[Rodgerp]

Anyone know the scoop on the parts kits that everyone seemed to have for sale recently?

They are bobbed hammer 2 in. round butt kits.

Police departments, military issue ?

I have one coming to me and was just curious.


Rodger

T

[Will5A1]

Some agencies/departments/organizations are precluded, for whatever reasons, from selling their no longer needed weapons and must destroy them. Usually they only have to destroy the frame and the parts are removed prior to the frame's destruction. Those kits are often a very good buy.

[huntershooter]

Must be out of the loop. Who has kits and what's in them?

[Rodgerp]

J&G Sales, Sportsmans Guide, Impact Guns, amoung others offered, within the last year or so parts kits. They were used parts taken from Model 10 round butts. 2 In. barrel, bobbed hammer.
They are/were the entire revolver minus the frame.
Ranging in price from $79.99 to $99.99.

I think a few suppliers still offer backorders on them.

Rodger

[huntershooter]

My thanks.

[Candiru]

I guess the big question then is where one would acquire a frame.

[dfariswheel]

There's one major problem with revolver "parts kits":

Unlike automatic pistols, almost ALL revolver parts are individually fitted to the frame at the factory.
There are virtually NO "drop in" revolver parts.

Critical parts like the barrel and especially the cylinder assembly WILL NOT fit another frame properly.
While you will occasionally get a cylinder assembly to "appear" to drop in, in fact I've never seen a drop in that actually fitted properly in all respects.

When the factory fits a new cylinder to a revolver, it's done as an assembly of the cylinder and an ejector that's been fitted to THAT cylinder.
The new assembly is then individually fitted to the frame, insuring that head space, end shake, barrel/cylinder gap, timing, and chamber/bore alignment is adjusted to specs.
Again, I've never seen a "drop in" cylinder that was properly fitted for all the above, and ALL the above are absolutely critical.

The second problem with revolver parts kits is finding a frame.
Most usable frames are already assembled into working revolvers.

A third problem is, revolvers go through changes, noted by the S&W "dash" code indicating engineering changes to the gun.
You have to have a parts set that's fully compatible with the frame.

Remember, modern revolvers are "machine fitted" at the factory. Once fitted, most parts cannot be re-fitted, they are intended to be simply replaced with a factory new part.

Bottom line: While it's "possible" to assembly a properly working revolver from one of these kits, it takes a really qualified pistolsmith to do it, and he'll almost always require replacing some of the parts that simply won't work.

Finally, even if you find a good frame and could get a parts kit together properly, the cost will be more than a new revolver.

[huntershooter]

My interest is in the hammer/triggers re. parts kits. While it's still possible to find these through Numrich or others, they are becoming less widely available. Since the S&W hammer/trigger are the same for K/L & N frame revolvers this seems a viable option. In addition, the engineering changes are irrelevent with these parts until you get into the MIM guns.

[Will5A1]

To be clear I don't think many are buying these kits intending to assemble a complete revolver but are getting them as a source of spare parts. SOG recently (within the past year, IIRC) had 64-2 kits on sale for $50. For someone needing a set of wood grips, or wanting the option of having two hammers, one bobbed, one not, these kits are a good buy.

[dfariswheel]

"Since the S&W hammer/trigger are the same for K/L & N frame revolvers"

Uhhhh, NO they're not. The Triggers are the same in all three frame sizes but the hammers are NOT.
Also, in some models the triggers had changes that make them incompatible with other versions.

[Rodgerp]

Yes, the main reason I purchased my kit was that it had a factory bobbed hammer. The fact that I got all the other parts for less than the cost of a hammer job is a bonus.