.22 Mag on a Diamondback

[kgb]

Have any of you had a cylinder set up for .22 Magnum in a Colt Diamondback?  

[bigbrowndog]

That sounds like a nice conversion.

Trapr

[bushog]

i’d sure find a spare cylinder to have rechambered.

i know pythons are notorious to tune so would be fitting a cylinder be a problem?

[rjm52]

Friend bought a mint DB about 10 years ago and lucked into a complete cylinder and crane setup on ebay. Had it rechambered for .22 Magnum and after a few more adjustments runs good.

Funny story...LEO friend of mine probably 25 years ago now calls me one day. He had been looking for a long time for a 4" .22 DB...called to say he had finally seen one the day before in his price range...I think it was $350 at a local shop, but had passed on it because it was a .22 Magnum and didn't want the high cost of Mags, so had passed it up...

There was simply stunned silence on my end and when he asked what was wrong I told him Colt had only made a handful of Magnums in the first year of production and then dropped the caliber... He immediately got off the phone, called the shop...and it was gone... Last one I saw sell was in the $4K area and that was years ago...

Makes the perfect .22 Magnum...Bob

[oddshooter]

The Colt Diamondbacks are in my top 3 all time revolvers.
The fit is awesome and the finish is like liquid glass. The weight, balance, and grip are near perfect for me.
The wooden grips are gorgeous. Great triggers.

The accuracy is outstanding on all of mine. A real JOY to shoot. or just fondle.
I finally found my 6" last year after a half dozen years of searching. In 22lr or 38spl, they easily run side by side with their big brother, the Colt Python.

Their prices have doubled in the last 5 years. I got mine when they were in the $750 - $850 range. Now $1500. The ones I see are in much better condition than I would expect for their age. I think owners like me just fall in love and take better care of them.

Prescut

[kgb]

I tried out a 4" 38Spl and 6" .22 before finding a 4" .22 to balance best, or at least feel that way to me. Picked up a Buehler mount to put a scope on it and find a favorite brand of ammo then many years ago I found a spare cylinder at a gun show in Fremont, NE. The seller advised slugging the barrel to make sure it wasn't on the tight side of dimensions and I believe he also advised just having the existing cylinder altered for the Magnum case as easier and less expensive if I was okay with the commitment to the Mag. I recently dug out the spare cylinder and noticed the center bushing does not match the existing ejector's stem shape, looks to be cut for two grooves vs the single on my gun's version. I can shoot this revolver DA better than the others I've owned, something that's been a deterrent to having it made a Magnum is the potential it will not wind up as accurate as it is as a LR.

A .32 H&R Single Six has got me looking at S&W 16-4's, those have gotten about as stupid in price as Diamondbacks and looking again at mine it's been time again to contemplate a conversion rather than trying to trade it away for the S&W.

[oddshooter]

kgb,

That was a really interesting link between the diamondback and the sw 16-4. I don't know how I missed it before this.   Your pic showing the combat grips on that diamondback really made me look twice.   The combat grip is what the 16's come with.  Never seen them on a diamondback.

Make that top strap slotted on a SW16 full lug and it even gets closer.
But I think it's the weight, size, and balance that are so similar to me. Also the two calibers, the 38spl and the 32 H&Rmag, are very similar.

I've got to pull mine out and do a side by side on those two.

With the plague of the world upon us, I haven't gotten to get out and shoot the 16 much. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. The plague gets blamed for everything else.

Thanks for the mental stimulation on this Saturday morning.

Prescut

[rjm52]

...a .327 Diamondback would be as good at it gets... Wonder if with a centerfire... Find a .38 DB and a .22 barrel and cylinder and I'll be Jack Huntington would could it happen...

Anyone know if the cylinder would be long enough for .327...

Bob

[kgb]

oddshooter, I picked up those grips at another gun show and they're either unmarked Hogue one-piece grips or a well-done clone. Metal bracket goes through the grip frame bottom and a screw through the base of the grip secures them. The locating pin for factory grips has to come out to slip these on, and they're much more comfortable to my hand than the target style.

[oddshooter]

rjm,

That just shock my boots when you wrote about converting a diamondback to a 327. I've been dreaming about a modern K frame converted to 32, but I never put that together with a diamondback. My hand just seems to love that size, weight, contour, and BALANCE.

I would hate to lose one of my diamondbacks, but that 32 idea has my head spinning.

I would be eternally grateful if you fine gentlemen would walk me through what that project might entail, and if the cylinder is long enough for a 327; or even a 32 H&Rmag. My favorite 32-20 in a diamondback would be the sweetest of all; but I'm guessing that's out of the question.


Prescut
Let me apologize for the thread drift.   I forgot we were on 22mag conversions.   I'll try to take this somewhere else.

