The Lipsey’s – Smith & Wesson Ultimate Carry J-Frames, Part I

Part I: The Making of the Ultimate Carry J-Frame

When Lipsey’s and Smith & Wesson announced their “Ultimate Carry J-Frame” collaboration at the 2024 SHOT Show, snub fans from all over the revolver universe leapt for joy, excited by the prospect of a factory J-Frame with the improvements they had wanted for so long.

Even before the first reports began to surface from show attendees, detailing the advances and features of the new guns, the buzz was spreading across the show floor and the internet. There’s a phenomenon we see every year at SHOT, in which certain guns capture the imagination and attention of the industry, and suck up most of the oxygen in the Sands Expo, and the Ultimate Carry J-Frames were some of the guns that did that in 2024. The little guns elicited a BIG response, not just from dedicated RevolverGuys, but from folks who wanted to see what all the commotion was about, and soon discovered they might actually be RevolverGuys, too.

Special J

I was fortunate enough to be read into the Ultimate Carry J-Frame program relatively early, so I knew about the guns in advance and kept tabs on their development. It was difficult to resist sharing the good news about this exciting project with the RevolverGuy audience, but I kept my mouth shut and eagerly awaited the expiration of the communications embargo on Tuesday morning of SHOT, so we could talk about these special Js.

Last month, I was grateful to have the chance, along with a selected handful of gun writers, to shoot the first production samples of the Ultimate Carry J-Frames (UCs). I burned through slightly more than half of a case of ammo in the course of a day on the range with the UCs, and walked away very impressed with what Lipsey’s and Smith & Wesson had accomplished.

For the Record

I’ll be writing about that experience, and the features and performance of the guns themselves, in greater detail soon. First, however, I wanted to start our coverage of the UCs by turning the clock back to the very beginning of the program, to tell the behind-the-scenes story of how the project got its start, and how it developed from a concept to a reality.

Why start there? Even at this early stage, I think it’s clear that the Ultimate Carry J-Frames will become an important milepost in the history of Smith & Wesson revolvers, and I think it’s important for us to capture the details of how they came about. The Roman historian Tacitus once wrote that, “ . . . victory is claimed by all, failure to one alone,” and I suspect there will be lots of folks lining up to take credit for the success of the Ultimate Carry J-Frames.¹

So, pull up a seat, and let me tell you a little about the UC journey, and the people who really made it happen.

The Lipsey’s Connection

It all started in the heart of a RevolverGuy.

Actually, the seeds were planted in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of RevolverGuys over the course of seventy-plus years, who wanted more from their J-Frames than Smith & Wesson was ready to deliver, but it was one particular RevolverGuy who cultivated the idea, and sent us down the path to building the ultimate factory J.

Jason Cloessner’s formal title is Lipsey’s Senior Vice President & Product Development Manager, but for the present discussion, we’ll call him the Father of the Ultimate Carry J-Frame.

Jason started at firearms distributor Lipsey’s right out of college, as part of the sales team, and worked his way up the ladder to occupy his present position as Senior VP. In part, Jason’s responsibilities include coordinating all the special projects that are done in concert with the manufacturers whose products are stocked by Lipsey’s. To accomplish this, Jason uses his extensive knowledge of shooters, firearms, and the industry to identify market segments that are underserved, and work with manufacturers to develop special runs of “Lipsey’s Exclusive” products that will appeal to customers in those segments. No manufacturer can stock a catalog that will meet the demands of every consumer, but with Jason’s help they can build small runs of specialty guns that will satisfy the cravings of certain blocks of shooters who desire a particular feature or capability that’s not found in the regular catalog.

For instance, Jason and Lipsey’s have had a long relationship with Ruger, who’s made a number of special project guns for Lipsey’s featuring unique calibers, barrel lengths, finishes, grips, sights, and other features that appealed to Ruger fans who wanted something just a little different. Similarly, Jason worked with Glock to produce very popular reproductions of the guns that started it all for the Austrian maker, such as their P80 pistol and the first generation Glock 17, complete with special markings, sights, frames, boxes and literature.

Because Lipsey’s is the customer in these projects, and agrees up front to purchase all the guns, there is little risk involved for the manufacturer to build these unique variants—they simply make the guns, as specified by Lipsey’s, and collect the check. Lipsey’s is the one who assumes the risks, and has to do the work of marketing and selling the guns to the consumer. That never seems to be a problem, because Jason does his homework, and Lipsey’s, as the nation’s leading firearms distributor, knows how to sell guns! The Lipsey’s Exclusive guns never last long on the shelves.

