S&W 627 V-Comp

Most premium firearms manufacturers have a “Custom Shop” or “Performance Center” in which their standard model guns are assembled with a higher degree of craftsmanship and accessorized with features that make them more desirable for specific facets of shooting sports or more discriminating buyers.  The Smith and Wesson Performance Center has a long and storied reputation for turning out some mighty fine pieces; highly prized by their owners.

The model 27 of today is a .357 Magnum revolver which evolved from its beginnings as the S&W “Registered Magnum” introduced in 1935.  Even though it was brought to market during the great depression and was extremely expensive, sales flourished and production was backlogged most of the time.  The model was popular with law enforcement agencies during its early years because of its durability and use of the powerful .357 Magnum cartridge. General George Patton carried a 27 along with his Colt Peacemaker and referred the S&W his “killing gun.”

Fitted with a stainless steel frame in 1986, the 27 became known as the 627. In 1996 the performance center began production of the 8-cylinder version, with variants available such as a compensator fitted to reduce muzzle flip, and various barrel lengths. We evaluated the 627 V-Comp variant (shown above) which is fitted with Hogue rubber finger-groove grips, adjustable target sights, and muzzle compensator. Its frame and barrel shroud is finished in a dull black color, with compensator, cylinder, trigger, and hammer sporting a natural satin stainless finish.

As with most other PC (S&W Performance Center) guns, the fit and finish of the 627 V-Comp is more than merely excellent – exquisite is an adjective that comes to mind – and this is not just in the exterior aesthetics but in the precise fitting on mating surfaces of interior parts and spring choices. Trigger operation in revolvers during double action mode moves not only the hammer but effectuates the revolving of the cylinder.  To make all these parts move smoothly requires more than just “production line” attention to detail and the PC pulls it off with superior aplomb.  The assembly technician who crafted the one we tested absolutely, positively knew what he/she was doing.

A light trigger weight is desirable for target shooters.  It allows an experienced target shooter to concentrate on factors other than trigger management when attempting very tight groups and allows for use of the desirable concept that hammer fall should be a surprise.  Very light rifle triggers are measured in ounces and a 4 lb. handgun trigger weight would be considered very light by combat or defense type handgun standards.  We use the term “wish off” (a mere wish of the shooter will cause the trigger to trip the sear) to describe an extremely light trigger pull weight – one in the 2 – 3 lb. range.  Weights in this range are considered too light by some very accomplished shooters, and 3 – 4 lbs. is probably the most common preferred weight among expert target marksmen.

A reputable manufacturer would not even put a “target” model gun on the market, much less a performance center or custom shop variant, if its trigger was not smooth and crisp, so the piece we tested was certainly no surprise.  We had absolutely no criticism of the trigger feel in this regard.
The 627 V-Comp we tested had a 4 lb. trigger pull weight in single action mode. While this is above “wish off” status, it most certainly is in the “very light” class and could be easily lightened further by a competent gunsmith if the owner wanted it so.  With the other excellent ergonomic features of this gun, a lighter trigger seems not be be necessary for an experienced shooter to achieve excellent results.

The .357 Magnum caliber can be a handful with a light gun; and downright brutal with a very light gun. Also, muzzle flip is accentuated with this powerful round, compared to 38 Special, 9 mm, and even most .45 ACP handguns.  The compensator fitted to the V-Comp directs some of the muzzle blast upward, directly offsetting the muzzle flip tendency and reducing the perceived recoil somewhat.  Recoil perception is further reduced by the Hogue rubber grip. Together, the blast management features of the V-Comp tame the beast to a manageable state and allow extended range sessions without hand/wrist/arm fatigue.  If loaded with some “low-recoil” .357 ammo, or .38 Special, the gun becomes a real pussycat – not much above .22lr in felt recoil.

We gave the V-Comp a work out as if it were a dedicated target gun.  It could, however, be a very suitable self-defense weapon under the right circumstances.  Its weight is less than many .357 Magnum revolvers and certainly no more than almost all but the sub-compact “pocket rockets” on the market today.  Accentuating its utility as a carry piece is its 8-shot capacity, which exceeds almost all other center fire revolvers (regardless of caliber). While its size is not, perhaps, well suited for concealed every day carry, the V-Comp would be an excellent choice as a sidearm for most outdoor recreational activities.

It almost goes without saying (but we will anyway) that the V-Comp is a very accurate handgun.  We tried a variety of factory and hand load ammo to test this aspect.  While some ammo did better than others in this evaluation, everything we put through it produced acceptably small groups and some were simply outstandingly small.  This gun is really very easy to shoot well.  This is one of those rare cases where a moderately skilled shooter can improve his scores by simply laying out some cash for a better tool.

