Good news! Picked it up yesterday from my FFL. She looks pretty rough, but she passes the "Revolver Checkout" test. There's a tad bit of side-to-side cylinder movement at full lock up (not "bank vault tight") but it's acceptable to me. There's no fore & aft movement, which is definitely good news. Bore is not pristine, but rifling looks clear and sharp. No rust anywhere that I can see. Screw heads are not boogered at all.
It looks to me like this was someone's truck gun. There's wear on the cylinder at the spot where it makes contact with any surface and the wear is surface scratches, not rubbing/chafing like a holster would do. Sadly, there is also about a 2 1/2" long spot on the right side of the barrel where it says ".357 Magnum" and "Highway Patrolman." From the pic, I thought it was glare/reflection --- nope, it's steel. Wood is definitely darkened with use and oil and has its fair share of scuffs and scratches and a couple small chips.
Dry-firing, the action is smooth like any good N-frame should be. Single action is very crisp. I'm thinking I'll take the grips off and use a can of gun scrubber and blast into the various openings in the gun and see how much crud runs out. Then hit it with compressed air and follow with a short squirt of CLP to keep it all oiled up. Sound like a plan?
I'm curious how it shoots. Maybe this weekend it'll clear up that I can get out and give it a whirl. Question for you reloaders: as this is on the N-frame and back in the days when the .357 was loaded up hotter than a depot stove, the gun should be able to handle more than my wrist, right? In other words I can challenge myself a bit with higher end (but below Ruger Only) velocities?
I will try to get some pics up this evening to better show off it's beauty marks.
Q
