Recutting revolver chambers?

But is the gun strong enough to handle those hotter loads?

Is the cylinder long enough to fit .32 Mag?

The guy you are thinking of is Doug from cast boolits and I recently asked him the same thing about rechambering a cylinder, and he said rechambering a cylinder would require him to have the FFL manufacturer license and he didn't have one so he wouldn't do it. He can however bore the throats on your cylinder to be the same.

First, let me say I agree with JohnKSa. But the question got me wondering if there was any kind of metallurgical analysis and empirical testing that could answer this question. That is, knowing (or determining) the kind of steel in the cylinder, knowing the cylinder dimensions, and allowing an adequate safety factory, is it possible to determine a maximum chamber pressure for a J-frame in 32 Long? And how many rounds of what pressure would be considered a test of that calculation? And how many guns would constitute an adequate sample?

I remember someone who posts to the High Road talking about "hoop stresses" in reference to firing chambers, and together with my dim memories of statistics in college, I realize that I do not understand the problems involved in solving this. But just knowing if it can be done would be interesting.

I emphasize that JohnKSa is right about this. I just got interested in the question of determining cylinder strength. Wouldn't Ruger have had to go through something like this when designing their .327 Federal SP-101 revolver, for instance?

I have a 30-1 and I absolutely would not feel comfortable with the conversion. It’s not so much the cylinder that I would be worried with, but the forcing cone and the breach face. All 3 parts of the pressure handling system (cylinder, breach face, barrel) are made for the highest pressure that they will see. A 32 mag is higher pressure, and has a smaller footprint on the breach face than a 38 does. Even if it works, it’s cutting out any margin for error that may have ever existed. If your going this direction, look seriously at just shooting 32acp through you unmodified gun. If your gonna do something silly and potentially dangerous, then at least do it the cheap way.

Rechambering .32 S&W Long for the much higher pressureed .32 Mag is a recipe for disaster if you ask me... The frame alone would too soft and weak to safety fire .32 Mag from the gun.

a couple of years ago i bought a brand new ruger bisley in 45 long colt. bot the front and back of the chambers were undersized as they were made with worn out reamers. shot horrible. sent it to doug and he made the front and back the perfect size. then it loaded and unloaded easily and shot very tight groups. he does great work and i would use him any time i need that kind of work done. wont buy another ruger cowboy gun for the reasons i gave above. i have a friend that liked my bisley more than i did so he bought it from me for what i have had into it and loves it. its a tack driver now thanks to doug. the only other cylinders ive had to ream out were the two kirst convertion cylinders ive had. they were minor and i did them my self. if you have a job like you have to do and your revolver is strong enough doug will make that revolver load and load easily and i bet it will shoot tighter groups than you can hold. dont forget to touch up the forcing cone on the gun also. brownells has a frocing cone cutting kit for a reasonable price. i have quite a few revolvers and ive done all the forcing cones to perfection with that kit. from .22 to 45. it also improves accuracy. ive never bought a revolver that i was satisfied with the forcing cone with no matter who made it. its a 5 minute job and easy to do. give us follow up on this as i bet you will be really happy.

I vote no cut as well. I have a 3inch Jframe from 68 and she isn't getting modded.

I'd suggest you try some gunsmith sub-forums where you'll probably get more facts than feelings.

S&W Forum- Gunsmithing
Cast Boolit Gunsmithing Forum

If it's more power ye seek, you might want to look into handloading the little cartridge. It'll run a 98 gr. bullet about 950 fps. Not 32 H&R Mag levels, but still not bad.

35W

Thanks for making the issues involved clearer, JohnKSa

I have a very respected Master Gunsmith that does all my work. He had bored/reamed many .32's to .32 Magnum as well as 100's of .38's to .357. Back in the 70's it was very common for a LEO to have a duty model 10 changed to .357. Politics prohibited carrying anything but a .38 so they had them modified. I've owned several and never a minutes problem. I wouldn't do it with an older gun that hasn't been heat treated. I would think the model 30 would stand the pressure for shooting, but prolonged shooting would probably shoot the gun loose a lot faster than the standard .32 loads.

Wow - until Eddietruett's post caused me to look it up, I had no idea that the NRA had a program to certify Master Gunsmiths. What a good thing!

Eddietruett said:

I have a very respected Master Gunsmith that does all my work. He had bored/reamed many .32's to .32 Magnum as well as 100's of .38's to .357. Back in the 70's it was very common for a LEO to have a duty model 10 changed to .357. Politics prohibited carrying anything but a .38 so they had them modified. I've owned several and never a minutes problem. I wouldn't do it with an older gun that hasn't been heat treated. I would think the model 30 would stand the pressure for shooting, but prolonged shooting would probably shoot the gun loose a lot faster than the standard .32 loads.

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I find it hard to believe that any Master Gunsmith will even do this at all with any S&W Model 10.

whm1974 said:

I find it hard to believe that any Master Gunsmith will even do this at all with any S&W Model 10.

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Maybe 30? years ago Masaad Ayoob wrote a brief article about Travis Strahan in Ringgold, Georgia deepening the chambers on 2" M10 backup guns for LEOs with the admonition to only use factory 125gr HP loads - no (hotter) reloads. Strahan had probably been in business for over 20 years at that time as an older friend of mine knew of his work from early '70s Bullseye competition days.
I haven't heard of any other instances of this, though I do remember there arguments in the '70s and maybe even into the '80s as to whether the K frame .38s were as strong as the K frame .357s.

retDAC said:

Maybe 30? years ago Masaad Ayoob wrote a brief article about Travis Strahan in Ringgold, Georgia deepening the chambers on 2" M10 backup guns for LEOs with the admonition to only use factory 125gr HP loads - no (hotter) reloads. Strahan had probably been in business for over 20 years at that time as an older friend of mine knew of his work from early '70s Bullseye competition days.
I haven't heard of any other instances of this, though I do remember there arguments in the '70s and maybe even into the '80s as to whether the K frame .38s were as strong as the K frame .357s.

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The short answer will be no as S&W sold them a great cheaper then .357 Magnums.

I wouldn't not trust any firearm that was rechamber to another much more powerful cartridge then it was actually made for.

That really asking for trouble.

Even if the cylinder chambers are opened to .32 Mag, the case length differences won’t work.
.32S&W - .92” case length
.32 H&R Magnum- 1.075” case length

Even if it's doable I wouldn't because of the much higher pressure involved. Although not firearms related I've seen what happens when equipment fails from over pressure. Fortunately no one was killed in those incidents but the material damage was spectacular to say the least and if anyone had been at arm's length like with a gun the damage to them would have been extensive to deadly. Just buy a gun made to shoot the more powerful round and be safe.

M Yaworski said:

The plan is to make the chambers longer, not wider.

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Gotcha,
Probably easier just to purchase a revolver already in .32 Mag.