Won this rust locked up S&W 1917 snubbie at auction yesterday

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Bill Akins

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Just won this cut barrel S&W 1917 revolver at an online auction yesterday. Description said it is locked up, not operable and not to be shot in this condition (Uh...duh).

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It is obvious from the under barrel lug locking pin sticking forward in the lug under the barrel, that the cylinder release is stuck in the OPEN position. Interesting that it would stick in THAT position. Haven't received it yet, but when it arrives and I get it from my dealer, it will be immersed into a pan of Kroil penetrating oil for several days. Then I'll ever so gently tap on various areas of the revolver as well as use a dental pick to clean as much as I can get to, and work on it until I can get it to release the cylinder. No doubt I will completely disassemble it and go over everything with a fine tooth comb (so to speak).

Once I get everything operating correctly I will sand and buff to remove all pits and corrosion and then back immersed in the oil it will go until I can get it to someone who does a really good job on hot bluing. I have a friend who knows someone locally who can do a really good hot tank blue job on it.

The only hard decision I have to make is if I want to put another barrel on it or make my own 1917 looking front sight and simply torch solder that onto the existing cut barrel (if the rifling is good) to make a snubbie like Buckeye's S&W snubby below.....

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In looking at both my snubby and Buckeye's, my 1917's barrel looks to be about the same length's as Buckeye's.

At first I was thinking I'd like to have a 5 & 1/2 inch barrel like it came with originally, so it would be kind of a match for my S&W 1917 commercial model below...
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I'm fully aware of the special tools needed to remove the barrel, wherein you shouldn't use a hammer handle on the frame to turn it off the barrel for fear of bending and ruining the frame. I know to put a replacement full length barrel on it that I need to either cast my own plastic halves for fitting to the frame to hold it securely to unscrew it from the barrel, or else get to a COMPETENT gunsmith (emphasis on COMPETENT) who has those special frame insert tools.

So what do you fellas think? Replace the barrel with a full length replacement or make a half moon front sight and solder it on the snubby barrel and keep it that way? Decisions decisions.


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You mean what did I pay for the snubbie or the full size barrel one?

If you mean the full size barrel one, got it for $488.00 including auction fees, shipping was about $40.00 so about $520.00 or so in it not including the $15.00 phone call from my dealer to clear me. That would bring it up to approx $535.00 total invested in my commercial full length barrel one.
Everyone says I got a smoking good deal on it.

If you mean what did I pay for the 1917 snubbie I just got yesterday, I paid probably too much at about $392.00 including auction fees but NOT including another $25.00 fee just for handling PLUS more for shipping it to my dealer by the dealer the auction house uses, plus the $15.00 I'll have to pay my dealer to make the call again.

By the time it is done, I'll probably have approx between $450.00 to $465.00 after I have to pay for the $15.00 phone call at my dealer's. But here's the thing fellas....have y'all checked what S&W 1917's are going for lately? I mean their prices have gone completely insane! (Along with gun prices in general).

I see scratched up, pitted, almost no finish left, rusty 1937 Brazilian contract models going for anywhere from $700.00 and up! U.S. made ones are either close to the $1000.00 mark or over it! I've been watching their prices for quite a while and it has gotten insane! I mean it guys, these S&W 1917's are getting very hard to find for a decent price. I looked for several years before I found my smoking good deal on my commercial model. I just got lucky. Can't get lucky all the time.

So I may have paid a bit too much for a cut barrel revolver in that rusty condition. That's okay. When I'm done with it, it will be worth much more than I will have spent on it. And....I don't plan to sell any 1917 I ever get my hands on.

You have to evaluate what I paid in light of what they are currently going for, not for what we might think without taking that into consideration. If it were a non collectible revolver, I'd never have paid that for it with a cut barrel rusty like it is and locked up. But....it's a 1917 S&W. My favorite double action revolver of all time and the most beautiful one to me.