A True RevolverGuy

Now, readers who don’t have close ties with the firearms industry might be surprised by the number of senior executives serving in influential positions who aren’t very knowledgeable about guns. They know business, but they don’t necessarily know much about their product, or the customers who buy it.²

Jason sits at the opposite end of that bell curve. He’s one of us, at heart; A “gun guy,” who thoroughly enjoys all manner of firearms and shooting sports. He knows the “gun culture” intimately, because he’s part of it, and it’s a part of him. Furthermore, Jason is a true RevolverGuy, who still gets excited when the talk turns to Roper grips, Registered Magnums, big bore single actions, and carved leather for them.

That passion for revolvers is tempered by his years of business experience, though. Once, when I enthusiastically suggested Lipsey’s should consider funding a limited run of the Smith & Wesson Model 58, I saw a grin on his face and a flash in his eyes that said, “heck yeah!” but it didn’t last long before I saw the wheels turning in the background, as Jason pondered if there was a sufficient market for it, and whether the limited resources could be more profitably spent on a different project that would yield a greater return.³

So, with the heart of a true believer, the acumen of an accomplished businessman, and the support of a company like Lipsey’s, it was no surprise that Jason would be the guy to advance the idea of making an improved J-Frame for the legions of RevolverGuys who have wanted something better. There’s nobody else in the industry that was better positioned to make it happen.

The Smith & Wesson Connection

To make it work though, Lipsey’s and Jason would need a partner in the effort at Smith & Wesson–someone who could take their concept, and lead a team of engineers, model makers, and workers to turn it into a functioning reality of steel and aluminum.

They found him, but as it turned out, he came from a rather unlikely place.

Smith & Wesson Handgun Product Manager Andrew Gore originally hails from Australia, a nation where handgun ownership and use are subject to strict regulation, which stops just short of outright prohibition.

Andrew is a “gun guy” though, and was an active part of the firearms culture in Australia from an early age. Prior to joining the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Andrew made a living selling firearms in a retail store, and was an active shooting sports competitor and range officer. As a Federal Agent of the AFP, Andrew conducted criminal investigations, served on intelligence teams and drug task forces, and worked assignments such as uniformed patrol, traffic, dignitary protection, and tactical team operations.

At a critical juncture in his law enforcement career, Andrew embarked on a path that would lead to him becoming one of Australia’s most capable firearms, use of force, and tactics instructors. His professional education included training at some of the world’s finest firearms training schools, including the Sig Sauer Academy, Rogers Shooting School, and the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (where he graduated from the Firearms Instructor Training Program as a Distinguished Weapons Expert).

As a new American citizen, Andrew worked in the U.S. firearms industry as a law enforcement sales specialist at a major distributor, a sales manager at a company developing suppressor technology, the Director of Law Enforcement Sales at CMC Triggers, the manager of the U.S. Simunition Training Division, and as a senior-level manager at the parent company of Simunitions, General Dynamics.

Fortunately for us, this path led to him being hired as the Handgun Product Manager at Smith & Wesson in June of 2022. By the time he got his feet under him in the new job, Jason was knocking on Andrew’s door with a proposal for an improved J-Frame.

SHOT Magic

While Lipsey’s had a well-established and successful track record of Lipsey’s Exclusives with a variety of manufacturers, it had been a while since they collaborated with Smith & Wesson when Jason sat down with company representatives at a meeting in the Summer of 2022. Fortunately, the folks from Smith & Wesson were receptive to Jason’s pitch, which opened the door to a meeting at SHOT Show in January of 2023.

Andrew had been the Handgun Product Manager at S&W for just over half a year when he and Jason met during the busy show to discuss the potential for some Lipsey’s Exclusives. After reviewing several possibilities, the two quickly focused on a J-Frame project as the leading contender, since Smith & Wesson had available production time on their J-Frame manufacturing line.

The two “gun guys” hit it off from the start, and began to sketch the basic outlines of a special edition J-Frame whose most prominent feature would be improved sights (a bright dot sight from XS Sights was suggested for the front) that were properly regulated for commonly-used ammunition (accomplished by using either an adjustable rear sight, or a dovetailed, high-visibility, fixed rear sight of the proper dimension). The pair also decided the gun should feature upgraded grips, such as a pair of G10 boot-style grips from manufacturer VZ Grips.

