The high capacity revolver

[AR15activist]

The S&W 327 is an 8-shot .357 magnum snub-nose the height of a 1911; but it only weighs 21 OZs (less than a Glock 26) due the the use of aluminum in the frame.

While this thing still has a strong defencive application, it's innovative enough to be New York legal.

I'm intrigued -- what do you know about high-cap wheelguns? What about the rimfire ones too?

 

[gamestalker]

I don't know much about the S&W 327, but I would imagine it would be a bit uncomfortable to run full house magnums through with such a light weight frame. I've looked at them, but I'm just not crazy about the whole light weight thing for something like .357 magnum.

I have a couple of heavy M66's, both snubs. And considering they weigh in fairly heavy compared to the 327, they're still no picnic to handle with full house magnum loads, so I would guess the light weight 327 would be a bit of handful.

I own a Taurus 608, which is a ported 8 shot revolver, it shoots real nice, but it's a big ol heavy beast, even with only a 4" barrel.

GS

 

[Hunter2011]

You can always shoot less potent, less recoil .38 special ammo in it. I won't mind owning one.

 

[AR15activist]

Yes, I think I'd shoot .38's in it, carry .38+p.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The S&W 327 is an 8-shot .357 magnum snub-nose the height of a 1911; but it only weighs 21 OZs (less than a Glock 26) due the the use of aluminum in the frame.

While this thing still has a strong defencive application, it's innovative enough to be New York legal.

I'm intrigued -- what do you know about high-cap wheelguns? What about the rimfire ones too?

I have shot the M327 with full power .357 Magnum ammo and it's not all that uncomfortable to shoot. It is wide though and it was not comfortable for me to carry IWB and for sure not in a pocket. It is an N frame after all. You might not mind carrying it IWB and having 8 rounds of ammo in a revolver is very comforting. The original 1911 carried only 7 rounds and no one thought that was too little...

Note:
That is not a high-cap revolver, it's a normal revolver designed to hold 8 rounds. It's just like a Glock G17 which is designed to carry 17 rounds in the mag. That is not a high-cap magazine, it's what the design calls for. The word high-cap is used by the anti-gun crowd to scare people so it's best we don't say it and help them.

 

[StrawHat]

...Note:
That is not a high-cap revolver, it's a normal revolver designed to hold 8 rounds. It's just like a Glock G17 which is designed to carry 17 rounds in the mag. That is not a high-cap magazine, it's what the design calls for. The word high-cap is used by the anti-gun crowd to scare people so it's best we don't say it and help them...

Well said!

 

[justin22885]

ever see the dardick pistol with the open-chamber design firing tround cartridges?.. it has a revolver cylinder but its opened on the sides, tround cartridges feed from a box magazine into the open chamber which spins around the pistol to where the opening on the side of the cylinder is closed off, some models hold like 20 rounds of ammo and its mechanism is just a double-action revolver mechanism.. now thats a high capacity revolver

 

[HexHead]

It's Scandium alloy, not aluminum.

 

[Lucky Derby]

ever see the dardick pistol with the open-chamber design firing tround cartridges?.. it has a revolver cylinder but its opened on the sides, tround cartridges feed from a box magazine into the open chamber which spins around the pistol to where the opening on the side of the cylinder is closed off, some models hold like 20 rounds of ammo and its mechanism is just a double-action revolver mechanism.. now thats a high capacity revolver

That sounds overly complicated.
One of the revolver's most prized assets is simplicity.

 

[rbernie]

I'm intrigued -- what do you know about high-cap wheelguns? What about the rimfire ones too?

What specifically do you want to learn?

 

[righteoushoot]

I had one. I found it very difficult to reload quickly from the moon clips, the bullets just didn't all seem to want to line up easily. Took some fenageling. YMMV. Perhaps would have worked better with smooth FMJ's in the moon clips. The 686+ is fine for me.

 

[jimbo555]

I have the ruger lcr22lr. I like it for plinking. 8 shots and if I get a dud, just pull the trigger again.

 

[threoh8]

How about nine rounds of .40, and a 20-gauge shotgun for backup?

