Pinned revolver

J

Jshaw

New member
Hello all
have one question for yall i am looking to replace a Smith and Wesson model 27 that was stolen. I inherited it from my uncle and i never appreciated revolvers much at the time( i have since seen the errors of my ways and love my revolvers). Several of the Model 27's that i have seen say that they are pinned and recessed. I have no idea what this means and i was sure that someone here would know.
 
Pinned has to do with how the barrel is secured after screwing it into the frame. The barrel is pinned in place. Recessed means the cylinders are counter bored so that the cartridges fit flush.

Lets see if Blue Bear's pic will post.
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That graphic should be a sticky! I like it. Old coots like myself prefer P&Rd revolvers from S&W. They are better built, not crushed by robots and were the recipients of excellent quality control by humans. P&R are features I seek when purchasing.
 
But do these features actually do anything, or are they a relic of a time when more care was taken?
Click to expand...

I don't really think the pinned barrel is superior in practice. I do prefer the recessed cylinders. I just think they look better since they don't show a gap between the cylinder and the frame.

In my case, I tend to use the barrel pin as a quick screening method. Faced with a big glass case with a bunch of used Smiths, I scan through them quickly looked for pinned barrels. It is a shorthand method of finding the older ones. If it is P&R, the odds are it will be well made and interesting. There will be no lock so no hole in the side. The firing pin will be on the hammer where I think it looks better. Etc.

But you go ahead and buy the new ones. We don't need ANY more people looking for deals on the old ones!!

Gregg
 
OK. Allow me to oversimplify. The pin itself compensates for torque. A bullet hitting the forcing cone has pressure pushing it forward until it slams into the barrels lands/grooves/rifling. This creates the twist similar to a football throw. The pin maintains the barrel in proper harmonic tune, prevents twisting of the barrel and provides a slight increase in strength/durability. The recessed chambers in the cylinder do provide strength, a safety factor in the event of a casehead failure and a bit of weight for better balance. The two items were safety and confidence factors basically. The principal benefit was that humans were required to machine, fit, inspect and test fire such weapons. S&W dropped the features as a costcutting, job cutting and human labour factor. There were CNC robot machines/cutters/fitters that could build weapons cheaper. Build it, ship it and repair under warranty became the standard of S&W. Other manufacturers too.
 
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