Shooting S&W No. 2

[Colt Fanning]

Howdy,
Does anyone have any experience shooting an S&W #2.  Since it is rimfire it would have to be converted to CF or brass would have to be modified to use a 22 blank as the primer.  The barrel slugs at .311 in. and the chambers are .322 so I suppose a 32 long Colt with a heeled bullet would be required unless the chamber were reamed to a normal 32 size.  The locking mechanism seems weak.  Has anyone experienced failures of the locking when using an 80 grn bullet with 10 grns of ffg?
Regards
Colt

[St. George]

Out of curiosity - why would you want to ruin it, and more importantly - where do you plan on finding the spares to repair it?

That's a revolver basically built from wrought iron - not steel - and the metallurgy is tired, throughout - most notably the springs - you're going to need parts.

Scouts Out!

[Trailrider]

I would positively advise AGAINST shooting that #2, for the reasons St. George stated.  Converting the gun to central fire would ruin its collector's value. There is no telling what time has done to the metal through intergranular corrosion, etc. Best leave it be.

Merry Christmas!