I happened to speak with Jason at the show, following his meeting with Andrew, and while he couldn’t discuss too many of the particulars, I was very pleased to hear about the progress Lipsey’s and Smith & Wesson were making, and to see how excited he was about the potential for some new exclusives. That was promising news for us RevolverGuys.

That Was Fast!

That first meeting between Jason and Andrew had been fast, and while they got off to a good start, Jason still didn’t know Andrew very well, and didn’t know what to expect from him and Smith & Wesson.

Andrew didn’t make him wait long, to find out.

Anyone who has spent any length of time around Andrew understands that he’s the kind of guy who gets things done. He’s not afraid to ask questions, demand good answers, set expectations, and get people busy. One gets the sense that his operational, mission-focused background makes him particularly averse to unnecessary delays, extended studies, or any sort of bureaucratic inertia that might interfere with progress.

So, within just a few weeks of the late January 2023 SHOT Show meeting, Andrew had already delivered some Photoshopped renderings of J-Frames with a variety of improved sights for Jason’s review. Some of the models wore adjustable rear sights, while others wore dovetailed, fixed sights that mimicked the one on the Performance Center Pro Series Model 640.

By late February, the two had settled on a preliminary design that incorporated a dovetailed, fixed rear sight that generally followed the 640 Pro pattern, and a two-piece barrel that would feature a pinned, easily replaceable, high-visibility front sight. Of special importance, the two-piece barrel would offer additional advantages, including the ability to properly clock the front sight to Top-Dead-Center (TDC) without cracking the frame, set the barrel-cylinder gap to the desired dimension, and shroud the extractor rod, to protect it. As we’ve previously discussed in these pages, it would also offer a potential for improved accuracy.

March Madness

By early March 2023, Andrew had delivered the new model build sheet to Engineering, which would allow them to start working on the gun.

As the Engineering team got busy, experimental SKUs were created in Smith & Wesson’s inventory system for two versions of the “enhanced sight J-Frame,” as it was being informally referred to. On March 13^th, 2023, a SKU for an aluminum frame, stainless steel cylinder and barrel, silver-finish Model 642-S (“S” for “Sights”) was created, as well as a SKU for an aluminum frame, carbon steel cylinder, stainless steel barrel, black-finish Model 442-S.

A few days later, on the 17^th of March, I received a phone call from Jason, who wanted to hear my thoughts on what the perfect J-Frame would look like. I wasn’t sure if he was ready for a full dose of Mike Wood snub nerdery, so I started with top-level generalities, but it was soon clear that he wanted the details, so he got them in spades. We talked for well over an hour about all the things we liked and disliked about factory and custom J-Frames, and all the little details that could be improved, both inside and outside, to make them ideal.⁴

I was just one of several folks who received a phone call from Jason during this period. He knows the market and the guns very well, but he’s thorough, and does his research. He knew this project could open doors, and set the stage for other Lipsey’s Exclusives, if it was a success. As a result, he tapped all of his resources, and exhausted every lead, to ensure the gun would be viewed as the ultimate J-Frame by those who knew the type best.

A Turning Point

A week later, on March 24^th, Andrew Gore had a meeting with Grant Dubuc, Smith & Wesson’s Product Engineering Manager, and Engineer Andrew Foley, who had been assigned as the Lead Product Engineer for the 642-S/442-S project by Dubuc. At the meeting, Gore, Dubuc, and Foley gathered to look at the first prototype of the gun’s new frame, which wore a 3D-printed model of a dovetailed, fixed rear sight design that looked good and was immediately met with approval.

A new frame design was required to accommodate the two-piece barrel, as Smith & Wesson had not used that barrel design in conjunction with an aluminum J-Frame before, and it was necessary to add a key or tab for the barrel shroud. The Scandium alloy-framed guns had been mated with two-piece barrels before, but not the straight-aluminum ones.

At the meeting, Gore made an inquiry that would dramatically alter the path of the project. Spurred by a comment from Foley about the possibility of an improved trigger pull, Gore asked the engineers if they had a wish list of aluminum J-Frame improvements that had not been incorporated into production yet? Were there any outstanding fixes, upgrades, or enhancements that had been considered, but tabled for a later date?

