S&W PC 327.357MAGBiggest littlest 8-shot snubbie!

By Frank James

If you are one who appreciates auto-mobiles, particularly American auto-mobiles, at one time or another you

have probably studied or worked witha small-block Chevy V-8 overheadvalve motor. The most successful of allthe small-block Chevy V-8 motors wasthe "327", so named for its cubic inchdisplacement. The Smith & WessonPerformance Center is also building itsown "327", but it's not a small-blockChevy V-8. Their "327" is built on whatused to be Smith & Wesson's largestframe, not their smallest, but like theChevy V-8, the S&W PC 327 also haseight holes and despite its smallersize, it too, like the Chevy V-8, pro-duces power aplenty with its .357Magnum chambering.

The nomenclature of the PC 327 isderived from the first .357MAG Smith &Wesson manufactured before WorldWar Two. Back then it was called the"Registered Magnum" and during the1950s this same revolver was renamedand classified as the Model 27. A well-regarded revolver, the M27 was bigand, more importantly, it was heavy.With an empty weight of more than 46ounces, it was a tiring gun to carry foran eight-hour duty shift and even moretiring to carry concealed. (True con-cealed carry was accomplished onlyby large-bodied individuals.) Despiteall its faults, the M27 was a fine heavyrevolver and its burdensome weighthelped when working with the heavycharged cast bullet loads that manypreferred in the days before advancedhollow point bullet technology.

Gun Details

The PC M327, continuing with the"27" model number, however, is not aheavy gun even though it follows thesame N-frame format in terms of over-all size. It is a relatively light handgunwith an empty weight of only 21ounces. This weight reduction by morethan half is achieved through use of ascandium alloy frame, stainless steelbarrel, titanium cylinder, as well as atitanium shroud that surrounds thestainless steel barrel. Even thoughthese space age materials were used

70 COMBAT HANDGUNS

The S&W 327 comes from Performance Center,packing plenty of power for defensive revolver.

The 327 barrel is a two-piece affair andconsists of a titanium outer shroudand a stainless steel inner barrel.

in the construction of the revolver,there is more involved in its designthan meets the eye. The PC M327 isnot just a lightweight rendition orcounterpart to the steel frame original.

The boreline of the barrel relative tothe frame opening has been raisedslightly to accommodate the 8-shotcylinder, but that wasn't the onlydesign change. The back of the cylin-der has been cut for full moonclips andthe charge holes for each chamberhave been chamfered to aid thereloading process. Even the bolt lock-ing notches on the outside of the cylin-der are different from what is usuallyseen on a S&W N-frame. They are shal-lower than those found on a 6-shotsteel cylinder, but due to the strengthof the titanium cylinder there is noreduction ir overall strength.

The front sight is installed to the outertitanium shroud via a dovetail.

The 8-shot .357MAG N-frame hasproven extremely popular in all its vari-ations, much more so than its counter-part 7-shot L-frame of the same cal-iber. The difference here is that thisrevolver is intended for self-defense,not one meant for competition or anyother revolver oriented action sport.The idea of a large frame self-defenserevolver may seem antiquated or out ofstep with the MTV, computer chip 21 stcentury crowd; but the truth is, formany professionals the idea of anenhanced capacity double-actionrevolver in .357MAG is not a skewedconcept. It makes sense for the simplereason; we know the .357MAG worksas a manstopper. And the double-action, swing-out cylinder revolverremains one of our most reliable defen-sive handgun designs.

Naturally, the combination of thelightweight components yields a gunwhose size does not correspond withits weight. The PC M327 is the firsttime a titanium barrel shroud has beenused over the inner barrel. As a point of

The rear sight is nothing more thanthe standard milled u-notch channel.

S&W's N-frame 8-shot .357MAGshave become more popular than their7-shot L-frame .357MAGs.

fact, it was very recently announced bythe company that all S&W revolverswould soon feature this two-piece bar-rel assembly that utilizes an inner bar-rel and an outer barrel shroud. Plainly,not all of these guns will use titaniumbarrel shrouds, but the overall designwill be quite similar to thisPerformance Center product.

As for the .357MAG chambering,Smith & Wesson also announced theyare discontinuing all .357 K-frames.There are only two in the 2004 cata-log—the Model 65 and 66, and theywill be replaced by the Model 665 (thefixed sight version) and 666 (theadjustable sight model). Both theModel 665 and 666 will be built on theL-frame. While it wasn't explicitlyexplained during the announcement,the wear on the K-frame must stillremain a problem when the design isfed a heavy diet of full-bore .357MAGammo. That shouldn't be the case withthe M327, as it borrows heavily fromthe design of the production M329,which was built for the far more pow-erful .44 Magnum cartridge. Unlike alu-minum alloy, the scandium frame doesnot develop a "memory." This meansthe molecules don't line up over time insuch a way to allow cracks to developas the gun experiences heavy wear.Probably the best example of alu-minum "memory" is the ColtLightweight Commander, which afterextensive use will almost alwaysdevelop cracks in the frame around the

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FAVORITEREVOLVERS

slide stop pin hole. To help ensurelongevity with the scandium M327frame and to prevent cutting of the topstrap, there is a sheet metal shieldpositioned above the barrel-cylindergap.

The sights on the S&W PC M327 areminimal and that is as it should bebecause this is an up-close-and-per-sonal revolver. The front sight is 0.26 ofan inch wide and installed to the outertitanium shroud via a dovetail, whilepresenting a bright "blaze" orangepainted ramp to the shooter's eye. Therear sight is nothing more than thestandard milled u-notch channel milledinto the top of the frame. Obviously,there is no provision for adjustment.

