Smith & Wesson N frames

[DeaconKC]

Put some new grips on a Smith & Wesson 1st Model New Century [Triple Lock] and decided to get it's son and grandson out for some pics too. The front one is a 1911 built gun in .44 Special, the middle one is a WW1 gun made in October of 1917 in .45 ACP and the rear one is another .44 Special one of the first 500 3rd Model, made in 1926.

[Dantankerous]

Very nice! Great collection!

[Alpo]

Does that 1917 have a lanyard ring? And if not, why not?

[DeaconKC]

34 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Does that 1917 have a lanyard ring? And if not, why not?

Sure does!

[Alpo]

The grips are right, but the way the gun is positioned I couldn't tell in the picture.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Hey Deacon!!

 

Righteously NICE.  Actually, Righteously SWEEEEET!!  .44s ROCK and that .45 ain't nothing to sneeze at neither 🤪 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Who made the grips on the back one?

[DeaconKC]

Just now, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Who made the grips on the back one?

I don't know, found them some years ago at an estate sale. By the fit in my hand, I suspect Sile, but I'm not sure.

[WOLFY]

those are beauties, DeaconKC

 

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

I've only got one N Frame, a 625, but it has Herrett Shooting Star grips on it. Those things fit my hand like they were custom made for me.

[Pat Riot]

Nice N frames @DeaconKC

I’ve wanted a 1917 S&W for a long time. One day I will have one. 
 

I only own 2 N frames. 
 

327 Night Guard 8-shot .357 Magnum

 

25-15 .45 Colt

[Buckshot Bear]

I have a 6" Model 28 Highway Patrolman, one of my sons has a 4".

It's ridiculously accurate with 148gr hollow base wadcutters, I have shot an 'A' grade score with it one handed 25 yards ISSF match (Bullseye) many many times. I don't shoot it as much now as I have moved to an orthopedic gripped Pardini .32 S&W Long, though we have kicked off ICORE recently at our club and I have hunted up some N frame speed loaders. 

 

https://www.icoreaustralia.org.au/

 

 

 

 

Edited March 14 by Buckshot Bear

[Alpo]

9 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I've only got one N Frame, a 625, but it has Herrett Shooting Star grips on it. Those things fit my hand like they were custom made for me.

Did you buy them used?

 

Because my understanding was when you bought Herrett you sent in a tracing of your hand and they were custom made to fit you.

[largo casey #19191]

I have a N frame 544 in 44/40

                                                  Largo

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

4 hours ago, Alpo said:

Did you buy them used?

 

Because my understanding was when you bought Herrett you sent in a tracing of your hand and they were custom made to fit you.

I bought them used. Back in their heyday, (1970s and '80s), they had a line of premade grips available for the bigger gunmakers. I bought my first set for a Ruger Security Six. Later, I added a set to a Colt Python. Both felt like they were custom made for me, but were their factory standard. At that same time, you could  send in a tracing and they'd make you a custom set. I never did because their standard grips fit me fine.

[Rip Snorter]

Had a couple of sets of Herretts made years ago - hand tracing and grip frame tracing.  Nice work - a favorite set on a S&W Custom Shop 357 8 Times - Had thought they were out of business, still the same apparently. Good prices, and custom too!  Here is the form, just as I remember it! https://www.herrettstocks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Herretts-Gun-Stocks-Order-Form-2.pdf.-1.pdf

Edited March 14 by Rip Snorter
Typo

[Alpo]

51 minutes ago, largo casey #19191 said:

I have a N frame 544 in 44/40

                                                  Largo

 

They are sweet. And that's how I learned that a 5 inch N-frame was the perfect Smith & Wesson revolver.

[DeaconKC]

Lovely guns and grips folks! Keep 'em coming.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

Beautiful Collection Pard.

I too am a 44 Special fan.

I so badly want a triple lock or a model 24 in 44 Special. 

Rooster 

[Alpo]

I know people like those 44 specials. But 45 ACP seems to work better for me.

 

Cut down 1917.

 

625, Model of 1988.

 

And a Thunder Ranch 22-4.

Also have a 1937 Argentine, but apparently I have no picture.

[Boggus Deal #64218]

On 3/14/2026 at 4:32 AM, Alpo said:

Did you buy them used?

 

Because my understanding was when you bought Herrett you sent in a tracing of your hand and they were custom made to fit you.

You could buy certain Herrett’s Stocks that were a standard shape. The Shooting Star pattern was one of those.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

I never could keep track of the S&W Letter Frame Designations.    They just confuse me.   I know they are related to frame size/caliber but I could never remember which letter was which size.    On the other hand, Model Designations are much easier for me to keep track of.   That's a quirk of my mind I guess.

