S&W 351PD .22 Mag to .22LR conversion

Dale Gribble

Dale Gribble

Can't starve us out; Can't make us run
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S&W 351PD .22 Magnum 7 shot

EBA76741-D7FC-40CE-A357-966D739FC5D0.jpeg53F46434-8674-4B5D-826B-A6519137F3F5.jpeg

Got a wild hair for a convertible J Frame rimfire. For $70, I picked up a cylinder for a S&W 43C from MGW (.22LR / 8 shot). Cylinder came with an ejector.

Did a lot of research and reading up on folks who’ve spent a good bit of time working on Smiths. I figured the worst that could happen is I’ll screw up the ejector on the .22LR cylinder

Tedious hand work with files/stones and it took me all evening to get it done, but I intentionally worked slowly and took my time. Once I got it right, tested with 8 .22LR empties…worked like a charm, everything is in time, smooth and locks up tight.

Glad I decided to tackle it…I learned alot and really enjoyed working on it.

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As soon as my 360 9mm conversion gets back from Pinnacle, I’m anxious to take a trip to the range.
 
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Very cool. So can you hot swap them now or is it a permanent change?

Also if you want to test fire it and are near Reidsville I think I have some Colibri (powderless 22lr) you can have, test fire that puppy in your living room with a backstop.
 
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NCLivingBrit said:
Very cool. So can you hot swap them now or is it a permanent change?
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I can swap them out. The .22LR cylinder uses the same ejector rod/spring, center pin and center pin spring as the .22 Magnum cylinder.
 
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Dale Gribble said:
I can swap them out. The .22LR cylinder uses the same ejector spring, center pin and center pin spring as the .22 Magnum cylinder.
Click to expand...
That is awesome. Handy thing to have, a 22 revolver that eats any 22 you can find.
 
NCLivingBrit said:
Very cool. So can you hot swap them now or is it a permanent change?

Also if you want to test fire it and are near Reidsville I think I have some Colibri (powderless 22lr) you can have, test fire that puppy in your living room with a backstop.
Click to expand...

Just checked…had a couple of boxes.

Test fire in the basement went off without a hitch…ran a full cylinder through it.👍
 
papa_smurf said:
Very cool. Want to post up what you had to do to make it work?

Id love that combo.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Had to fit each of the 8 lugs on the extractor to the hand. I used a #1 Barrette file and hard Arksnsas stone.

Since it was a new cylinder, pretty much had to start from scratch, but I did use the extractor from the .22 Magnum cylinder as a “guide/starting point”.

I didn’t have any Dykem, so I resorted to hillbilly engineering and used a sharpie to cover the extractor. I pulled the hammer back, slowly and ran the cylinder through two complete rotations. Hand engaged and rotated the cylinder, cylinder stop engaged the slots, but the hammer would not go fully back and lock.

Took the cylinder out, looked at the “wear” marks from the hand engagement and used that as a jumping off point.

I worked on only one lug at a time, using the file to remove material and the stone to smooth/debur it. Removed material from both the face of the ratchets and the engagement surface for the hand. File/stone/test fit, then lather/rinse/repeat until I achieved lockup with each lug.

It was time consuming, but time well spent.
 
So last night in my “basement range”, I ran a cylinder full of Aquila Colibris through it.

This evening, I stepped it up a notch and ran some CCI CB Longs through it…

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Next up, CCI .22 Short…
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Everything functioned great.

With my backstop/bullet trap, I could probably get away with running a cylinder of CCI Mini Mags through it, but I reckon I’ll save those for the outdoor range.
 
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Dale Gribble said:
S&W 351PD .22 Magnum 7 shot

View attachment 442813View attachment 442814

Got a wild hair for a convertible J Frame rimfire. For $70, I picked up a cylinder for a S&W 43C from MGW (.22LR / 8 shot). Cylinder came with an ejector.

Did a lot of research and reading up on folks who’ve spent a good bit of time working on Smiths. I figured the worst that could happen is I’ll screw up the ejector on the .22LR cylinder

Tedious hand work with files/stones and it took me all evening to get it done, but I intentionally worked slowly and took my time. Once I got it right, tested with 8 .22LR empties…worked like a charm, everything is in time, smooth and locks up tight.

Glad I decided to tackle it…I learned alot and really enjoyed working on it.

View attachment 442818

View attachment 442819

As soon as my 360 9mm conversion gets back from Pinnacle, I’m anxious to take a trip to the range.
Click to expand...
I’m trying this conversion as well, in the pictures it looks like you rounded the corners on the ejector where it meets the hand. Did you modify the hand as well? The hand angle or length of hand?
 
jsmash said:
I’m trying this conversion as well, in the pictures it looks like you rounded the corners on the ejector where it meets the hand. Did you modify the hand as well? The hand angle or length of hand?
Click to expand...

No mods to the hand…only the ejector.
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
Did this have anything to do with one being a 7 shot and one an 8?? Locking up earlier???
Click to expand...

I had considered that possibility, but the ratchet mechanism of the ejectors on both the .22LR cylinder and the OE .22 Magnum cylinder were dimensionally the same…only difference being the number of ratchets.

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If I remember correctly, Smith offered the model 48 with a .22LR conversion cylinder, but it didn’t stay in production very long…

Swapping out cylinders on a DA revolver is a bit more involved than say, changeout on a Single Six. Not complicated/complex, at all, just takes a little longer.
 
Dale Gribble said:
Had to fit each of the 8 lugs on the extractor to the hand. I used a #1 Barrette file and hard Arksnsas stone.

Since it was a new cylinder, pretty much had to start from scratch, but I did use the extractor from the .22 Magnum cylinder as a “guide/starting point”.

I didn’t have any Dykem, so I resorted to hillbilly engineering and used a sharpie to cover the extractor. I pulled the hammer back, slowly and ran the cylinder through two complete rotations. Hand engaged and rotated the cylinder, cylinder stop engaged the slots, but the hammer would not go fully back and lock.

Took the cylinder out, looked at the “wear” marks from the hand engagement and used that as a jumping off point.

I worked on only one lug at a time, using the file to remove material and the stone to smooth/debur it. Removed material from both the face of the ratchets and the engagement surface for the hand. File/stone/test fit, then lather/rinse/repeat until I achieved lockup with each lug.

It was time consuming, but time well spent.
Click to expand...
Kudos on the “hillbilly” engineering, something I’d aspire to undertake at some point. I assume that the slightly larger bore of the 22 mag wouldn’t allow the inverse cylinder swap on a model 63?
 
happycamper87 said:
Kudos on the “hillbilly” engineering, something I’d aspire to undertake at some point. I assume that the slightly larger bore of the 22 mag wouldn’t allow the inverse cylinder swap on a model 63?
Click to expand...

There’s what? .001 difference in the bore between .22 LR and .22 WMR?

If I had a 63, I wouldn’t be afraid to try it, at all. With the smaller bore diameter, I’d bet you’d get pretty good accuracy with the 22 Magnum.
 
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Dale Gribble said:
There’s what? .001 difference in the bore between .22 LR .22 WMR?

If I had a 63, I wouldn’t be afraid to try it, at all. With the smaller bore diameter, I’d bet you’d get pretty good accuracy with the 22 Magnum.
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You make a good point! I’ll keep my eye out for a cylinder! Thanks for the inspiration
 
Nice Work. Hand fitting all those lugs while keeping the angles and flats consistent! Impressive.
 
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