In the doghouse again... Model 10 heavy 4”

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WestKentucky

WestKentucky

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27F06268-EDFA-4810-A16B-31C8144B9780.jpeg 4D6310FE-4308-4239-8317-B4C0104E1115.jpeg I have been looking for a deal, and I haven’t been willing to bite on the online deals at $350 for “good” condition police trade ins. Today I found an ugly duckling, but I know it’s a keeper. 10-6 heavy barrel 4” with incredible trigger. Tight lockup, great trigger, wrong grips, but still factory grips. $250 out the door. I’m putting it away for a while, but it will sneak out to the range fairly soon. I don’t think I paid too much, but I certainly didn’t steal it. I’m no negotiator like @GunnyUSMC is.

So...ugly Smith in the case. Lockup good. BC gap is tight. Forcing cone perfect, doesn’t look like it’s seen a lot of use. DA action like butter, SA trigger pretty light, definitely been worked on. 10-6 so not an oldie but not “new” either. Metal perfect as far as no scratches, but the buying is maybe 60%. No rust though. Clean barrel, strong rifling. It will fall victim to a rebluing at some point.
 
That is a great old revolver! I love pulling out my cosmetically challenged model 10 out. Everybody around just yawns till i start hitting targets with startling accuracy. I just smile and load up another cylinder and have a blast. But a 4" is on my radar, good buy and a reasonable price.
 
Good buy! I don't care squat about how they look, I just care how they shoot. It sounds like you got a great one there. $250 for a good-shooting Smith is a real bargain.
 
Nice score. I bet it would look good with a park finish.
I have my eye on a US Property marked Victory with a five inch barrel. It’s been nickeled, but flaking, may be a fun project. They want $375, I’m holding out.
 
I have been dry firing this revolver for a few minutes with very deliberate trigger pulls. My guide for triggers is an electrical outlet at 12 ft (across my dining room) unsupported. If the trigger breaks and the front sight wiggled off of the outlet then it's no bueno. This one barely wiggles at all. It should be a real shooter. I aimed at a chain link fence post topper at about 40 yards and it did wiggle off, but barely. This gun should make me look good.
 
I just looked at a 10-6 on gunbroker and it looks like it has a staked hammer nose. I wouldn't dry fire it. They tend to break off with dry firing and the hammer mounted firing pins are getting hard to get.
 
It is, and I use a homemade snap-cap. I heard that the firing pins were getting harder to find a few years ago and when I lucked up on a spare parts lot from a gunsmith who had passed I bought it for $50 because it had a few firing pin noses in it. I have reworked one to use on a single action revolver, and replaced one on my 30-1 as it was sharp and I was nervous about cutting a primer. I also bought my safety hammerless from the same property, but from the guns owner who had taken it for work before the smith got in bad shape.
 
You know, I had a feeling you already knew all about them but I didn't want you to have the heartache of breaking one and not being able to find one.
Good deal.
How did you make your homemade snap cap if you don't mind me asking?
 
tightgroup tiger said:
You know, I had a feeling you already knew all about them but I didn't want you to have the heartache of breaking one and not being able to find one.
Good deal.
How did you make your homemade snap cap if you don't mind me asking?
Click to expand...
Pretty crappy way to do it, and don’t suggest it, but I took empty cases sat primer up, sat a small split shot fishing weight in the pocket and put a torch on the case heads to soften the lead, then whacked it gently with a hammer which flattened out the lead and seemed to have extruded a small piece into the case. I can now pound away on soft lead. I need to buy some real snap caps someday. A friend of mine once drilled out the primer pocket and glued pieces of wooden dowel into the primer pocket then filled the case with a glue of some sort to support the wood. They broke quickly, but served their purpose on whatever obscure round he wanted it for...41mag I think.
 
As long as it shoots good the looks are secondary .I would say that one got left in a leather holster for a long time
 
I am glad this gun turned out to be an excellent shooter. The only thing that confuses me is that it would be considered to have about 60% of its finish. I guess I have no idea how to judge that.
 