As a matter of fact, there were. When Smith & Wesson launched the Scandium alloy J-Frames, there were several internal upgrades that were incorporated in the new frame. Smith & Wesson engineers had intended to export those improvements to the aluminum J-Frames, but the timing never seemed right. Smith & Wesson sells more 642s than any other revolver in their catalog, and demand for them has always been pretty consistent, so it was a bit of a hard sell to halt production and reconfigure the assembly line for an upgraded variant of the gun. The company was just about to attempt it when the ChinaVirus hit, and demand for anything that went bang went into hyperdrive. That was certainly no time to make the 642 machinery go dark.

But Andrew Gore’s question to Engineering presented an opportunity, and everyone recognized it. Andrew Foley left the meeting with Gore’s marching orders to, “treat this (642-S/442-S) as the new generation of aluminum J-Frames, and do all the improvements you have always wanted to do.”

Changes

Foley got to work on his expanded mandate to upgrade the aluminum frame Js. He was ably assisted by Senior Engineers Gary Zukowski (now the Product Engineering Manager, having replaced Dubuc in that role after Dubuc was promoted to lead the Product Management Team), Brett Curry (credited with developing the M&P pistol and CSX pistol designs, as well as the new Model 66 and Model 69 Combat Magnums, among others), and Jason Dubois (who most recently designed the M&P FPC carbine), who guided the young engineer through the process and shared their collective wisdom and experience in gun design.

Aside from adding a tab for the two-piece barrel shroud, and a dovetail cut for the rear sight, the new aluminum frame was modified to accept the Titanium hammer, trigger, rebound slide, and cylinder stop studs that had been such an important upgrade in the Scandium alloy guns. As RevolverGuy readers will recall, the aluminum studs that were used in the aluminum J-Frames were robust enough to keep the guns running well for the vast majority of users, but occasionally failed in guns that were subjected to high volumes of fire from their most dedicated and enthusiastic owners. Gore’s mandate provided Smith & Wesson Engineering the opportunity to install the more robust Titanium studs in the S-Series guns, which became known as the guns’ “Endurance Package.”

The new frame also incorporated updated mainspring and rebound slide springs that were engineered to provide a lighter pull weight.

By May 9^th, 2023, engineering testing of the first prototype had begun under Foley’s direction. The gun was shot to evaluate its function, performance, durability, safety, and sight regulation.

Also, in May, Jason approached Smith & Wesson about adding a .32 H&R Magnum chambering to the project.⁵ By this time, it was clear that Lipsey’s and Smith & Wesson had a strong working relationship, and Jason felt comfortable with making the additional request. He didn’t want to make too many demands too early, but it was now clear that he could ask Andrew and Smith & Wesson for the additional SKUs without jeopardizing the project. The idea was well received, and a 632-S and 432-S SKU were created for the new guns in the Smith & Wesson inventory system on May 17^th. Lead Product Engineer Andrew Foley would now have more work to do, but everyone was excited about where the project was going.

Get a Grip

As Foley and Smith & Wesson worked on the gun, Jason and Andrew worked with valued partners XS Sights and VZ Grips to coordinate their important contributions to the project.

Zackary Kinsley from XS Sights delivered some of their “Standard Dot” sights, which feature 0.140” wide posts, and Tritium-powered dots that are encircled by a high-visibility, yellowish-colored ring.

VZ Grips delivered their first design, enclosed back, boot grip prototypes on July 12^th. However, Jason’s testing indicated the grips could benefit from a more aggressive speedloader cut, to provide proper clearance for the HKS and Safariland speedloaders he tried, so that improvement was requested on September 6^th and a new prototype was delivered soon after.

What’s in a Name?

By October of 2023, it was becoming more important to name the new gun, especially if it was going to be ready for a SHOT Show launch in January. By this time, Jason had recruited “industry legends” Darryl Bolke and Bryan Eastridge of American Fighting Revolver to consult on the project, and one of the most pressing jobs was picking the name.⁶

Those involved with the project had been referring to the guns as the “ultimate” examples of the breed for a long time, and the “ultimate” moniker kept surfacing as the group struggled to find the right name. It was Darryl who suggested that the guns were perfectly suited for the kind of work done by undercover (UC) police officers, like the 70s and 80s-era dope cops he’d worked with in the early part of his career, and the “UC” label lit a spark. The mashup of “ultimate” and “UC” gave way to the “Ultimate Carry” title, which was a nice compliment to the “PC” Performance Center label that was already in use by Smith & Wesson, so the temporary “-S” suffix was replaced by “UC” in the experimental SKU titles.