[kgb]

No sweat on the thread drift, interesting idea about building a .32 on the Diamondbacks as the K-frame IS a little on the big side for the smaller .32 bore and heavy barrel IMO. Don't think I'd want anything more than a 4" Model 16-4. I actually thought the .38 Diamondback a little light and the .22 just right---as a 4" not a 6".

Cylinder of my Diamondback is 1.610", window is 1.755" overall. The .32 H&R would fit fine, I looked up the COAL for the .327 as 1.4".

[rjm52]

I've got a 6" K-Frame Model 53 6" that was transformed into .327... With the standard Magnum profile lug vs. the full lug put on the 16-4 it makes all the difference in balance...not muzzle heavy at all...

[bradshaw]

Oct 25, 2020 10:52:32 GMT -5 oddshooter said:

rjm,

That just shock my boots when you wrote about converting a diamondback to a 327. I've been dreaming about a modern K frame converted to 32, but I never put that together with a diamondback. My hand just seems to love that size, weight, contour, and BALANCE.

I would hate to lose one of my diamondbacks, but that 32 idea has my head spinning.

I would be eternally grateful if you fine gentlemen would walk me through what that project might entail, and if the cylinder is long enough for a 327; or even a 32 H&Rmag. My favorite 32-20 in a diamondback would be the sweetest of all; but I'm guessing that's out of the question.


Prescut
Let me apologize for the thread drift.   I forgot we were on 22mag conversions.   I'll try to take this somewhere else.

*****

Prescut.... before carving either S&W or Colt into a hot .32 centerfire, I’d want to Rockwell the frame. It would be a heartbreaker to see rim setback on the standing breech. Folks, including Jack Huntington, Hamilton Bowen, Jerry Moran, Ron Power, and Ronnie Wells might have a handle....

Alternatives of known srength of course include Ruger Security-Six and SP-101. Along with a newer S&W J-frame built for .357 Mag.
David Bradshaw

[oddshooter]

Thanks for the good advice, David. It never hurts to ask someone who knows what they're talking about; like that list you suggested.

There has been much discussion on SWforum about making a K frame into a .32.

I believe it was Green Frog who took a model 17 and had the cylinder and barrel cut to .32. There are some real cult followers of the 32 on that forum.

Frog's descriptions are enticing.
He hasn't reported any problems, but that could just mean it hasn't happened yet. I've seen quite a few who have taken the SW 16-4 32 h&r mag and reamed it for 327fedmag. I recently acquired a 16-4, but it is way too sweet to start customizing. I also have grown quite fond of the 32 H&Rmag. I'm on my 5th powder trying to get some accuracy out of my 327's.

Prescut

[bradshaw]

Prescut.... My knowledge of .32’s is next to non-existent. In general, it’s my impression S&W may have cocktailed heat treatments more than Ruger, Smith started nearly a century before, eventually evolving to adapt earlier designs to cartridges more potent than the frame was designed for. Whereas, Bill Ruger started with newer alloys and, except for trying the .44 Remington Mag in his .357 Blackhawk, generally designed his guns around the cartridge. Not that S&W hadn’t done it that way, Bill started with the smoke of WW II clearing at his back. Postwar construction, you might say.

Others may chime in on strength of various Single-Six’s, or even early Blackhawks. It is my understanding that, for a long time Ruger gave the Single-Six the same heat treatment as the big bores. Somewhere along the line Ruger switched from machining frame castings before heat treatment to MACHINE AFTER HEAT TREATMENT. As Bill, Jr., told this shooter, anticipated tooling wear didn’t materialize enough to make a difference, while an advantage came when long coiled cuttings from “soft" 4130/4140 became chips with post-treatment cutting. Bill said this became better for machines, tooling, and cleanup. At some point the Single-Six was given a different heat treatment. Again according to Bill, Jr., the Single-Six retained an exceedingly strong frame.

Barrel steel would be another concern, particularly reboring from .22 Long Rifle to .32 centerfire. Some .22 barrels are soft. While this dope may be antiquated, many older .22’s were made with barrels too soft of jacketed centerfire.

Jerry Moran may have messed around with a Colt double action .32 centerfire.

Jim Stroh told me he measured a Colt Single Action Army at Rockwell 10. Ronnie Wells says Colt single actions don’t register on the Rockwell C scale. I’ve never heard of a Python frame being super tough, but it is configured for the .357 Mag, and Jerry Moran has pound many a Sierra 170 FMJ powered by Winchester 296 and H110 downrange without destroying frames. As a mild digression, Harrington & Richardson did not, to the best of my knowledge, chamber .32 Federal Mag in its revolvers.

Jim Stroh, Allan Jones, and Ron Reiber are three others to add to the list of possible source material.
David Bradshaw