Our overall impression of this example of S&W PC goodness is, simply, WOW!  Perhaps it’s not the best revolver ever but it’s (of the ones we’ve come across) easily the best “out of the box” handgun we’ve ever experienced.  Additionally, the gun is a very good, if not great, value.  If a consumer paid to add the features included with the V-Comp, and the fine-tuning of the operational parts, he/she would spend many more dollars than what is required to get the package from the get-go.

Any wheel gun aficionado would be very proud to own the V-Comp.  It is a real joy to shoot.

Respectfully,
The Bunker Bunch

Smith & Wesson K-Frame Revolvers

Long, long ago, right here in our very own galaxy, on our watery blue planet, meticulously quality-conscious partners Smith & Wesson designed and produced revolvers based on a medium-sized frame. The company’s variously sized frames were designated using alphabet letters, with the smaller “J-Frame” and mid-sized “K-Frame” models becoming the most popular. Even today, these models are commonly chosen by discriminating wheelie shooters and remain good sellers despite the increasingly popular pizazz of tacti-cool semi-autos.

Recently we came across two examples of S&W’s stellar quality from 45 years ago in the form of a Model 17-3 and a Model 19-3 – both with 6” barrels and accessorized as the “Target” variant (oversized grip panels, adjustable rear sight, etc.). They came out of the S&W factory in 1970 and were purchased in 1972. These one-owner guns were fired a very few times and then properly stored so that their condition today is no less than “mint.” Even the boxes and original paperwork show very little handling wear. They will not, however, become safe queens. While the fit ‘n finish of Smiths from this era is excellent, the real beauty of the K-frames is their operational beauty much more so than their aesthetic beauty. The triggers are crisp and smooth, and they print lead consistently right on point of aim.

S&W offered the various K-frame models in numerous configurations (more so then than now) to accommodate various shooting styles and purposes, such as competition, target, self-defense, concealed carry, etc.  With the growing popularity of semi-autos, revolvers are in less demand today for some of these activities.  In the ‘60’s and 70’s, though, a K-frame revolver with a 6” barrel was about as good as it gets for target and competition shooting.  There were some mighty fine Colt wheelies around in those days as well; before Colt started – a few years later – its downhill slide in quality.

And, as good as the Smiths of those days were, a few were produced with slightly “off-spec” chamber bores which caused accuracy problems with certain ammo.  Test-firing the wheelies is the best was to determine if a particular serial number is one of the “good ones” (likely), so our intention was to give the newly found treasures a good workout with various ammo of known quality. Knowing already that the aesthetics and trigger feel were superior, it remained only to be proven that bullets could be thrown from the beasts with equal excellence.

The 17 (22lr) and 19 (357mag) we found contentedly resting in storage were inspected, oiled up, and taken out for some exercise at our first opportunity. 2” and 3” paper targets and 5” and 8” steel swinging targets were set up on the backstop so that firing could be accomplished at 10 and 25 yard distances.  A Caldwell front rest was set up on the bench so that most of the “shooter-induced” variance could be eliminated from the some of the tests.

A course of fire was followed for each of the guns to gauge its inherent accuracy and the ergonomic qualities which lead to the shooter being able to utilize the gun’s quality without distraction.

A few rounds were fired from each to familiarize the shooter with the sight picture and trigger feel, and to allow for sight adjustment.  During these tests, which were not really intended to gauge the accuracy of the gun, it became apparent that they were “keepers.”  Only a minor adjustment in the sight was necessary to bring the bullet hole group to point of aim, and the size of the group was surprisingly small – although not the real goal of these first few shots. With a bit of trigger time and sight tweaking out of the way, we were ready to subject the Smiths to some more rigorous accuracy tests.

One of our Bunch is a former competition champion who can regularly print groups of the half-inch variety at 10 yards (standing; freehand) on a good day – given a decent gun and ammo.  Both the 17 and 19 easily produced this kind of result, and our shooter reported the clean, crisp triggers aided in the production of the excellent results.  A big smile was noted on the face of the shooter after each session.

Next we moved to the Caldwell rest to allow for some 25 yard shooting from a sitting position.  We loaded up some ammo from a questionable (not safety related, but accuracy challenged) and got disappointing results.  It seems the venerable S&W was not capable of straightening out ammo that lacked the design quality to fly on a consistent vector.  Changing to our benchmark 357 cartridges (ones that have been accurate in other guns) settled the situation down, giving a 1 5/8” group at very close to point of aim.  Experience tells us that the group would have been “one ragged hole” if shot from a Ransom Rest.

Pretty amazing accuracy for 25 yards.  Two of the 5 shots went through one hole and the entire group would fit into the trigger guard. Forget that the group is at the bottom of the circle - that's where the shooter was aiming.

All of the above shooting was done in single action mode, where the hammer is “thumb-cocked” instead of being drawn back by trigger movement, because maximum “target-shooting” accuracy is attainable from a double action revolver when fired in this manner. Evaluation of the guns utilizing double action trigger mode is less important when the gun’s intended use is target marksmanship than it would be in some competition regimes or self-defense training/practice, but evaluation of the gun for its overall quality in that mode is important nevertheless.