Some may argue that it isn't a collectible revolver with the barrel cut and rusty. But just try and find a S&W 1917 in any condition under $700.00 . I did and it STILL cost me approx between $450.00 to $465.00 That's how insane 1917 S&W's and gun prices in general have gone lately. It ain't the 1990's anymore fellas.

I'll keep y'all updated on its restoration progress and whether I keep the snubby barrel or replace with a full length replacement barrel. Still have to decide which barrel way I want to go.

(I Know Mike Irwin will think I'm nuts when he sees what I paid for that snubby rustbucket. Lol. But ya gotta understand the price I paid in perspective to what 1917's go for currently Mike. But I know Mike will still think I'm nuts for paying that much Lol.)




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when i was young a friends dad had a 1917 S&W with a 3 inch barrel and part of the trigger guard removed. it sat in a night stand in the main bedroom and we would sneek a look at it,but were afraid to touch it. to a kid it was the largest revolver in the world. eastbank.
 
"I Know Mike Irwin will think I'm nuts when he sees what I paid for that snubby rustbucket. Lol. But ya gotta understand the price I paid in perspective to what 1917's go for currently Mike. But I know Mike will still think I'm nuts for paying that much Lol."

Well, yeah.

And no, you don't have to gauge it against what other 1917s are going for these days, you have go gauge it against what scrap metal is going for these days. Still overpriced. :p

It actually looks like it could be a fun project gun. Often the thumb latches will stick open simply because there is so much crud and dried oil and more crud in the action and slide cuts.

I'd say there's also a pretty fair chance than the hammer block "wing" safety is inoperative. You need to concentrate on that. That was one of the big complaints about that design, and a death on a Navy ship in 1943 or 1944 led to the redesign that gave us the "sliding L" hammer block we have today.
 
i don,t remember if the hammer was bobbed or not, i didn,t come from a real gun loving familey,they were just tools to be used on the farm and had not seen any large framed revolvers,untill later. eastbank.
 
Recommend soaking in kerosens for two days,...

then attempt to work on it.

Looks interesting, good luck!

Get a second barrel to return to original length??
 
JRothWA wrote:
"Recommend soaking in kerosens for two days,...
then attempt to work on it. Looks interesting, good luck!
Get a second barrel to return to original length??"
Click to expand...

I'll soak it in kerosene or else regular gas for awhile, just to break up any hard grease. Then immerse it in Kroil oil and let it sit, with me gently tapping on it with my rubber hammer every now and then, just to help things shift a little to break up corrosion adhesion.

Originally I was thinking of possibly converting it into a .44 magnum 1917 clone with a good vintage .44 special tapered (pencil) barrel and half moon front sight and all. My dream revolver, a S&W 1917 clone but in .44 magnum!

I had planned to get a .44 mag cylinder and cut a .44 special barrel with half moon front sight to 5 & 1/2 inches (to match the 5 & 1/2 inch 1917 barrel). Being an N frame I thought it would work for converting to a .44 mag 1917. But alas, the experts at the Smith and Wesson forum told me that the early N frames, although they are N frames, were not designed nor heat treated to take the pressure of a .44 mag. So I had to nix that idea until I can find a S&W model 58, fixed sight, .41 magnum frame or whole beater that I could swap the barrel and cylinder out on, that being a modern properly heat treated steel .41 mag WOULD safely take the pressure of a .44 mag on its N frame. I would have to use an N frame to replicate a 1917 clone (only in .44 magnum instead of .45 acp). Yes I could use a .357 mag N frame, or even a model 29 .44 mag N frame, but none of those are fixed sights like a 1917. So not too many options for fixed sight S&W N frames other than the model 58 .41 magnum.

Problem is, the fixed sights S&W model 58's have become collector's items (who knew? You used to almost couldn't sell those, nobody wanted it, everyone wanted a .44 mag), and now the low number production of model 58's (when you can rarely find them) command as much if not more than a S&W model 29 .44 mag! So unless I can find an old beater of a model 58, or just find a model 58 frame alone (yeah, good luck on that), the idea of my project to create a S&W 1917 looking version in .44 mag will have to wait.

