Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. J-FRAME Continued from page 45 handling, and also allows the ports to have the leverage to do their job better. Marc de-horned, fine-tuned it and eventually fitted it to the action. As Marc said to me, “This is lots more work to do it this way, but if you want a top-notch, premium result, you have to take the time and use quality parts to get that finished product meeting your expectations.” And he’s right. That 640 was beginning to become something special, and my mind’s eye started to see something in steel — always a delight. Marc worked the DA into agreement and left me with a sound, reliable trigger pull, but not something too light or iffy. Many people equate “light” with “good” in an action. In reality, a genuinely smooth trigger can be several pounds more than a light one, and not only be more reliable, but feel better and offer some authority and controllability to it when pulled. The barrel ended-up at about 2.25" and I found it to be a good compromise. While giving up some of the shootability of a 3" or 2.5" version, the all-steel build, slightly longer length and porting changed the dynamics of the handling and it felt like it was a bigger gun. Which, later on, proved the case at the range (or in my back “yard” now-days). The barrel didn’t allow for the S&W style forward cylinder-locking plunger so Marc did some Gemini-Magic. He machined for, and installed, a single crane-locking ball set-up. It’s precisely as you might see on K, L and N-frames but scaled down beautifully to fit this smaller gun. It works slick, locks up tight and unlike some I’ve felt, is not “grabby” when you unlock the cylinder to open it. Well done, if you ask me. Marc also used a slightly longer ejector rod to help clear that beastly .357 Magnum-length trash out of the cylinder. That was one of our complaints about standard-length J-frame ejectors while at Gunsite — they often didn’t punch the empty .38s clear, much less the longer .357s. The moon-clip conversion was by choice, as I’ve always thought they were the fastest way to load and unload a revolver — and in Marc’s version, the rule still applies. The beauty of using rimmed cartridges (unlike .45 ACP revolvers), is the fact you can use standard ammo flawlessly too. So, you can opt for moonclips, or not. Since the gun ejects so well, I’ve taken to carrying it loaded with loose rounds, with a clip of five as a reload. If you load and unload loaded clips often you can risk tweaking 80 The Touches Dillon 1-6 American Handgunner Ad 2/5/09 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • JULY/AUGUST 2009