The Ubiquitous S&W Model 10

[Choctaw]

My agency still had us carrying the Model 10 as late as 1992. Man, now I think I'm going to have to buy one.

 

[wcwhitey]

https://www.tandtgunnery.net/

Was at this store a few hours ago. They had four 10-8 Heavy Barrel NYPD turn ins for $395, you pick! All had 20 years of holster wear, 3 were very tight only one was marginal. A guess at about 65-75% finish. Just a heads up!

 

[trackskippy]

Ive had the best luck buying used "privately-owned" Model 10's from local shops. There still seem to be a bunch of them out there in real nice shape, but they are going up pretty quick in price.

Ive bought a couple of the police, security, and DC trade in guns over the years, and for the most part they were good shooters, but a couple were pretty rough on the outside. Still, I did OK when I traded them off, especially in this market, but what Im seeing, for the most part, these days, they arent really that great a deal. Id rather spend a bit more and get a gun in nicer shape.

I still have this 2" Model 10 NYDC trade in I picked up about 5 years ago for about $330. Its one I shoot quite a bit and dry fire all the time. It came with some old rubber Uncle Mikes on it that looked like the dogs had been chewing on it and it was dirty as hell and looked like it was never cleaned.


They had a bunch of 2" and 4" guns and most of them were pretty rough, and a couple were not even really functional. All were the same price. I had the pick of three Model 10's and this was the one in the best shape. One had some sort of issue and didn't function properly.

I gave it a good cleaning, flushed the guts with Gun Scrubber until it came out clear, which took a bit of Gun Scrubber, lubed it back up with a little bit of Mobil One in a couple of places and took it out a shot it. Seemed OK, until I got back the second or third time out and the barrel spun off while I was cleaning it. Had a big blob of some brown thread locker on the threads. Cleaned that off, put a bunch of blue Loctite on it, and timed it back up the best I could and its been fine ever since. Shoots well too.



.

 

[ThomasT]

I just found this place yesterday. guns.com they have a lot of used guns including skinny barrel maodel 10s, HB model 10s, Model 15s and model 64 and 65 if you would like stainless and a 357 magnum. I really like my model 65. I also have a nickle plated model 10 HB I sent bact to S&W last week because the barrel to cylinder gap is .016. I haven't heard back from them yet. I also have a 6" model 10 I really enjoy. It looks so old timey I call it Granpa. They have several skinny barrel model 10s and I would like to have one in my collection. I had RHKP model 10 I stupidly sold. Live and learn.

https://www.guns.com/firearms/police-trade-ins If you notice they also have free shipping.

https://www.guns.com/firearms/used-handguns You need to scroll down or better type in smith & wesson to narrow your search.

Thanks to @mcb for his excellent post on MIM parts. Those have never bothered me. I am pretty sure my truck has many MIM parts in it and they work just fine for their intended purpose. Plus I grew up working in my dads machine shop and we mainly machined cast parts. So I have a lot of experience with cast. Used in the right place and there is nothing wrong with it.

The only thing I am not fond of on new S&W guns is the EDM (I think thats correct) method of rifling barrels. I think it does OK with jacketed bullets but not so good with lead. At least the 4" 629 I had was not the lead bullet shooter the old 4" blued model 29 I owned was.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Before I lead everyone astray not all MIM parts get HIP'ed, in fact only a modest percentage does. But that process exists and the new generation of engineers that have "grown-up" with MIM know when that extra process/cost is needed and when less costly MIM processes are sufficient. And the powdered metallurgy (the raw metal injected into the molds) has come so far in the last two decades that the material properties of the resulting parts are far more dependent on the alloy chosen than the MIM process.

As for aesthetics I would offer this picture:
View attachment 1058785
Top to Bottom: M29, 610, 625, 627, Model 10

Can you pick out the MIM triggers and hammers? I can but it takes a close look and some research on my part to know for sure which was which.

I like all of these revolver and they have all been used a lot, some a whole lot in competition. I can proudly tell interesting stories of hunting and competition about all of them. The fact that some of them have forged parts and some MIM parts never crosses my mind except when I run across these threads. Of all these revolvers the one with the best single action and double action trigger (by a fair margin) is one of the ones with a MIM Trigger and Hammer. In single action that MIM trigger/hammer is better than than basically all of my other firearms including a Rem 700 with a fairly high end Timney trigger in it.

The top two are forged and the rest MIM.

To be fair, the hammer-mounted firing pins are a giveaway.

 

[mcb]

The top two are forged and the rest MIM.

To be fair, the hammer-mounted firing pins are a giveaway.

Close, the top two are forge, as you point out the hammer mounted firing pins predate MIM and sort of gives that away, but the 627 (second from bottom) is also forged despite being relatively new having the internal lock , it was a PC gun and got forges parts. The 625 and Model 10 are MIM. The 625's trigger is really good, No doubt it was worked on by a previous owner, I am the third owner I know of but who know how many owners it has really had. The single stage is 1.25 lbs with no creep and the double action is butter smooth. It was my favorite revolver for USPSA competition.