How can one tell what revolver frame they are working with.

Welcome to the forum kelisonh. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.

Be a big help if we had some idea of what your talking about? Smith and Wessons, Rugers, single or double action???

OK what I am talking about is references to J frame K frame and the like. What qualifies as large frame verses medium. Pretty much a generalized question.

Smith and Wesson revolvers actually, at this time period, come in five frames sizes. From the smallest to the largest are The small J frame guns which have coil springs for the main spring, K frame size which uses a leaf spring like the following L frame which came out a few years ago and is an in between frame size between the K and the N frame which is the frame the 44 magnum is built on and now the new X frame that comes in the 500 S&W.


The famous model 19 which was the K frame version of the 357 magnum ceased production a couple of years ago was one of the most popular Smiths ever made, but prone to shoot loose with full power 357 loads after a time.

I'd sure recommend a good book on the subject. You may be able to get one from the library, but both Midway and Brownell's sells books that detail the different Smith and Wesson actions.

Colt has it's own different frame sizes as does Ruger and Taurus and most folks that built many different caliber revolvers.