I picked it up about a week ago and I finally had a chance to shoot it yesterday. To say that I am pleased with the way that it handled would be a great understatement. Granted, in between chasing the cows away and sweating buckets, I just put about 70 rounds through it, all of them 38 specials, but it was done mostly rapid fire, and the gun is heavy enough and the elkhorn Magna grips that I have on it were slip-resistant enough so that it did not ride up in my hand even when I fired rapid double action. When I had the grips made, I specified that the sides be rounded off to what is commonly called 'plainclothes' grips, similar to what S&W used to furnish on the old Model 58, and the Model 520 (the N-frame, not the L-frame). This enables me to curl my little finger around the bottom of the grip frame and this is also a factor in the way that the gun was controlled in rapid fire.
Weighing in at 42 ounces, there is plenty of metal in this revolver, as it is an N-frame, or the same frame used in the 44 Magnum. This, like I said before, was a major factor in keeping the gun down in rapid fire. It also greatly increases the strength.
S&W made the Model 28 from 1954 to 1986 or thereabouts, and it is basically just the 'plain jane' version of the Model 27, the highly polished original 357 Magnum, that was introduced in 1935. Functionally the two models are the same thing, the difference between them being that the 27 is a lot more highly polished and more lustrous. This costs money, and police agencies were not interested in glitter, so a lot more of them adopted the 28 over the 27. The 28 was offered almost entirely in 6" and 4" barrels, although there were a few 28's made with 8 3/8" tubes, and the Florida Highway Patrol had some made up with 5" tubes and a nickel finish.
Now, I am big enough to conceal an N-frame, and I can do so fairly easily, but I think that this one may primarily be a winter gun.
All in all, I am pleased with my Highway Patrolman.
Weighing in at 42 ounces, there is plenty of metal in this revolver, as it is an N-frame, or the same frame used in the 44 Magnum. This, like I said before, was a major factor in keeping the gun down in rapid fire. It also greatly increases the strength.
S&W made the Model 28 from 1954 to 1986 or thereabouts, and it is basically just the 'plain jane' version of the Model 27, the highly polished original 357 Magnum, that was introduced in 1935. Functionally the two models are the same thing, the difference between them being that the 27 is a lot more highly polished and more lustrous. This costs money, and police agencies were not interested in glitter, so a lot more of them adopted the 28 over the 27. The 28 was offered almost entirely in 6" and 4" barrels, although there were a few 28's made with 8 3/8" tubes, and the Florida Highway Patrol had some made up with 5" tubes and a nickel finish.
Now, I am big enough to conceal an N-frame, and I can do so fairly easily, but I think that this one may primarily be a winter gun.
All in all, I am pleased with my Highway Patrolman.