An Important Hurdle

Andrew Foley’s engineering testing (function, reliability, durability, drop safe, accuracy, etc.) of the 642 UC was complete by October 20^th, which gave Andrew Gore the opportunity to travel to Lipsey’s with the sole prototype for a validation test on October 30^th.

It wasn’t common for a manufacturer to make this kind of effort in Jason’s experience, but it was important to Andrew to ensure Lipsey’s was happy with the design before proceeding any further. If there were issues with the gun, the validation test would make them apparent, and if Lipsey’s wanted any changes made, this was the right time to identify them.

Darryl and Bryan were already there when Andrew arrived at Lipsey’s on the morning of the 30^th with the sole prototype of the 642 UC secured in a Pelican case. The gun was passed around for everyone to see, and a heart-stopping moment followed when Bryan asked for a screwdriver, then proceeded to disassemble and inspect the gun.

It was a bold move. While Jason and Andrew wanted to see inside the gun too, and have a look at Smith & Wesson’s work, a broken or lost part could have scrapped the day’s plans before the range test even began. Fortunately, Bryan was experienced with Smith & Wesson disassembly and skilled with his tools. His inspection showed the Ultimate Carry’s bones were as good as its looks, and the guns were reassembled without drama, which made everyone happy. It was time to get on with the shooting.

The four shooters went to the range on the cold, rainy day with a pile of ammunition loaded with bullets that weighed between 110 and 158 grains. A big question that everyone had in the back of their minds was whether or not the sights would be regulated to the desired standard, but it was soon answered when all four of the shooters fired an overlapping group at 15 yards with the specified 135 grain Speer Gold Dot.

The team shot the prototype gun for about four hours, and it was determined very early that the gun was capable of delivering high levels of practical accuracy. Everyone shot the guns very well. Darryl shot a nice group, in particular, at about 10 yards in which the rounds were touching, and Bryan shot a group at 25 yards that measured near three inches, which was a very strong performance for a J-Frame.

The gun shot with absolute reliability, but there were a few areas for improvement identified by the team. The first concerned the color of the ring around the XS Sights standard dot, which was a bright shade of yellow-green. The sight was perfectly regulated, but shooting the gun underneath the darker skies of the cloudy and rainy day, on buff-colored targets, showed the team that the color was a little too light. It was felt that a darker shade of green would offer better contrast for the sight picture.

Additionally, while the second design, prototype boot grips from VZ Grips were handsome, and their new speedloader relief was sufficient, they were not comfortable to shoot. The backstrap terminated well below the recoil shoulder and its profile concentrated much of the felt recoil on a small section of the web of the hand. The team agreed that a new profile would be required, which better filled the area below the recoil shoulder, to distribute recoil and make the Ultimate Carry shootable. Drawing on his experience with a variety of J-Frame grips, Darryl suggested that a “high horn” grip, like those that originally equipped the (pre-Model 40) Centennial, would be a good solution for the problem.

The last issue concerned the rear sight, which actually performed flawlessly, but Jason and Andrew were concerned that it didn’t have a set screw, and it could possibly walk in the dovetail over time. To eliminate that possibility, they would ask Engineering to add one.

Teamwork

Although it was disappointing to identify these concerns, the team’s resolve to fix them was strong—so strong, that the team reached out to VZ Grips’ President, John VanZyck, while they were standing right there on the range. In a move that would later symbolize the deep commitment each of the parties had to the success of the project, and highlight the exemplary level of cooperation between all of the contributing vendors, the four men immediately placed a video call with John, explained the problem, and suggested the high horn fix, which John agreed to produce for them.

The turnaround from John and VZ Grips was quick, with John putting a third design version of the grip into the mail just two weeks later, on the 14^th on November. ⁷

Similarly, XS Sights’ Zackary Kinsley and Monte Long responded VERY quickly to the team’s October 30^thobservations, and just four days later, on November 3^rd, they’d delivered a new front sight with a modified color to the team. The new color was a darker shade of bright green which offered a perfect contrast, even in dimmer light, and the team knew they instantly had what they were looking for.