One of the earlier more-than-six-round revolvers: LeMat

 

[justin22885]

That sounds overly complicated.
One of the revolver's most prized assets is simplicity.

thats the beauty of it, its not complicated at all, the only moving part is the cylinder, and it uses a conventional double-action revolver style trigger to index and fire the pistol.. they make a 50 caliber machine gun version that feeds the cylinder from a helical magazine, incredibly reliable with just two moving parts and incredibly high rates of fire with plastic cased ammunition that uses cases that MIGHT actually be 3d printable, if not injection moulded

i want to design a version of this system to push a 150 grain .30 caliber bullet at 2,800fps, using the revolving open-chamber cylinder and a typical double-action trigger out of a revolver, a box magazine feeds the cartridges into the open cylinder.. so what you would have would be a semi automatic .308 caliber rifle with no gas system, no blowback, no nothing, the trigger will index the cylinder (aided by spring pressure of the magazine pushing rounds into the cylinder) just like it does on a double action revolver to line up the next shot and fire.. moving parts besides the double-action trigger group is the cylinder, nothing else

here.. check it out for yourself, you cant tell me this is not the ultimate high capacity revolver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTh0EMAH99A

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Note:
That is not a high-cap revolver, it's a normal revolver designed to hold 8 rounds. It's just like a Glock G17 which is designed to carry 17 rounds in the mag. That is not a high-cap magazine, it's what the design calls for. The word high-cap is used by the anti-gun crowd to scare people so it's best we don't say it and help them.

Agreed. 8 shot 357's are nothing new. This one just appears to be particularly light.

All I see is a gun that is too large to carry comfortably, too light to shoot comfortably, and with too short of a barrel to utilize the 357's potential power.

There is no appeal at all to this gun for me. I mean it's 5 oz lighter than my 3" Ruger SP101. There is a point of diminishing return as far as weight goes.

 

[TimSr]

No appeal to me either. The 5 shooter I carry is wider than most concealed semis. I wouldn't wnat it for CCW. Maybe as an open carry weapon, with a longer barrel.

 

[pintler]

"It's Scandium alloy, not aluminum."

When people say 'scandium alloy', they mean an alloy that's mostly aluminum, alloyed with a tiny amount of scandium. It's like, say 7075 - we call that 'aluminum', not 'zinc/copper/magnesium alloy', brcause it's mostly aluminum.

 

[Panzerschwein]

I've pined for a S&W Model 627 "Blood Work" revolver:

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...75660_775655_757896_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y

It comes in at 37.6 oz so should control magnum recoil well, though I might just stick to .38 +P due to the short barrel. I think it'd carry swell in a shoulder rig during colder months. I'd probably opt for the 8-shot speed strips for reloading, I'd imagine 8 shot speedloaders or moon clips would be much to large for CCW.

 

[earlthegoat2]

righteoushoot is on to something. I had an S&W M&P 627 TRR8 (I think that was the name of it) and had the same problem with the rounds in the moonies lining up fast enough. I was a speed freak back then. I ditched it and got a 625 JM and that thing was fast.

My answer then is this. I really love the look of the 327. I have a pug mix pooch so I guess I like the endearing charm of its inherent ugliness. I like the design in theory as well. I would still buy a Blood Work gun. In the end though I think it is inferior to the 325PD.

 

[NMRevolverGuy]

Dunno about 8 shots, but I do love my 3" 686+ (7 shot 357). I do find the trigger pull to be heavier than my other smiths. Not sure if that's due to the extra cylinder, or just that gun

 

[barnbwt]

"righteoushoot is on to something. I had an S&W M&P 627 TRR8 (I think that was the name of it) and had the same problem with the rounds in the moonies lining up fast enough."
+1 as well for my TRR8. The problem is not the concept, but the ammo; 357 is simply made by too many folks to have perfect consistency (especially at something as typically unimportant as the extractor groove cut). There are certain brands of 357 that lock up nicer, and certain EDM-cut 'fancy' clips sized for them. The penalty is that the ammo is harder to load in/out of the clips, same as the thicker-clipped rimless rounds.

Speed loaders (5-Star at least) are even worse in my experience. I found the speed solution is to use round nose jacketed bullets, or even better, pointy poly-tipped Hornady levergun bullets (they practically pull themselves into the chambers like magnets). Yeah, they force you to trim the brass funky, but whatever, it works fine.