While these guns are intended for “target marksmanship” use, evaluation of the D/A (double action) operation was carried out to determine the overall build quality of the pieces.  Remembering that both of these guns are, for all intents and purposes, brand new (fewer than 100 rounds on the 17-3 and fewer than 40 rounds on the 19-3) some “stiffness” or “roughness” is to be expected in D/A operation. 

The 17-3, to our very pleasant surprise for a gun not yet broken-in, handled like butter throughout the D/A pull on all chambers.  The trigger movement was smooth and consistent all the way back to the “break” with no “stacking” (variation in trigger pull weight along the way) and this made for achievement of excellent D/A accuracy.

The 19-3 exhibited a mildly unpleasant feel during D/A trigger actuation.  The pull weight was about as heavy as we expected and the weight was consistent (no stacking) but there were a couple of spots on a couple of chambers where there was some extra drag or roughness, as if one piece of the mechanism was having to overcome a burr or rough spot on another piece.  This is not unusual in any new gun and is typical of S&W’s of the era.  The condition will most probably work its way out as a few hundred rounds are fired and, if not, a qualified gunsmith will be able to polish a part or two and render the operation flawless.  Aside from this “glitch” the D/A feel is good-to-excellent and will (one way or another) not degrade the quality rating of this piece.

In conclusion, K-Frame Smiths from the late 60’s and early 70’s are excellent guns.  The operational quality of the two we reviewed here is seriously above average for these models and a better shooting mid-sized revolver in 22lr or 357mag would be hard to find.

Respectfully Submitted

The Bunker Bunch

September, 2015

Phelps Heritage I Revolver

Can you say “HAND CANNON” boys & girls?  The Phelps Heritage I revolver in 45-70 fits the description pretty well.  Having plenty of experience with .357 Magnum, .44 Remington Magnum revolvers, and even the Thompson Contender chambered in heavy rifle calibers, we are no strangers to handguns that put out plenty of muzzle energy and wrist-pounding recoil.  In fact, every once in a while we like to “man-up” and take a hit or two for the team with full-power and +P cartridges in these beasts.  Getting to shoot the big Phelps was, to say the least, a real blast (pun intended)!

The photo above doesn’t do justice to the size and weight of this massive beast.  Weighing in at 5 ½ lbs. empty, it is as far at the other end of the spectrum from “concealed carry” as we’ve seen; and needs to be to handle the powerful 45-70 Government cartridge, which was common among Buffalo hunters in rifles back in the day. Nothing on the North American Continent can stand up to a well-placed shot with the powerful 45-70 Govt.  DRT is the applicable description here.

Predecessor of the Phelps revolver design was originally manufactured in 1972 by Russell Wilson, who sand casted the bronze frame (cloned from the Colt SAA configuration) in Evansville, IN. Gene Phelps purchased the manufacturing rights for this gun and formed a partnership with Earl Keller to produce a redesigned frame, also using sandcast bronze. After some subsequent manufacturing transitions, Phelps began producing the Heritage I, an example of which is the gun we shot. Phelps production was discontinued in the late 1970’s.

The .45-70 rifle cartridge, also known as .45-70 Government, was developed at the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873, which is known to collectors as the "Trapdoor Springfield". The new cartridge was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government cartridge which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War. It was originally designed to project a 405 grain bullet (almost twice the weight of a typical modern 45acp projectile) with a lethal range of over 3,000 yards.  To summarize, the 45-70 packs a wallop; with felt recoil to match, which is exacerbated when fired from a handgun. The term “plinking” never comes up in range sessions involving the big Phelps.

The example we tested was from the mid-70’s and is in pristine condition.  Fit ‘n finish on this piece is excellent, with only one minor defect noted: the fit of the tube housing the ejector rod, which turned out to be cosmetic only and would escape the eye of all but the experienced gunsmith.  Function was flawless through the 50-round exercise we gave it.  While not extravagant artwork, the wood grip panels are aesthetically pleasing enough but on the smallish side for such a large gun.  More grip area would have been appreciated but not crucial.

Trigger action on the Heritage is much better than average for revolvers – even some that have gone through gunsmith tuning.  “Very light” and “crisp break point” were descriptions expressed by the shooters in our group. This enabled our testers to achieve better-than-expected accuracy even though the gun was completely unfamiliar and of very unusual size, weight, and caliber.  Enough Buffalo meat to feed a large Cavalry contingent would have been on the table if we’d been shooting at the right venue. As it was, our 8” steel plate danced like a rap star on drugs from shots fired at 25 yards both from a rest and freehand.

Those who enjoy shooting big bore, hefty revolvers or those who appreciate something truly unique in hand guns would enjoy having an example of the Phelps Heritage I as a part of their collection.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
February, 2015