On the 31^st of October, Halloween, Andrew Gore had his own trick for Engineering when he requested the addition of the set screw to the rear sight. Andrew Foley responded with a CAD drawing of the new design the following day.

There was no moss growing on anyone’s feet. Everyone kept the ball moving down the field, knowing that SHOT Show was just around the corner.

Thumbs Up

Jason’s testing of the new design from VZ Grips in mid-to-late November revealed there was still a detail about the third design grips that needed to be fixed.

Those who have shot high horn grips know that the extended horns do a wonderful job of widening the backstrap where it contacts the web of the hand, and distributing the recoil force over a larger area, but the horn on the left panel requires special attention because of the adjacent speedloader relief cut.  If the relief cut is not carefully blended with the extended horn, a sharp ridge can develop, which acts like a fulcrum for the side of the shooting thumb. This leads to a great degree of discomfort, especially when the shooter’s grip is tightened on the stocks, in anticipation of firing.⁸

Unfortunately, Jason encountered this with the third design, high horn prototype, and knew it had to be addressed. With the year disappearing fast, Andrew notified John about the issue on November 27^th, and VZ Grips got to work, right away, on a fix.

Test Redux

Two days later, Andrew Gore was back at Lipsey’s to conduct validation testing on the 432 UC prototype, since Andrew Foley’s engineering testing was now complete on that model.

Jason, Andrew, and Smith & Wesson’s Senior National Account Manager, James Holley, shot the gun on November 29^th with a variety of ammunition. The new sights were hitting just where they wanted them to with the baseline .32 caliber loads that Darryl and Jason had agreed upon (an 85 grain, .32 H&R Magnum Federal JHP, and a 100 grain, .32 Long wadcutter), and the gun was running great, but Andrew felt that Engineering should increase the amount of chamfering that each chamber received, so a request was submitted to include that in the build.

Andrew got to see the issue with the high horn grip prototype while shooting the 432 UC with Jason, and agreed it had to be addressed. With time running very short, Jason did a little alteration in the field, with the help of the gunsmith’s best friend, the Dremel tool. By taking the ridge on the left horn down a little, and smoothing the transition between the speedloader relief cut and the horn, he finally had the grip profile that he wanted. Andrew took pictures of the ad hoc alteration, and sent them to John at VZ Grips, to clarify what they needed from him.

By December 7^th, the change had been incorporated into the design, and the team finally had their Ultimate Carry grip. With this final piece in place, they could now move into making the first lot of pre-production guns.

Not So Fast!

Well, almost. There was one last thing that Andrew Foley needed to pin down (pun intended) before that.

Up front, in the barrel shroud, just forward of the extractor rod relief cut, is a pin that holds the extractor rod tip locking bolt in place on the gun. It’s a tiny pin, whose head is no larger than the cross section of a paper clip, but since the team had gone to such great lengths to make everything as perfect as it could be on the UCs, including the cosmetics, Foley wanted to know what color the team wanted the tiny pin to be.

Earlier in the effort, Bryan Eastridge had suggested using a color contrasting thumb piece on the 642 and 632 models, to add a touch of flair to the special guns. The two-tone theme continued with the gun’s black and gray G10 stocks, its black sights, and its darkened MIM trigger.⁹ In the same vein, Foley asked if the team wanted a black locking bolt pin to match, or a silver one, instead?  It was a very small detail, one that would normally not be on the radar of anyone in Engineering, but Foley was so heavily invested in the project, and so attentive to the smallest details, that he had to ask.

It was another example of the painstaking level of attention that was paid to every element of the guns, to ensure they were truly the Ultimate Carry J-Frames.

Pre-Production

With the SHOT countdown clock ticking fast, the first pre-production lot of guns was shipped to Lipsey’s on the 11^th of January, just 10 days before an invitation-only media event for the guns, and 12 days before the opening of the show.

There had been a near miss with the guns, just days before, that was averted by another engineer who was paying close attention to every detail. Engineer Nathan Bruneau, who oversaw the Revolver Barrel Cell, realized a few of the barrel shrouds that were earmarked for the pre-production guns were not the right parts. Instead, these shrouds had a slightly different profile and were intended to be fit to another gun, like the Model 340. Nathan ensured that shrouds of the correct dimension and profile were obtained and provided for installation on the UC frames, saving the team from a potentially costly mistake and a last-minute delay they couldn’t afford.

