New Addition to the Family

[NAPOTS]

I picked this up as my Christmas present to myself. I have been eyeballing these for a while and someone (I apologize but I forget who) recently purchased a S&W revolver and convinced me to go ahead and buy one. It is a 27-9 with a 6 1/2" barrel in .357 magnum. The pistol feels great, everything is very tight, the trigger is very smooth in double action pull and crisp in single action. I put a Wilson combat spring kit in it to lighten the trigger pull and it feels amazing. Before anyone gives me a hard time for not buying a 27-2 pinned and recessed, I live in California and the only way to get one would be to find another one for sale in the state and not that many come up. This pistol does have a slightly canted barrel which I understand is extremely common. The cylinders all line up with the barrel; I put 200 rounds through it and there was no evidence it was shaving lead. It seemed to group very well (I am not that great of a pistol shot) but I was getting about 1.5 to 2 inch groups offhand at 15 yards. It grouped high and left, when I get a chance to get it on bags I will dial it in. I am happy with the purchase, I love the classic blued revolver look, it doesn't fit my hands as well as a 1911 does but it still feels good. I am a little disappointed at the canted barrel but if it doesn't affect it I won't worry about it.

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[Richard Simmons]

A new S&W and a Buck 301? Not sure it get's much better than that. Congratulations!

P.S. I think you can thank Chuck for posting about his new S&W 686 as being the culprit behind your new purchase.

[Schuetzenman]

Nice! The first .357 mag I ever shot was a 27 with a 6" barrel. I tried to find one to purchase but ended up with a Python instead.

[NAPOTS]

I've had the knife for 25 years and it was old when given to me. I'm surprised I didn't lose it when I was younger.

I am looking at getting a 4" 586 next. It has a bit of that python look to it with the full underlug. Cant touch a python anymore and they are getting to valuable to shoot.

[l921428x]

Very nice indeed. 2" groups at 15 yards is more than good enough for non-competitive slingin.
I love revolvers, wood and steel.

[alismith]

I love a Smith with a half-lugged barrel. Those are getting hard to find around here. Short barreled revolvers, with full lugged barrels are good looking, but full-lugged long barrels don't really do much for me.

Congrats on the purchase. It's beautiful.

[NAPOTS]

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with the canted barrel?

[Richard Simmons]

No personal experience but I haven't bought a brand new S&W in probably 10 years. I read about this issue quite a bit on the S&W forums. To be honest I don't know if it's really all that common or not. I believe that since it's been posted on a lot more owners are looking really closely at their guns, more so than in the past and reporting it. This might be something that's happened occasionally for years and folks just weren't noticing it. Be that as it may the general consensus seems to be that if the guns shoots to point of aim and the amount of can't is something you can live with then just shoot and enjoy.

If on the other hand the can't is so bad that it effects your ability to aim correctly and or the visual is so bad you can't abide it then contact S&W for a return. I've seen some posts where the top strap on the barrel is off by less then half a groove compared to the top of the frame. You really had to study the photos to see it. For me something that minor is just a none event. To others it was totally unbearable. I've seen others that were off by a huge amount and had to wonder how the thing ever left the factory that way?

In the end it's really up to the owner to decide what he or she can live with.

[ltorlo64]

Congrats on the new Smith. I was the other one you were remembering. I went with the stainless 686. I didn't notice any cant to my barrel but I did a quick check at the S&W forum and they have a thread or two about barrel canting.

I have an old M1 Carbine that looks to have a canted barrel. If you look at the rear sight it appears to be no-where close to center but when I shoot it the rounds always go where I aim. I also have an old Winchester M94 that has both sights dead center but the rifle shoots 2" left at 25 yards and 4" left at 50 yards. Someday I will figure out a way to fix that. I have tried adjusting the sights but they appear to like where they are and won't move, at least not with the force I have used.

What kind of holster did you get? I have been sort of looking for one. I expect I will only carry this if I am fishing or camping and I don't expect to do either in the near future so I am not looking hard, but I do need to get that done.

Can't wait to see the next one!

[NAPOTS]

It's a DeSantis. It seems very well made and fits the pistol well. Suede lined double stitched in some areas. Wasnt too expensive