New To My Collection

[VACoastie]

On my visit back up to the NNK this weekend, my Dad presented me with something pretty nice. He was going through some old stuff of my grandmothers (passed away last month) and he ran across this little beauty. A S&W .38 special straight out of something Barney Fife would tote around. Blue steel, and I would imagine never even fired (see the cylinder photo). A look down the barrel showed no pitting. I even have the old leather holster for it too. Plan is to never fire this, take a Q-Tip to the steel and get the oil off of it and let it be a safe queen. The trigger pull on this thing is so light too. I would guess most a 2.5 lb trigger pull.

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[Snakester]

SWeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeT....But I think I would have to run a little lead through it !

[VACoastie]

I'm really tempted as it is, truuuuuuuust me I just want to keep as little bit of wear on the cylinder as I can. Maybe when my son/grandson gets it and goes to sell it they'll get decent cash from it being low on the wear.

[OakRidgeStars]

Very nice

Just how long is that barrel?

[VACoastie]

6 inch barrel is what this one has

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[dorminWS]

My buddy brought one of those by for me to look at t'other day; wondering if he'd paid too much for it. Looks like the same pistol except his had a 4" barrel. I'mI don't know much about wheel guns and even less about Smith & Wessons, but near as I could tell, it is a pretty old gun; apparently some variant or perhaps precursor of the Model 10, but I couldn't find anything on the internet that was really dispositive. Some markings weren't where and/or what the websites said they should be.

So I'm curious. Can anybody tell me about this pistol?

[newdovo]

You can request a letter of authenticity for a specific gun from Smith & Wesson. It costs $50, but the letter received back includes specific info on when the gun was manufactured, where it was shipped to from the factory, and other info about that particular model of gun.
I did this for a friend a few years ago. It was an old nickel plated revolver that someone had done some homegrown scrollwork to. It belonged to his grandfather or great grandfather. He had all sorts of stories about the gun that had been passed down. Some of the stories were kinda debunked, based on the letter received back. Very interesting, though, and worth it to my friend.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/ ... 7812_image

[VACoastie]

Thanks for the info on that ND, I'll have to try and get one of those for this pistol too.

[TJB63]

Looks like a S&W Model 10 with a 6 inch barrel, Not sure how rare they are, I know the 4 inchers are a dime a dozen so to speak, the Pencil barrel was pretty standard up until around the 80's when the Bull Barrel became the thing to have.

You should check out the S&W forum, they should be able to tell you more about it and maybe even help date it. The Model 10 was S&W's workhorse, so they have been around for awhile, But you don't see many 6 inchers.

I'd shoot it I were you, at least once, whether that's camera flash or holster wear I can't tell, looks like holster wear around the barrel, if so, it's not 100% - Shoot it, Clean it up and then Safe Queen it, But at least give it a work out and be sure it actually fires.

TJB

[Geezer]

Open the cylinder and look at the frame just above the hinge. The serial # and Model # should be there. Post them here and I'll tell you what year it was made in. (use an x for the last digit of the ser. # if you'd rather not post the exact #. The ser. # may also be on the bottom of the butt depending on its age.Look at the right side of the gun. Is there a screw in the sideplate just in front of the hammer? Now look at the front of the frame below the barrel head on. Is there a screw there?
It appears to date from before 1981 because at that time, the S&W logo was moved from the right side of the frame to the left side and I don't see a logo in your picture. If the grips are original to the gun, it was made after 1968 as prior to that they had a diamond around the grip screw.

If this gun is truly unfired, Do Not fire it till you have more information on it.

[gunderwood]

Congrats.