Old Gun or New Gun?

Here is the gun show "special" of the week...
a Smith and Wesson .357 mag. (oh, did you notice the slanted barrel (to the left off center in the pic)- so did we, after we bought it. solution you ask - we'll straighten it.







gun ready for the vice - just needs a little twist right? and it's a bit rough, no big deal - it's going to be a shooter - and with a straight barrel it will be fine.....









wrong, it needs more than the little twist - because the barrel was stripped (notice threads) and put back together with JB liquid weld. We found that out when the barrel went twist - twist- twist with no real tightening and a rather mushy(not-so good to feel in a gun) turn. nice gesture 'eh. "send er down the road Hank, no one will know the difference 'til they is a pick'n the pieces out of ther' teef (grunt - giggle - spit)"





solution? get over it and buy a new barrel (not easy to do - smith and wesson does not sell magnum barrels to the public). found one from a custom pistol smith in Georgia who took it off another gun to retro-fit that gun with an aftermarket barrel for competition - and we get the take-off barrel.






Here is the "new" 6 inch barrel fitted to the gun (minus the stripped threads and JB weld this time - sorry to ruin all that fun Hank).
the frame was also bent a bit from the pipe wrench hack job from before - it is now straight and smooth.







here it is with all the little parts removed and ready for a soft glass bead blast finish.











here is the finished product. new barrel that will stay on the gun and off your face (real novel idea), straightened frame, bead blast finish, smooth trigger job.









ready for the range? - we think so....

now where is a good target....hmmm......(maybe Hank)