1968 S&W Highway Patrolman, Sideplate off for maintenance.

[Master Blaster]

Herre are some pictures of my 1968 Highway Patrolman model 28-2 with the sideplate off. I always hear about how a Smith could be full of crud and folks take off the sideplate to clean all the gunk out. I have had the sideplate off many of my old, and new Smiths and have yet to find any gunk. This is after about 2000 rounds of my lead reloads and of course the 44 years of whatever the previous owner shot before that (probably not much). I had it open because the locking bolt was not poping up in SA. It turned out a small bevel on the right side of the bolt edge was needed to fix the issue.

Anyway the inside was clean as a whistle:

 

[Geezer Glide]

Luv me some 28's. I have three, one 1966 and two 1978. This is the one that I shoot the most and carry it quite a bit.

 

[MartinS]

Good photos, thanks for putting them up. Interesting, all that time and it all looks clean with a sheen. Have you lubed it since you've had it? The two drops down the hammer slot thing?

 

[Walkalong]

This is what my 25-5 looked like when I bought it used. Pretty messy.

 

[LeonCarr]

Once upon a time I took the sideplate off of a buddy's police trade in Model 10 and the frame area under the the rebound slide (The rectangular shaped silver colored bar under the hammer in Post #4) was full off a grease/powder fouling compound that had to be scraped out with a dental pick. After cleaning and proper lubrication the double action and single action smoothness dramatically improved.

On an older revolver purchased used, it makes sense to give it a deep cleaning. Make sure you know exactly what you are doing to take off and replace a sideplate to prevent damage.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[MrBorland]

This is what my 25-5 looked like when I bought it used. Pretty messy.

Looks normal to me.

IME, when the innards of a gun look pristine, it's usually because it's as dry as a bone in there.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

The last 28-2 (4") that I bought looked factory new on the outside with no turn ring at all.

The bore looked completely awful like it was seriously neglected. I stuck a cigarette down the barrel when no one was looking and pulled out clothes lint.

I bought it on the spot hoping the thing spent 30years in someone sock drawer and after cleaning the bore it proved to be as factory fresh as the rest of the gun.

I had a gun smith open it up hoping there was no rust inside of it since clothing usually attracts moisture and it was pristine inside also. It made a nice addition to my collection.

 

[Walkalong]

Looks normal to me.

I guess the grit and dark oil didn't show up well in the pic, but yes, it was working fine.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

The grit showed up nicely. My first thought was "that is why I bought an ultrasonic to get rid of that gunk in my guns.".

Excellent photography by the way. My compliments. I rarely go to the effort to evenly light things like you did to get a very descriptive picture. I tend to do snaps on the spur of the moment and it shames me that I don't take a bit more care with my shots.

 

[hemiram]

I wish I had taken pre-cleaning pics of the Dan Wesson 15-2 I bought a couple of years ago, the amount of unburned powder and dried up grease was unbelievable. I knew it was bad, since it made a loud crunching noise when it was cocked, but I've never seen anything like it. The unburned powder flakes were very large, about 1/8" and pretty thick, and the grease wasn't the factory gunk I've seen in a few of my DW guns. The gun functioned fine, but DA pull was very bad, and cocking it was about 4X normal, with it getting very hard right at the point it cocked. 20 minutes after I pulled the sideplate off, it was spotless, and the DA and SA pulls were normal. Except for the crud, the gun was in great shape, no rust anywhere, and there was only a little tiny bit of bluing wear on the cylinder. I still have it and it shoots great.

 

[oneounceload]

Make sure you know exactly what you are doing to take off and replace a sideplate to prevent damage.

Exactly, do NOT use a screwdriver to pry the sideplate; Do use the PROPER gunsmith screwdriver to remove the screws and most important for older Smiths - put them back in the same hole as many were fitted to that hole

 

[Hondo 60]

Beautiful photography!

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Beautiful Smith.

 

[hemiram]

Looking at the pics, and remembering the hassle getting my S&W 66 back together after replacing a broken spring makes me appreciate the Dan Wesson mechanism so much. It's so simple, and logical, compared to an S&W. I love K and N-frames, but I don't want to open one up again anytime soon.

 

[PabloJ]

Herre are some pictures of my 1968 Highway Patrolman model 28-2 with the sideplate off. I always hear about how a Smith could be full of crud and folks take off the sideplate to clean all the gunk out. I have had the sideplate off many of my old, and new Smiths and have yet to find any gunk. This is after about 2000 rounds of my lead reloads and of course the 44 years of whatever the previous owner shot before that (probably not much). I had it open because the locking bolt was not poping up in SA. It turned out a small bevel on the right side of the bolt edge was needed to fix the issue.

Anyway the inside was clean as a whistle:

Unless you live in very humid climate or get the gun wet there is no reason to take plate off S&W revolver. Had ca. 1915 25" Model 12 20ga with about 40 blue left on receiver and until I took the trigger unit out myself it was never serviced yet it shot just fine. The same holds true for S&W revolver.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Looks good Master Blaster.

I have both 4 and 6 inch 28-2s.

Got the 6 incher for $300 flat.

Deaf

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I like to take the side plates off of old Smiths. It really is not very hard once you know how to do it. In my experience, I seldom find much powder fouling down inside an old Smith. It is more likely that I will find some old, hardened oil inside. When you find hardened oil, removing it and relubing the gun will usually make it function just as smooth as when it left the factory. I usually take photos when I take a Smith apart, to document what is in there. I really don't remember how old this one is, I don't remember exactly which one it is. Probably made in the 1940s, but I don't recollect exactly. You can see some hardened oil and gunk on the frame where the side plate seats. There is also some gunk on the trigger and hammer. The rebound slide has some tarnish on it.





Here is something you don't see everyday, a Model 1899, made in 1902. Notice the lack of a rebound slide. This one was refinished at some point, I took off the side plate mostly because I wanted a record of the different parts in the Model 1899. There was not too much gunk inside this one, it probably got cleaned when it was refinished. You can see the refinisher was a bit aggressive polishing the parts, and he blued the hammer and trigger, a big no no.






This 44 Hand Ejector 4th Model from the 1950s was pristine inside when I opened it up.





I have a few oldies that I got recently that I have not had a chance to open up yet. I will take photos when I do.


If you are not familiar with taking a Smith apart, this is the best book there is about how to do it. It really is not very hard, but there are a couple of tricks. Kuhnhausen shows you all the tricks.

http://www.gunbooks.com/sw.html

 

[MrBorland]

Here's mine :

 

[Ky Larry]

Can this gunk be washed out with brake cleaner or gun cleaner?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Mostly yes, but if you want it spotless, you have to "crack the seal" and open up the side plate or get an ultrasonic.

I do both. Mostly the Ultrasonic though. I find that a good ultrasonic cleaning will go a few years between cleaning.

 

[Ky Larry]

Thanks Pete.

 

[Master Blaster]

Great Pics Driftwood, I love the pic of the 1899, looks real strange without a rebound slide.

MrBorland I would guess that one was lubed with grease definately in need of a good cleaning.

Thanks for your comments guys.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I always hear about how a Smith could be full of crud and folks take off the sideplate to clean all the gunk out. I have had the sideplate off many of my old, and new Smiths and have yet to find any gunk.

In contrast, I bought a S&W Victory Model a few years ago and the action was very sluggish, even though the gun was in fine shape. When I removed the sideplate the action was full of 60+ years of a sludgy mixture of dirt and oil. After I hosed it out and lubricated the mechanism it worked much more smoothly. I'd say the trigger pull dropped by a few pounds after I cleaned it.

That said, none of the other used S&Ws I've bought have been nearly as foul inside.