Everyone was pulling on the same rope to make sure the UCs were perfect, and Smith & Wesson delivered four inert pre-production guns, and four live-fire-capable pre-production guns, in the nick of time.

As it turned out, a weather delay that grounded the FedEx aircraft fleet slowed the delivery of the live guns, and they missed the invitation-only media event on Sunday evening, before SHOT Show, but the four inert guns made it to the Lipsey’s booth and were the stars of the show.

The Ultimate Team

On Wednesday evening of the SHOT Show, I was fortunate enough to be invited to join Jason, Andrew, Darryl, Bryan, and gun writer (and fellow Shootist!) Shane Jahn for dinner, after the close of the day’s show. We had a delightful time talking guns, sharing stories, and celebrating the great success of the Ultimate Carry J-Frames, which kept people flocking to the Lipsey’s booth from open to close, every day.

I remarked to Andrew that night, that it seemed the Ultimate Carry J-Frames were the product of a special moment in the industry, where all the right players were in all the right places, with all the right ideas, at the right time. If any element had been missing, if any of the team members had been absent, or had not been 110% committed to making the project a success, the guns would never have survived the journey from concept to reality.

Call it what you want—the power of a good idea, the alignment of the stars, or the confluence of talent and commitment. Whatever it was, the Ultimate Carry J-Frame was the end result of a special effort by special people, and RevolverGuys are the lucky beneficiaries.

We’ll explore the guns and their performance in greater detail in the next part of this story, but for now, RevolverGuy would simply like to salute the folks who made it all happen for us. Well done, Ladies and Gentlemen!

*****

Endnotes

1.) In full: “This is an unfair thing about war: victory is claimed by all, failure to one alone.”  -Tacitus;

2.) Sadly, we’ve seen some of these folks preside over the demise of some of the most legendary brands in the business, such as the Freedom Group takeover of Remington. Fortunately, that chapter is closed: Big Green is back and making fantastic ammunition again with gun guys at the helm, and Remington Arms is busy trying to reestablish itself in Georgia, and resume production of staples like the 870 and 700. There’s still a few industry executives who don’t know a rimfire from a centerfire though;

3.) Of course, I knew he was right, before he even said anything. While the .41 Magnum Model 58 has a cult following that would be overjoyed to see the gun come back into production, there are other classics that would dramatically outsell it, if revived. Can anyone doubt for a second that a no-lock, 3.5” Model 27 or a no-lock Combat Magnum of any length would leave it in the dust? How about a .44 Magnum Mountain Gun, a .45 ACP Model 625, a .44 Special Model 24, or any number of forgotten .38/.357 caliber K-Frames, like the 3” HB Model 13/65? I’ll hold a candle for the mightiest M&P, and will continue to ask Santa for a Model 58, but it’s probably better if we encourage Jason and Lipsey’s to tackle other, more lucrative, projects first;

4.) Jason already had the general framework for his improved J-Frame in place, but wanted to dive into the details with me. We discussed everything from materials, to barrels, to sights, to triggers, to actions, to controls, to grips, to calibers, to internal parts, to ammo, to sight regulation, to speedloaders, and everything else, from stem to stern. We compared likes and dislikes, and it’s probably not surprising that we found ourselves in agreement on most everything, since we’re both serious J-Frame afficionados who have experienced many of the same joys and disappointments with the guns over a lifetime of shooting them.

I might talk more about our conversation and my specific recommendations in a subsequent installment, but for now the most important thing is to clarify that this is the period in which Jason was fleshing out all the finer details of the gun. The basic building blocks (aluminum frame with no lock, two-piece barrel, improved and well-regulated sights, boot grip) were already in place, but this is when he got down to specifics like trigger shapes, trigger pull weights, sight dimensions, sight colors, grip features, sight regulation baselines, and so forth—all the small ingredients that make up the special sauce.