But, based on what people are calling N frames in the above pics, (and quick check of Wikipedia) I guess I do have some that qualify.

 

.357 Magnum model 586.   Letters to 1983.

 

  

Model 1917, .45 ACP.   Brazilian Army Surplus.  Letters to 1938.

 

Model 29-9  .44 Magnum.   Don't have the letter yet, it's pending.   

In truth, I am surprised I don't have more of these things.   Then again, I do have 5 1899/M&P/Model 10/Victory Model revolvers in 3 different calibers.   That one is fun do to it's ever changing name!

[Alpo]

Actually that first one is not an N, it is an L.

 

When Smith & Wesson first brought out in 357 they put it in their big 44 caliber frame size - N frame.

 

There's a big heavy gun. So Bill Jordan convinced Smith the most cops carry their guns a whole lot more than they shoot them, and even when they do shoot them most of the time they're shooting them with 38 wadcutters. So if they could come out with a way of heat treating them to make them a little stronger they can put a 357 into a K frame 38 frame. And they did that and they invented what they called the Combat Magnum, which a few years later was giving the model number of Model 19.

 

And that was a wonderful thing as long as it was just cops. But non cops bought them also, and they shot them a lot, they shot them with Magnums instead of 38 wadcutters. And lo and behold they were not really strong enough for that.

 

So Smith and Wesson did what Colt did. They made a frame that was bigger than the 38 K frame but was smaller than the 44 N frame. The L frame. Amazingly it was the exact same size as the Colt Python. And they even gave it a full length underlug, like the Python. And it was only chambered in 357. For many years. Later they put five hole cylinders in it and chambered it in 44, but with that six hole cylinder it was always a 357. Never a 38, never a 22, never a 45 - 357.

 

They made it in blue and they made it in stainless and they made it with fixed sights and they made it with adjustable sights.

Edited March 17 by Alpo

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

On 3/13/2026 at 11:09 PM, Buckshot Bear said:

I have a 6" Model 28 Highway Patrolman, one of my sons has a 4".

It's ridiculously accurate with 148gr hollow base wadcutters, I have shot an 'A' grade score with it one handed 25 yards ISSF match (Bullseye) many many times. I don't shoot it as much now as I have moved to an orthopedic gripped Pardini .32 S&W Long, though we have kicked off ICORE recently at our club and I have hunted up some N frame speed loaders. 

 

https://www.icoreaustralia.org.au/

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

Actually that first one is not an N, it is an L.

 

When Smith & Wesson first brought out in 357 they put it in their big 44 caliber frame size - N frame.

 

There's a big heavy gun. So Bill Jordan convinced Smith the most cops carry their guns a whole lot more than they shoot them, and even when they do shoot them most of the time they're shooting them with 38 wadcutters. So if they could come out with a way of heat treating them to make them a little stronger they can put a 357 into a K frame 38 frame. And they did that and they invented what they called the Combat Magnum, which a few years later was giving the model number of Model 19.

 

And that was a wonderful thing as long as it was just cops. But non cops bought them also, and they shot them a lot, they shot them with Magnums instead of 38 wadcutters. And lo and behold they were not really strong enough for that.

 

So Smith and Wesson did what Colt did. They made a frame that was bigger than the 38 K frame but was smaller than the 44 N frame. The L frame. Amazingly it was the exact same size as the Colt Python. And they even gave it a full length underlug, like the Python. And it was only chambered in 357. For many years. Later they put five hole cylinders in it and chambered it in 44, but with that six hole cylinder it was always a 357. Never a 38, never a 22, never a 45 - 357.

 

They made it in blue and they made it in stainless and they made it with fixed sights and they made it with adjustable sights.

Two of my favorite revolvers land right in this sweet spot…

 

A 4” Highway Patrolman that is smooth as silk, even with full house 357 loads. 
 

And a 6” 686. Same rough weight as the previous favorite, but balanced forward with the 6” lugged barrel. My son calls it the “pistol that can’t miss”, and he’s not exaggerating. 
 

Love my Smith and Wessons from J to N frames!

[DeaconKC]

Okay, remember S&W current sizes are alphabetical, J is the small 5 shot concealment guns. K is next size up built around the .38 Special with some .357 use. L is built for a steady diet of .357 Magnums, N is the size for the .44s and .45s. Then the X is the .500 Magnum size.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

So the M1899/M&P/Victory/Model 10 is a K Frame?

