625 45ACP conversion to Colt

[SteelEye]

Just called S&W to see if I could buy a 45 Colt cylinder for my 625-8 45ACP. They will sell me the cylinder for about $125. They said that it is incompatable because "the barrel will need to be cut." That does not sound right to me. My assumption, right or wrong, is that the cylinder is cut to accomodate the longer length of the cartridge and everything else is already there.

Do I need to send the revolver off to a smith for a conversion of some sort or can I just stick the cylinder on and fire away?

SteelEye

 

[jimthel]

.45 ACP vs. .45 Colt Cylinder

The .45 Colt cylinder is physically longer. The barrel in the forcing cone area behind the frame in the cylinder window will need to be shortened and the forcing cone recut to accommodate the longer length of the Colt cylinder.

 

[Sheldon]

Yes as mentioned above, the frame is the same size for both calibers, but the cylinder length is different. As a result the barrel extends further into the frame opening where the cylinder is for the 45 ACP caliber. If you fit the new longer 45 Colt cylinder into the frame opening you will find the barrel will be too far into the opening to allow the cylinder to fit. It will just need to have the back end of the barrel turned down enough to get the length and cylinder gap within specification to allow the new one to fit as well as recutting the forcing cone.

 

[Jim Watson]

Also, the breech end of the cylinder is different. The .45 ACP-AR cylinder is cut for headspace of the ACP plus a moon clip or the thick rim of the Auto Rim. The .45 Colt cylinder is made for the standard rim of the revolver cartridge. This means that the cylinder stop stud is different, thicker on the ACP-AR guns. If you didn't cut that back the Colt cylinder would not open all the way.

If you did shorten the barrel breech and cut the stop stud you would have a .45 Colt, period, it would not be a convertible. Your gunsmithing cost would probably be more than the cash difference on a trade for a new gun.

C.E. Harris once made up a convertible 1917 by rechambering a .357 M27 or M28 cylinder which is the same length as the .45 ACP cylinder to .45 Colt. He had to have a step turned on the rear of the Colt cylinder to clear the stop stud. The .357 cylinder would just barely take .45 Colt factory loads and would not accept some common reloaded bullets.

 

[SteelEye]

Oh well, seemed too good to be true.
Thanks for replies.

SteelEye