I still haven't decided whether or not I'll change the barrel to a replacement full length or keep the snubby and just make my own front sight and torch solder it on. Depends on the condition of the snubby barrel when I get it to inspect. Course I'll scrub the rifling real good with a copper chore boy wrapped around a .22 cleaning brush in conjunction with lead removing chemicals and Kroil oil just to make sure no lead is built up in the rifling grooves. Those grooves are already very shallow from the factory in 1917 S&W's and lead build up in them can fool people into thinking their rifling is shot out when it is just filled in from years of lead build up.

Upon finding out that the older N frame won't take the pressures of a .44 mag conversion, I initially thought to just replace the barrel. Problem is, about the only replacement barrels you can find are all Brazilian. Nothing wrong with that I guess, just not U.S. made and the Brazilian ones are all matte finished (parkerized?) and have to be buffed out to get glossy to reblue if you want the gun blue like I do. But if I did replace the barrel, I either have to buy or make my own plastic frame holder that holds the frame securely so it won't bend the frame when unscrewing it from the barrel, or else pay a competent gunsmith to remove and reinstall another barrel.

So if the rifling in my snub barrel is good, I'm kinda leaning toward making my own copy of a S&W half moon front sight and base and torch soldering it on and keeping it as a snubby. Then it would kinda look like Indiana Jones' four inch barrel S&W 1917. Only just a little shorter than his.

Still trying to make up my mind on to change the barrel or not. One factor is if I don't, I can save the cost of buying a replacement barrel which at Numrich is $65.00 (when in stock), another person offered me one at $90.00 and still another person offered me one for $50.00

Gonna wait for the revolver to get here and take my time deciding which way to go with the barrel.




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Skip the kerosene.

DEFINITELY skip the gasoline, too flammable/explosive.

Use the Kroil. It will do everything the kero and gas will do, but only better. It's a penetrating and lubricating oil.
 
What I would like to try would be Stoddard solvent, like a parts cleaner bath,
or even ultrasonic with a Ballistol water mix. Probably save you a couple of days tapping, trying to get the sideplate off. Save those grips, they're cool.
Sure glad you showed us the before shots. Gives the rest of us a data point on what can be done. I could see the clean one bringing a grand. Nice
 
Going back and forth to look at those grips, I created a dupe. Dead giveaway that I have a 1917, and I do! I looked up the serial number, and it was made in April of that year as well.
 
Depends on your tooling and patience, but I think a repro of a King's or Matthews vent rib would look nice even on the sawn barrel.

I think it was the S&W board that had pictures of a fixed target sight, just a plain blade set into a groove across the rear of the topstrap. Nothing fancy but a lot more visible than the service hogwallow. It would go well with the Pocket Target front, if you just wanted to slap a blade on it.

Oh, yeah, put the real stag grips on the nice commercial and the plastic on the chop job.
 
If the barrel that is on it is good I would put a sight on it and call it a day. Now, if it looks 100% better than the pics once it's cleaned up and the barrel is jacked then maybe I would change the barrel.

I think you have a lot in it already so I wouldn't get deeper myself.
 
I was watching that revolver in that auction. I lost interest long before it got to your price. :) Looks like a fun project. Projects are sometimes worth more than the pure monetary amount.
 
So not too many options for fixed sight S&W N frames other than the model 58 .41 magnum.
Click to expand...
My Model 22-4 has fixed sights. I'm sure there are more.
Click to expand...

The fixed sight S&W N frames are: the model 20 in 38 special, model 21 in 44 special, model 22 (as spacecoast said) in 45 acp, model 58 in 41 mag, and the rare model 520, in 357 magnum. I think thats all of them.

I would like to see pics of this project when you are done. It would be cool if you did make it something that is 1 of a kind. I bet you will get the gun working without too much trouble.
 
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