The firing pin is located in the frameand is not on the hammer. There is nofront lock-up on the ejector rod and theoverall length of the rod is too short forfull ejection of the fired .357MAGcases. The stroke of the ejector rod iseven too short for full ejection of fired.38SPL cases, but unless you let thecylinder get extremely dirty or you'reshooting really high pressure ammo,the cases should easily fall free of thecylinder once the cylinder is opened,muzzle pointed up in a vertical plane,and the end of the ejector rod is givena quick jab to dislodge the spent brassin the 8-shot cylinder. However, in allthe testing, the factory loads fell easilyfrom the cylinder when the chamberswere clean. That may not always bethe case when the full moon clips areused with .357MAG, but unfortunatelythe full moon clips that are supposedto be provided with the M327 were notin the Performance Center paddedcase, so no testing was performedwith them.

There is a front "locking" point, ifyou want to use that term loosely, inthat the front of the yoke features thenow often seen Performance Centerball-detent that engages a corre-sponding V-shaped recess in the rearportion of the titanium shroud. Theframe features the standard S&Wframe mounted internal locking systemthat must be activated through use ofa key (two are provided) and it is locat-ed just above the cylinder latch.

The hammer spur has a teardropshape, is relatively short in length andfeatures the anticipated course check-ering on its top. The trigger is fittedwith an overtravel stop and comesfrom the box with the outside edgeswell curved for improved shooter com-fort and control. The double-actiontrigger pull measured between 11 to 12pounds in pull weight, while the single-

Performance: Smith & Wesson Performance Center 327 .357 Magnum

Load

Remington 125 JHP

Hornady125JHP

Black Hills 1 58 JHP

Remington 158 JHP

Remington 180 JHP

Winchester 180 SXT-HP

Velocity

1223

1206

1041

1069

983

1025

Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity and ES (extreme spread]accuracy in inches for best 7-shot (* 8-shot) groups from 50 feet.

ES

59

51

33

80

55

31

Accuracy

2.75*

3.50

3.50

2.75*

3.25

3.00

in feet per second (fps),

The cylinder release latch is locatedon the left side of the frame and justabove it can be found the 'key' oper-ated internal trigger locking system.

The trigger on the M327 is fitted withan overtravel stop and comes with theoutside edges well curved forimproved shooter comfort and control.

action trigger pull broke more consis-tently at exactly 4 pounds.

Range Time

Working with the S&W PC M327 onthe square range is not an unpleasantexperience, although it does produceenough power, muzzle bark and recoilto remind you it's not a docile pussy-cat. Like a well-tuned small-blockChevy dragster, this revolver likes to"git it on." The revolver comesequipped with Ahrends finger-groovecocobolo round butt wood grips.Although they are attractive in appear-ance, in truth they are probably not thebest choice for a long-range session. Iused a BlackHawk tactical shootingglove throughout my range sessionssimply to reduce the abuse my shoot-ing hand received from stout loadsover a long range session. If you don'tsubstitute some sort of synthetic cush-

The back of the grip frame is smooth,and a cross-pin for a lanyard.

ion-style grip for these wood grips, Iwould recommend a similar productfor the firing hand to make your rangesession more pleasant.

Having said that, these grips workwell in the concealed carry modebecause they help reduce the profileand the bulk of this somewhat largegun. The roundbutt frame of the M327features a small crosspin in a recess atthe heel of the frame for attachment ofa snap-in lanyard. If you are a camperand sleep in a mummy bag in wildplaces, I recommend the use of a lan-yard and tying it to your strong handwrist. The big concern, however, isloss of this small crosspin if youremove the wood grips, as it falls easi-ly from the frame once a grip half isremoved and the gun turned on itsside. It is a small pin and can be diffi-cult to locate if dropped on a livingroom carpet, so please take heed.

The M327 is too large for most con-cealed carry pocket applications and,due to the short barrel, a holster isn'treally necessary. A good belt slide witha retention strap like those offered byUncle Mike's worked well for my pur-poses at the range and under a sportcoat.

72 COMBAT HANDGUNS

Specifications:Smith & Wesson

Performance Center 327Caliber: .357 MagnumBarrel: 2 inches, shrouded sleeveOA Length: 7 inchesWeight: 21 ouncesGrips: Ahrends fingergroove roundbutt woodSights: Dovetail .260" orange rampfront, U-notch rearAction: DA/SAFeatures: PC gun rug, 2 full moonclips, ball detent lock-up, cham-fered charge holesFrame: Scandium N-frame,titanium cylinder and barrel shroudSafeties: Frame mounted firingmechanism lock, key operatedframe mounted trigger safety.Capacity: 8-shots

All the accuracy testing was per-formed at 50 feet and not the usual 25yards because the minimal sights andshort sight radius work against eventhe best of shooters at the longerranges, but its accuracy was morethan adequate at this distance and,even though its recoil was robust, itwasn't nearly as unpleasant as thatexperienced with the scandium J-frame .357MAG revolvers. I wouldchoose this revolver in a heartbeatover those.

Final Notes

The Chevy 327 small-block V-8became a legendary motor forAmerican hotrod enthusiasts, as hasthe S&W M27 .357MAG for revolvershooters around the world. Although itis a distinctly American motor, the 327created a legend for its dependabilityand power. I see no reason why theS&W PC327 will not establish anequally impressive record of its own forthose who prefer a double-actionrevolver as their self-defense handgunof choice. •

For more informationcontact:

Smith & Wesson, 2100 RooseveltAve., Dept CH, Springfield, MA01104;800-331-0852;www.smith-wesson.com

BlackHawk Products Group, 4850Brookside Ct., Dept CH, Norfolk,VA 23502; 800-694-5263;www.blackhawk.com

Uncle Mike's, P.O. Box 1690, DeptCH, Oregon City, OR 97045; 800-845-2444; www.unclemikes.com

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