ODD S&W Model 10 British/Canadian

[Josey]

I bought a odd little S&W. This is a S&W Model 10 WWII issue revolver. It was apparently shipped from the USA to England and then to Canada. It has been bored out from the original 380/200 or 38 S&W to 357 straight through! The barrel has been cut to 3" and the lanyard ring has been removed. It seems to have proper S&W old style rounded top walnut checkered grips. It apparently was a Peel Regional Police issue revolver and is stamped P in several places on the frame. 5 screw and serrated trigger. 7370XX s/n Is there a problem with using 38 Special in this revolver? It chambers 357 Magnum but, I won't be using any! Are these straight bores fairly common conversions?

 

[SMLE]

I would NOT use .357 ammo in this revolver. I would not really want to shoot it with .38 Special. The .38 S&W is slightly larger in diameter than .38 Spec. and the cases will bulge and stick, Accuracy will also be marginal. Basically, this poor, innocent revolver was raped, sodomized and mutilated. I had a similar revolver in original configuration. It was a tack-driver and very mild to shoot. Sad.

 

[FPrice]

Is there a source of safe .38/200 ammo which could be used in a revolver such as this?

 

[Johnny Guest]

Sad, really - - -

- - The waste of a revolver which would be worth FAR more if it hadn't been modified.

Your Hand Ejector will probably still shoot commercial .38 S&W ammo fairly well, though reaming out the front of the chamber probably didn't do the accuracy any good.

During the early 1960s, I bought such a revolver, marked, "Concerted by COGSWELL & HARRINGTON, London." I shot a lot of .38 Special ammo in it. It would split about a quarter of the cases on first firing, and I don't think I ever had a case survive three firings. Best accuracy was obtained with mild-to-medium loads of Unique, behind a 148 gr. hollow base wadcutter.

I also got good accuracy with some swedged lead 158 RNL bullets with a cupped base - - Didn't quite qualify as a HB. Sorry, I don't recall what brand they were.

DUE NOTICE: Opinions vary on whether or not it is safe to shoot .38 Special loads in one of these ill-advised "conversions." My opinion is that it is safe enough, IF SHOOTING IS RESTRICTED TO STANDARD PRESSURE .38 LOADS OR MILD HANDLOADS. Please, don't even CONSIDER the use of Plus-P ammo. Others, whose opinions I value, feel it is dangerous to shoot ANY .38 Spl ammo in these revolvers. Probably best to stick with standard .38 S&W ammo.

My particular revolver went away long since. If you can find any, you might try out some of the "Cartridge, Ball .380 2Z." This was a longish FMJ RN bullet, of about 176 gr. It shot very close to point of aim in my old Enfield/Albion DAO revolver. IIRC, it ran around 690 fps.

You might want to check Numrich/Gun Parts Co. at
http://www.e-gunparts.com/
From time to time they have some really cheap deals on certain parts. If, and ONLY IF, they have an overstock of S&W HE Cylinders in .38 S&W, it might be worthwhile to have one fitted to your revolver. Problem is, if you don't catch the prices right, you could easily spend $175 upgrading your $100 revolver to a $130 piece. I say this because, with the cut barrel and missing lanyard loop, any collector value is pretty well fled.

If that revolver was mine, I MIGHT use it for home defense with the S&W loads. (Hey, it HAS to be better than a .32 or .380.) Or, I might swap it off at a gun show.

Best of luck - -
Johnny

 

[popeye]

I think this came from Canada also

 

[BluesBear]

Since it's already been butchered why not just get a new barrel & cylinder and make it into a great shooter? Those old long actions were smooth!