The TRR8 is awesome, btw. A full size 5" N-frame (the perfect size) with extremely comfy grips, that weighs about the same as my MR73 (~K frame with 4" barrel) with a third more capacity. The trigger is nice (not Manurhin nice) in double action, and very nice in single action. Could probably be cleaned up even more by a dedicated smith (the PC is better than a typical trigger job, but nothing magical). The only downside is that it's a full size gun, that's really only suited for open carry (though it does fit in a Bianchi I12 shoulder holster, I think you need to be in the NBA to conceal those)

TCB

 

[golden]

They will always be bulky

I have examined some of these guns and they are always bulky.

I handled a 7 shot .357 magnum when I lived in CANADA and even with a steel frame, it was only a couple of ounces heavier than the model 19 which hand only 6 shots.
The gun was built on the L-frame with a 5 inch NON FULL UNDERLUG barrel and I thought it was a good compromise.
The 8 shot models are built on N frame (or larger) guns and are really bulky to me.
You can make them light, shorten the barrel, but it is still a big gun. I think that will always make them a niche weapon at best.

Just my impressions.

Jim

 

[B!ngoFuelUSN]

The S&W 327 is an 8-shot .357 magnum snub-nose the height of a 1911; but it only weighs 21 OZs (less than a Glock 26) due the the use of aluminum in the frame.

While this thing still has a strong defencive application, it's innovative enough to be New York legal.

I'm intrigued -- what do you know about high-cap wheelguns? What about the rimfire ones too?

So after owning a 627 8-shot PC V-Comp (w/5" barrel), I purchased a 627 8-shot PC with 2 5/8" barrel. But both are stainless, not Scandium (which is Al with just a 'dash' of scandium in it for strength) which makes it a lot heavier.
I'm really not sure I'd want to handle the Scandium model very much. At least not with magnum cartridges in it. And given the NY thing, I'm pretty sure you are not planning on carrying it on your belt. So if you want something small you might want to go with the 2 5/8" full weight model. You should also know that the N-Frame 8 round revolvers are bulky, no matter how short the barrel. So it's not something you could easily carry, certainly not IWB even if you were not in NY.
Another way to look at it is if you only have one .357 mag, then you need something heavier for practice at the range. If you already have a 4" or 6" or something similar in .357/.38S , then the 327 lightweight might be interesting. But for my size and strength, it would only be useful in an emergency such as out on the trails or other personal defense situations after having trained with a heavier one. You're not going to be practicing with it.
And yes, it all gets a bit gentler with .38 Special rounds. But that's true for the 627 short barrel as well as the Scandium.
All that said, the S&W 327 (especially the PC (Performance Center) models are outstanding guns. Great feel, weight and balance, triggers and reliability. They will last many lifetimes and provide a lot of pleasure for its owners. I couldn't recommend one more strongly. In fact, I've been considering the purchase of a 629 short barrel (also 2 5/8") PC in .44mag. I have a 629 .44mag PC V-Comp and it would be a nice compliment to it. But it might be almost as suicidal as the Scandium you're considering.
And on the 'high cap' comment, I disagree with some of the responses. Although I do agree that it is a mistake to call 30-round AR mags 'high cap' (since they are the standard mag for the rifle) an 8-round .38/357 can be considered a 'high cap'. They are a relatively new invention, are not common and are not built by many manufacturers.
B

 

[B!ngoFuelUSN]

I've pined for a S&W Model 627 "Blood Work" revolver:

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...75660_775655_757896_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y

It comes in at 37.6 oz so should control magnum recoil well, though I might just stick to .38 +P due to the short barrel. I think it'd carry swell in a shoulder rig during colder months. I'd probably opt for the 8-shot speed strips for reloading, I'd imagine 8 shot speedloaders or moon clips would be much to large for CCW.

Yea, that's the one I was referencing. It is a thing of beauty.
B

 

[Monac]

If they wanted it to be high-capacity, why didn't they make it as a 9 or 10 shot 327 Federal? The magazine cover and the model number made me think that is what it was.