S&W J-frame Cylinder Length

M

Monty

New member
In a recent discussion with another gun owner, I made the statement that the cylinder on .357 Mag j-frames is slightly longer than on the .38 Special ones. He didn't believe this to be true and as he works in a gun shop, had the opportunity to compare the two side by side and reported back they are in facts the same lenght. I really hate to be wrong so thought I would come here to try and vindicate myself. Maybe they are all the same lenght now but use to be different lengths, maybe when they first started offering the .357 j-fames and they just standardized on the longer cylinders now to minimize costs. Anyway, I guess my question is, "Is there any measure of truth in my statement that the .357 Mag j-frame cylinders are slightly longer that the .38 Special ones?". Thanks for any feedback on this, even if it continues to prove me wrong, dang I hate that. :)

Monty
 
Monty, You are correct. After S&W started making the .357s on the J frame they went to the longer cylinder for all of them. The frame is longer too. Combine the additional cylinder length with a 2 &1/8 inch barrel instead of the older 1&7/8 inch and you get a worse pocket gun.

BTW I have two in front of me so am absolutely positive you are right.
 
As has been noted before....I, J, K, L, M and N are frame size families. Within each letter designation there are differences.

Sam
 
I think they cylinders are the same size from model to model, but the frames are slightly larger to get more metal into them, and when .357 was adopted, the cylinders on ALL of the models were lenghtened slightly.

Call it a J-frame improved, if you like.
 
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