W 29 balance better/kick less and thus made it a more effective tool.

Sort of the same thing people used to do years ago with the "Smolts" and "Smythons" where they would mount a Python barrel on a S&W M19.
 
You're dead on Revolver Geek!

It is about shootability, balance, and accuracy. Cirillo felt the Dan Wesson barrels made the Smith & Wesson frame balance perfectly and added enough weight to be extremely shootable. Finally, he felt the Dan Wesson barrels were noticeably more accurate than Smith & Wesson factory barrels.

As to the issue of porting, the Model 29 pictured in his book was ported; however, he discusses a .41 magnum version he did with no porting. So you could go either way. If I ported it, I would use the original Magnaporting as I have a lot of experience with it. Very effective without a lot of side effects.

Does anyone have contact information for John French and Bob Lloyd???

- Anthony
 
If the S&W barrel is too heavy, has anyone ever tried fluting? It seems to me that four flutes in an "X" pattern (beside the rib and beside the underlug) would reduce weight while maintaining the barrel profile and still allowing the S&W extractor rod lockup.

Jim
 
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