Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W 6” 16-4

I sold my 4” S&W 16-4 .32 H&R Mag the other day and then immediately bought a 6” version in excellent shape. I spoke to Jack Huntington and I am sending the gun, a Weigand scope mount and a S&W Model 48 .22 mag cylinder to him as soon as the mount comes in from Brownells. He is going to convert the Model 48 cylinder to .327 Federal, D&T it for the scope mount and do an action job on it. The plan is to put a Leupold 4X or 2x scope on it and use it to hunt deer. It should be a very nice light recoiling deer gun

Sounds like a fun project! I hope you don’t find the .327 to be too much of a good thing. Personally I stop at .32 H&R levels.

8 saw your 4” posted on the other forum. I am hoping S&W makes a K frame .32 next year.

I have shot the .327 in a Ruger Single 7 and it was very pleasant to shoot. The 6” full under lug barrel and addition of the scope will make this gun a pussycat to shoot I would imagine

Sounds like a very fun little gun. Should definitely make a fun, light recoiling little guy for sure. Look forward to seeing it when it is done.

Should be a laser.

What bullets do you have in mind for the 327?

I get a kick out of the guys you have stirred up over on the S&W forum who know that it won’t “have enough power to take down a deer”.

That is half the fun over there! That and the OMG! You are killing the collector value! I did get one good point out of it and since I am going to D&T it I might as well run the factory cylinder out to .327 Mag. I may keep the spare 48 cylinder or see if Jack can fit it to my 617.

This is a pic of the 16 and 617 together. I have also decided to go with a Leupold dual dovetail base since to me it looks better than the Weigand hanging over the barrel. I have the mounts and a Leupold gloss 4X I found.

I am going to try a mold that I bought a while back and then it got packed up and forgotten about when we were putting new floors in throughout the house. It is a brand spanking new MP 100 gr with several pins for HPs

Lol. Some of them over there get a little starchy at times. I don't even have a clue how many times I've been disciplined.

Pretty much anytime I list something for sale I do something wrong

You can't comment on any For Sale item, either... which I've gotten in trouble for many times. Some sellers are intentionally vague or misguide buyers. If you call them out for it. YOU get disciplined for it. 😜

Pacecar,

Guess I’m confused - you state that you bought a Model 16 in “excellent condition” - why does this matter? You are taking any condition considerations out of the equation by modifying it to your needs (which you can do anything you want - just not sure why you would want?). I have several 32 H&Rs (one of my favorite rounds) and a couple 327s. Both are extremely accurate and I can pretty consistently hit pie plate sized targets at 50-60 yards offhand - which is about as far as I’d limit myself with a .327 on deer. I do this with my 61 year old eyes (that aren’t great) so why the scope?

Again - each his own and hope you enjoy it but I just can’t imagine scoping a Model 16 - kinda like scoping a Winchester Model 94 ruins the lines/balance of a fine firearm. Of course that’s just my opinion and like yours it might only be shared by ourselves.

Penndog

I just pointed out that it appears to be in excellent condition to indicate I won’t need cosmetic work. I am putting a scope on it because I want more precision than iron sight allow. My eyesight isn’t the best at 57 and a scope makes me able to be more accurate which is what I want in a hunting gun. Most of my hunting revolvers wear a scope and my 5” S&W 610 wears a red dot sight. I have a couple of revolvers that are “packing” pistols that have 5” barrels that have iron sights. I happen to think a K Frame with a 6” barrel and a scope looks pretty cool

Ronnie

Understand - you’re the only one you have to please - didn’t mean to come across as obtuse - again just my opinion and certainly doesn’t mean a thing.

PennDog

No offense taken and sorry if I came across kinda snotty in my reply. I knew when I posted on the S&W site and maybe on here I would get some grief for “ruining” it. I looked a lot before I found this one at a price I was willing to pay. I also figured some would say it was too small a caliber to use on deer but I see it as perfectly capable within its limitations just like any other pistol or rifle chambering. Once I shoot it and establish it’s accuracy I will know how far I will be able to shoot deer at.

Sometimes people will be bothered by another person simply doing something different.

Some people will not be able to stand the thought of taking a "collectable" firearm and going out and shooting it. We have one poster here who frequently tells people to take any leather holster they get with an S&W revolver and quickly through it as far as possible away from them, since God Forbid, the gun actually gets some holster wear, and over the course of using and shooting it for 30 years, you lose a small percentage of its value.

In this thread we have a good example this myopic thought process. Just because a person at age X can use iron sights well enough to hit at a certain range, definitely does not mean others can. For a great many people, iron sights are difficult to use, due to them no longer being in focus. Some can use red dot optics as a solution. For them the RDOs work exceptionally well, and if it means modifying their guns so they can continue to enjoy shooting, that makes sense.

For some people, red dot optics do not work, as the actual red dot appears as a cluster of grapes due to astigmatisms and other vision related issues. For them traditional optics with crosshairs are a solution that allows them to enjoy their handguns. whatever it takes to allow the shooter to enjoy shooting.

I know "for me" using a red dot, rather than irons, even at 25 yards, the performance difference is significant. I can shoot FAR tighter groups utilizing a handgun equipped with a red dot, versus one with irons.


Below is a good example of that. a few weeks ago I was out shooting. I was shooting a 5" Model 29 with RDO, and a 7.5" Ruger Flattop. In both guns I was shooting the same .44 Special 240 grain hardcast load, that runs right at 900 FPS in the 5" M29.

With the 5" M29 at 25 yards, the gun shoots little tiny clusters.




Below, and left you can see the group using the 7.5" Blackhawk. Now one thing should be noted. The gun had previously been sighted in for a 300 grain load at a different range, so it was not even close to point of aim/point of impact. But the group size is the important part. If you include the "Flyer" in the group, the group is 3"s (I measured it later). It opened the group from about 1& 3/4 out to 3"s. The groups with shot with the red dot are all just little cloverleaf types. The simple fact is that I cannot shoot those cloverleaf type groups with iron sights. Not at 50+ years old. When I need to confirm accuracy, do load development for commercial loads, etc. I don't use iron sight guns.






So, if someone want to drill and tap revolver to make it better for them, let them.

BTW Pacecars,

I took this 8 & 3/8ths" Model 29-2 .44 Mag that was in extremely nice condition







This is in the same valley/ same area, as Elmer. A place on Idaho's Pahsimeroi Valley.




And I had a custom smith chop it to build me my perfect 5" Model 29.

How about this guy.

It had a square butt frame modified.



Stippled, checkered, action tuned.




Front sight replaced with a new gold bead.





Collector value ruined!

This is actually one of my buddy's guns (Ken H). I was shooting it one day. was tempted to talk him out of it. Just a superb blend of modifications.

Ronnie - I’m the one who should apologize…..I re-read my first post and it sounded awfully judgemental! I meant no offense just trying to express my opinion and not doing it very well. I do know that you are very conscientious and will do what is needed to have an accurate, capable revolver to take deer with. I would imagine with a scope that you will have outstanding accuracy out to 100+ yards - my 16s are shooting 2”ish groups off the bench at 50yds with my eyes - extremely accurate as you know.

Again, apologies and best of luck and let us know how it goes when you get it back!

PennDog