SHOOTIST357 said:

Welcome to the DWF--Nice looking 714 you have.  Do you have a pic of the 6" barrel?

SHOOT

I am sad to say that the 6 inch barrel that my 714 came with is long gone.

There is a bit of an interesting horror story behind my old 6 inch tube. I was working  in the back of a small indoor pistol range as a re-loader at the time. One of the case sorting employees managed to squirrel away a full shoe box of all kinds of mixed 38 factory shells, from 38 s&w, (a different size) to 38 short colt, 38 special, and many many 38 wad cutters, there were even some jacketed 38, and quite a few .357 Magnum loaded rounds.

These were the kind of random rounds that folks dropped or left at the range. Maybe some didn't fire, or they had a light primer strike already, maybe some of them rolled forward past the line. Some were scuffed, squished, or just downright ugly. You get the general idea. It was always interesting to see all of the oddball random things (like magazine floor plates, rear sights, sear, slide stops, etc) that you would find mixed in with the range brass.

Anyways, my Dan Wesson was a bit of a tank, and I was younger, foolish, and still thought that I was invulnerable. In general not quite as experienced back then. So I decided it would be fun to slowly work my way through the box one day. There were quite a few squibs in the box, and I ended up driving a few stuck bullets out of the barrel, carefully using a brass rod. At some point the poor reliability of the mixed shells just outlived the novelty of having a big box full of free bullets, and I quit shooting them.

I let the guy I worked with (who had given me the box) shoot my Dan Wesson.  He grabbed the shoebox, and took it with him to the line. Long story short, he just barely lodged a squib wad cutter in the end of the barrel protruding a bit past the barrel nut, and he then fired another 38 wad cutter round behind it to remove it. Fortunately for him, both of the wad cutters, amazingly enough managed to exit the barrel, and nothing went kaboom, and the barrel was not visibly ringed, or bulged.

Unfortunately for me, the barrel was ringed, just not visibly. It was expanded right underneath the barrel nut.

I had a heck of a time getting the 6 Inch barrel off the gun after that as the barrel had expanded right at the barrel nut threads, and the nut just would not come off.

I wish I had read the FAQ on how to remove a stuck barrel back then. Sadly the Internet was pretty much still in its infancy. 

So I just struggled really hard trying to get the bulged 6 Inch Barrel off the gun, and I ended up taking it to a gunsmith

In the end, I had the shroud and barrel cut clean through (think cut in half, right down the middle), and the whole assembly was then threaded off in two pieces, unfortunately this ruined the 6 Inch barrel, as well as the shroud. It sure was a good thing that the gun had come with 2 barrels.

It's also a good example as to how strong the revolvers are. Other than the barrel, all the rest of the gun was still in spec, cylinder, and so on. It still shoots a pretty tight group even with the 2.5 inch barrel, and it's poor sight radius.

My Dan Wesson had been purchased with the full under lug, heavy, ribbed 6 inch barrel installed, and the spare 2.5 inch barrel, shroud, and nut came in a small worn cardboard Dan Wesson box, which I now kick myself for not hanging onto.

My old 6 inch barrel looked exactly like the one in this photo.

Note: This is not a picture of my 714 Dan Wesson Revolver, It's just a random Google image of a 715 with the same style 6 inch barrel that mine had on, when it was purchased.

At the time, I always preferred the 2.5 inch barrel, and I thought the full under lugged barrel was a bit big for the gun, and looked a bit odd. Now I realize it was a pretty cool option to have, and I miss it.

Maybe down the road a ways, I will be able to find, and pick up another heavy lugged 6 inch stainless barrel for the 714.

I did just buy/win this 6 inch stainless barrel today off of Gunbroker. I can hardly wait until it arrives now!

I will at least get to see what the normal non VH barrel looks like on the gun soon.

- Bullwolf

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