rd vs. sq butt; Official Police vs. "K" frame

1037 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by skwcoltguy, Jul 12, 2013

skwcoltguy

Discussion Starter · Jul 11, 2013

OK, admittedly these are the rather pedestrian observations of an amateur, but these round butt/square butt conversations relating to Official Police revolvers got me curious. Below are 2 S&W K frames.....the round and square aspects are very obvious.

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Viewing them from the bottom, it is clear these are two distinct and differently made parts when it comes to the grip frame area; there is a clear distinction.

Moving along to the Official Police, and my newly acquired knowledge about all the O.P round butts being "special orders" and then "special made", looking at the uneven machining on the RB (lettered) gun leads me to believe that unlike Smith, Colt just used one frame, and beveled the corners to make it slightly "round". I may be wrong, or this may be old news to many.

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Here is another look, and the uneven machining in that "rounding" process is actually surprising considering the really high quality polish and assembly visible on the rest of the gun. I found this interesting.

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dfariswheel

· #2 · Jul 11, 2013

You pretty well have it.
The S&W round and square butts are completely different.
You can make a round butt by converting the square butt, and Brownell's used to sell steel guides to do the grinding to do conversions.
Most of the removal was to the backstrap and rounding the front sharp corner.

Colt's square butt and round butt frames were nothing more than to round off the sharp corners on the front and back, with very little actual metal removal.

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JohnnyB

· #3 · Jul 12, 2013

I just looked at my 2" OP and also at my 2" Marshal which have round butts and they are both very uniform and nicely done. Perhaps your gun was the first one turned out on a Monday morning after the machinist had a "lost weekend".

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bmcgilvray

· #4 · Jul 12, 2013

Nice photo illustrations! Fun to consider the differences. My ol' jadded paws fit the square-butt Smith & Wesson K-Frame best. If I'd started out shooting a Colt extensively then it'd fit best.

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skwcoltguy

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 12, 2013

The square K in that picture is an odd ball, it is a M45-1. The .22 post office model.

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