And where exactly do the Model 1, 1-1/2, 2, and 3 fit in?  🤔  

[DeaconKC]

1 minute ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

So the M1899/M&P/Victory/Model 10 is a K Frame?

And where exactly do the Model 1, 1-1/2, 2, and 3 fit in?  🤔  

Yup, those are K frames. And the others were before the letter series, those are their actual numbers.

[Pat Riot]

I laugh when people complain about Glock model numbers. I usually just tell them “If Glock’s numbering system is weird you gotta check out Smith & Wesson’s…go ahead, I’ll wait.” 
 

I actually don’t wait. They’ll either be a while or they will come back quickly with something else that irritates them, which will irritate me so I just bail on the whole conversation, thread or post. 

[watab kid]

ive got a couple , i enjoyed seeing yours , 

[Alpo]

Smith & Wesson makes sense to me. Mostly.

 

They started making a gun. They called it a number one. Because it was their first gun. It was a little 22 short. This was the 1850s. Along came the war. Many people carry them as backups. Smith decided if you were going to carry for self-defense you might want a bigger gun. So they made a larger six shot 32, with a square butt, which they called a number two. Then the war was over.

 

They thought that people might not want to carry that huge big 32 But they would still want to carry a gun for self defense, so they made this a little bit smaller, making it a five shot 32 and they gave it a round butt for easier concealability. Since this was smaller than a number two but bigger than a number one, they called it a number one and a half.

 

Later they made a huge holster gun which they chambered in 44 Smith & Wesson and they called it a number three.

 

Notice, none of these things are "model" anything. They are number. The number one, the number one and a half, the number two, the number three.

 

The Russians liked the number three, and we're going to buy a bunch of them to arm their military. But they wanted some changes. This changed gun became the number three Russian. The original number three was now the number three American, because they were different cartridges. Then some army officer that apparently was a maladroit because he could not figure out how to open a Smith & Wesson with only one hand redesigned it, and this new number three was chambered in 45 Schofield.

 

But these numbers were all sizes. A number one was the smallest and a one and a half was bigger than a one and a two with bigger than a one and a half and a three with bigger than a two. Sizes.

 

Then comes 1900, and Smith and Wesson's brand new invention that they stole from Colt --- the HAND EJECTOR!!!!

 

They made them in three sizes. The I frame, which was the equivalent of a number 2. The k-frame which was a new size entirely, designed for their new cartridge the 38 special. And the N frame which was the equivalent of a number three.

 

And then there was the M frame, which was smaller than an I. Basically the equivalent of a one and a half. Why did they give it a higher letter if it was a smaller gun??

 

That puzzles me all to hell.

 

But that's okay because they didn't make it that long. It was a very small 22 long - not long rifle, long - called a Ladysmith and it was designed for women to carry for self-defense but it got the reputation of being carried by hookers for self defense, so good women did not want to use them. Sales dropped and they discontinued it.

 

So they had the I, a six shot 32. The K, a six shot 38 special. The N, a six shot 44.

 

Then they wanted to put a 38 Smith & Wesson in their little gun. But the cylinder hole was not tall enough for a cylinder that would hold 38 cartridges. They redesigned the I. Made the hole taller. Now it would hold a five shot 38 cylinder. This new frame size was called the improved I. And for a while they made 32s on the I frame and 38s on the improved I frame.

 

Then they decided it was silly to make two frame sizes that close together, and they quit making the I and made all of their little guns on the improved I.

 

Then they wanted to make their little gun hold a 38 special, but again there was a problem, because the cylinder hole was not long enough for that length of cartridge. Modification time once again, and now they had a frame that would take a 38 special cylinder. They called it a J. And for a while they only made the J in 38 special. All their other little guns were still made on the improved I.

 

And again they decided that was foolish - having two frame sizes that close together - and they discontinued the I and now all their little guns were Js.

 

A few years back they decided they needed to put 357s in the J frame.

 

I presume, as I don't know about this one, that they once again stretched the frame to make it hold a 357 length cylinder. Which would make a 357 size J and a normal size J. I don't know if they have discontinued the normal size J and all of their little guns are made on the 357 size J, but based on their past it would seem likely.

[Jonathan Slim Chance]

Here's my entrant.

 

3" N Frame .44 Magnum.  I had the cylinder machined so it would take the full moon clips. 

 

I've previously had several .45 ACP N Frames (1955 Target, 625-2 'Model of 1988'), and for some foolish reason or the other I sold them off. My current object of desire is a .45 ACP Mountain gun, but so far that has eluded me.