I have a Model 28 I bought new in 1975. Nothing fancy,but it held up to my stupidity of my younger years. Fabulous piece. I also have a Model 29 I bought about 1986. I don't know how many pretty close to full power loads it has digested,but it still remains tight and has a chrome looking bore from all the cast boolits sent down its tube. I did buy one of the original runs of the 610 in the early 1990's with the 5 inch tube. Now I did have some quality issues with this one. I sent it back to Smith two times,but they did get it squared away. The quality of my Model 16 in 32 H&R mag was second to none. Great revolver. I'm a Smith guy I guess.
Hello Mauser98
My Very First S&W handgun was a model 28-2 that I Bought while living in Alaska in the Mid 1970's. I sold that one off but found this super early example. This one was made in
June 1954 The Third Month after the Highway Patrolman model 28's were released from S&W. It was the Then company President of S&W
Carl Hellstrom's Wife that came up with the Model Name
Highway Patrolman for this revolver. The early ones were of
Five screw design and not model marked, the model marking of 28 came in
1957 and those were
Four screw variations. The Model
16-4 was a great Gun. It Featured the
very Unpopular .32 H&R Magnum round that got
a bad rap from the start as it was
down Played and Loaded soft for the H&R Handguns that were not all that strong. S&W decided to place the caliber in these K-Frame Platforms and gave them a barrel lug as well making them a Joy to shoot even with
Hot hand loads. I Hand loaded all of the rounds for this and at one time had a load that clocked an amazing
1480 FPS and was a Tack driver on target.
The velocity I got out of Hand Loaded ammo in the .32 H&R Magnum round is Higher than
the .357 Magnum. Simply Put with this gun being a K-Frame and having a beefy cylinder like it does,
you can't hurt it loading it hot. Late Last summer I had heard that
Hamilton Bowen of Friendsville, Tennessee was converting these Model 16-4's into the new exciting
Federal .327 magnum caliber. The 327 Magnum is
everything that the .32 H&R Magnum should have been. The Cartridge is another 1/8" Longer than the .32 H&R Magnum round and all he had to do was lengthen the cylinder throats in my cylinder an additional 1/8" to convert it to a Federal .327 Magnum round. The cost was
Just $95.00 to do this, so I decided to go with it. I Picked the gun up two weeks later as he lives just 20 Minutes from my door step, but I had
a problem at that time there was
no factory Loaded ammo for it so he sold me some once fired brass.
I went home and loaded for it and used
a 90 grain Sierra sports master hollow point bullet along with some
Number 5 accurate arms powder and a
cci small magnum primer. I clocked it at
1610 out of my 6" Barrel 10' in front of the bench and it was a Tack driver load. I then shot some .32 H&R Magnums I had loaded up along with some .32 S&W Longs I had on hand and all Three caliber's and Noticed that it grouped far better than it used to before it was converted to a 327 magnum. I called Bowen and asked him Why it was more accurate now, ? and his reply was that
he matches all of the cylinder throats when he converts it, so to me this conversion
Certainly made the gun better. I took it One week later Deer Hunting with me
and Killed a 51 Pound Bobcat (Live Weight} it weighed 41 Pounds field dressed as shown below, and I shot it at
a true 35 Yards with my Hand load. The bullet entered the Cat's chest went through his heart and right lung then exited. The Cat toppled over kicked three times then fell dead. That Proved to me
what the caliber could do, and I had the Bobcat Mounted. Currently according to the Tennessee Fish & Wildlife Records It was the
largest one ever to be taken in the state of Tennessee as it was
41-1/2" In length making it a Very Big Wild Cat.
It is now Gracing the shelf in my Den watching over me and it has been
entered into The State Of Tennessee web site along with the
Sierra Bullet web site. I have written
Hand loader magazine's editor Brian Pearse and am awaiting to see if they choose to write
a feature article on the Federal .327 Magnum using my Hunting story in their Magazine. Below is my Pre-28 Highway Patrolman that was shipped just Three months into production back in 1954 along with my S&W Model 16-4 that is Now chambered in The Federal .327 magnum and the Bobcat I took with it last Fall.... In closing here, I am sorry for the Thread Drift, but I thought
Ya'll may be Interested to hear and see what these S&W's can really do in the woods...I am a collector but a shooter and Hunter as well with all of my S&W's. I Plan on
Taking my 1935 Registered Magnum afield next Fall to see if I can
Bag a Buck with it as there are not many Guy's that can stake a claim of Taking Down a Nice Buck with the Famous Registered Magnum these days.... If you
click on the Links right below my response here, you will see it entered into The Sierra Bullet Web site as well as The Tennessee wildlife Web site. Regards, Hammerdown
http://www.sierrabullets.com/index.cfm?section=successes&page=hunting&startrow=31http://web.me.com/tnwildlife/smallgame/index.htmlThe Pre-28 1954 Highway Patrolman
The S&W Model 16-4 Now converted to the Federal .327 magnum Cartridge