WestKentucky

What Ratshooter said:
You can make better snap caps by removing the primer and filling the hole with RTV silicone. It will give a little more bounce than the lead filler.
Click to expand...

An excellent buy at $250 with great mechanicals on the inside (not quite so great on the outside), and a heavy barrel model too; it's like the sprinkles on the frosting on the cake!
 
I would cerakote it, and use it as a good ccw gun or a truck gun. Hell theres not much a 4 inch .38 can't handle especially in a k frame. My dad, God rest him, hunted with his rifle but had a Smith M&P .38 in a shoulder holster for snakes and the occasional coup de grace shot on a felled deer. Good times, better guns, the best father's .
 
GunnyUSMC said:
Nice score. I bet it would look good with a park finish.
I have my eye on a US Property marked Victory with a five inch barrel. It’s been nickeled, but flaking, may be a fun project. They want $375, I’m holding out.
Click to expand...
If its a 5" it was originally chambered for .38 S&W for British Lend- Lease purposes. That is also why is is property- marked, lol. Like that would make it easier to return, I guess?

Some of these had the cylinders bored for Special ammo when they were repatriated, but accuracy won't be great as the .361 rifling doesn't engage .357 bullets too well.
 
If it were mine I would work with the existing finish , Flitz/Mother's rubdown , oil rub , etc. , see how it cleans up and matures. I like to be able to see the old steel. The Parkerize finish to me seems "opaque" , you cannot "see through" the Park finish to the steel. Your warty old revolver has character , its been around for a while ; with some hand work it will develop "cared for" character - it will only get better.
Your gun is old. A new finish is , well , new.
This is my opinion.
It is your revolver.
 
Ratshooter said:
You can make better snap caps by removing the primer and filling the hole with RTV silicone. It will give a little more bounce than the lead filler.
Click to expand...

This works well and I was using it and then I seen some that were actually holding up a little longer. Asked the guy what it was and he was filling the primer pocket with a hot glue gun. I then tried that and they held up very well.
 
Nice classic shooter for $250. Last trip to the range I spotted a model 10 that looked good cosmetically but I didn't have them take it out of the case. They're asking $339. Today I might take a closer look.
 
Waveski said:
If it were mine I would work with the existing finish , Flitz/Mother's rubdown , oil rub , etc. , see how it cleans up and matures. I like to be able to see the old steel. The Parkerize finish to me seems "opaque" , you cannot "see through" the Park finish to the steel. Your warty old revolver has character , its been around for a while ; with some hand work it will develop "cared for" character - it will only get better.
Your gun is old. A new finish is , well , new.
This is my opinion.
It is your revolver.
Click to expand...
I agree. I kinda like guns with the “painted pony” look. This one though is a bit too far gone. I’m looking at options, I don’t think I will park this one, it gives it a sterile look. I’m very seriously considering mirror polishing the gun and then use oxpho blue until it is blacker than coal soot but as shiny as chrome. I did that before on a stainless gun and liked it but made the mistake of polishing the top strap to a point of making the gun useless in sunlight. I very well may polish it, give it 1 or 2 coats all over with oxpho to darken it but still leave it’s original patina to show through. I have also looked at imitation color case hardening. Either way it’s gonna be a while before I do anything with it. It’s about 5th in line for work. it’s behind a Safety Hammerless, a Buntline, a Colt New Line and my muzzleloading “buggy carbine”. It’s functional or it would jump up the line.
 
WestKentucky

Right now it looks like it has some sort of urban camo finish. If it were mine I would probably send it off to be hard chrome plated. Let us know when it makes it to the top of the to-do list and what you've decided to do with it.
 
I have a blue 4" 10-6 heavy barrel leo trade-in. The right grip panel has been beat to splinters from banging into car doors and desks. I put on new set of magna grips and it cleaned up better than I thought it would. The finish on yours is too far gone for my tastes.

As I believe in "2 is 1" for self-defense guns I need another a mate. Hard chrome would be ideal. You can leave it matte for stainless steel look or my choice is to give it a high polish.
 
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