Additionally, it’s important to note that while Lipsey’s and Smith & Wesson were only working on guns chambered for .38 Special +P at this stage, Jason was already thinking about adding a .32 caliber gun to the project. All of my inputs to Jason were delivered through a .38 Special filter, because that’s “my caliber” when it comes to snubs, and I honestly didn’t think beyond it for the project. However, when Jason suggested the .32 H&R Magnum as a possible chambering during our phone call, I wasn’t surprised. I knew Jason was a fan of .32 caliber revolvers, since he’d been a driving force behind Ruger chambering their Single Six for the .327 Federal Magnum, and had done some very successful Lipsey’s Exclusives in that combination. A .32 H&R Magnum J-Frame option made a whole lot of sense to me (for reasons that we’ll discuss later) and I was immediately enthusiastic about the idea. I was also impressed with him for seeing beyond the .38 Special blinders that the rest of us had on;

5.) Jason’s interest in the .32 caliber option was strongly echoed by Darryl Bolke, who lobbied hard for the chambering when Jason first approached him about the project. His vigorous support of the .32 reinforced Jason’s commitment to ask S&W for the additional SKUs;

6.) Just days before the 2024 SHOT Show premiere of the Ultimate Carry J-Frame, Lipsey’s released a video to introduce the gun to the market. In one part of the video, Jason casually referred to Darryl and Bryan as “industry legends,” and the grandiose title immediately generated all kinds of good-natured ribbing from Darryl and Bryan’s friends, who didn’t know they had been in the presence of such “legends” for so many years! In the finest LE/MIL tradition, the more they protested the title, the more jokes it generated, and the more it stuck, illustrating the truth in gun writer Rob Garrett’s dictum, “Don’t bleed in the shark tank.” We only harass the ones we like, you know;

7.) Ironically, I’d been pestering VZ Grips since the 2022 SHOT Show for a set of high horn grips for the Centennial frames, myself. I’d previously seen a photograph of a prototype set that owner John VanZyck had experimented with, but decided not to produce, and I thought it was worth the effort to pursue them. Noted grip maker Craig Spegel had done a lot of Centennial high horns to great acclaim, but it wasn’t clear to John that there was enough of a market for them, to justify the effort. My own experimentation with a set of high horns for my 640, from maker Curtis Harlow, had showed me the benefits of the design, and I was eager to see VZ Grips produce a more affordable version that I could test and write about to promote interest in the style. I was enthusiastic and persistent, but manufacturers are constantly inundated with special requests from customers, and it made sense for VZ to focus their limited resources on other products, which they already knew they had a market for, rather than scratch a single gun writer’s itch.

It’s a different story though, when guys like Jason and Andrew, with the backing of industry giants like Lipsey’s and Smith & Wesson, make the same request! With Jason on the other end of the phone, with his Lipsey’s checkbook in hand, it made all the sense in the world for VZ to commit to making a set of Centennial high horns. I know it must have been disappointing for the group to run into this snag, especially so close to the product launch, but I’m glad that Jason, Andrew, Darryl, Bryan, and John were able to put their heads together and deliver us a superior set of grips for these Ultimate Carry revolvers. We owe all of them a debt, for that;

8.) I’ve been consulting with a grip maker and we encountered this very thing on an early prototype for a Kimber K6s grip. He made the correction very quickly after the problem was identified, and I think RevolverGuys are really going to love the final product, which we’ll share in these pages when it’s ready;

9.) The prototype Model 642 UC which was shot by Jason, Andrew, Darryl and Bryan during the Lipsey’s validation test on October 30^th, 2023, was made with a black-finished thumb piece. Bryan liked the appearance of the gun and suggested the two-tone look should be preserved on the silver production models, and the team agreed. This move forced a reevaluation of the grip color, however.

The original thought, at the beginning of the project, was to use the “Predator Green” colored G10 stocks on both the black and silver-finished guns. A sample was delivered for evaluation, and the Lipsey’s team decided it wasn’t the look they wanted for the gun. In response, VZ Grips sent a selection of grips in other colors, and Jason showed them around the office, soliciting opinions. The Black Cherry color won the day, and the plan, at the time of the October 30^th validation test, was to use it on both the black and silver guns.

However, the vote to adopt the two-tone look on the silver guns caused the team to rethink the grip color. The samples came back out, and it was quickly decided that the Black Gray G10s were the best choice for the silver guns with black highlights. The black guns would keep the Black Cherry stocks, and the silver ones would wear Black Gray ones.

credits

• • Featured image courtesy of Lipsey’s

• • RevolverGuy would like to thank the following individuals for their assistance with this article:

Jason Cloessner, Senior Vice President & Product Development Manager, Lipsey’s

Andrew Gore, Handgun Product Manager, Smith & Wesson

Rob Abruzino, Marketing Director, Lipsey’s

Chris Sasser, Videographer, Lipsey’s