Model 10 info please

O

Oasis Serene

Inactive
Hello all, My Father acquired this revolver recently and I offered to clean it up for him. I have been trying to figure out its history a bit.

It says behind the cylinder

Model 10
74412
C548xxx serial number.
Blued with diamond cut wood grips.

All fo the pics I saw online of the model 10's showed a full half moon front sight. This one is half moon to straight angle with notches.

Thank you all for the help.
 
Your model 10 ser# suggest it is a 1961-62 vintage. No "dash" number after the "Model 10" like "Model 10-5"?

Can you post pics?

How many screws hold the RIGHT sideplate to the frame?

Is there a screw in front of the trigger guard that screws in, toward the trigger face, along the long axis of the gun?

Can you measure the WIDTH of the front sight? 1/10 inch or 1/8 inch.


Pics Pics Pics...:) Especially of the front sights, the area where the barrel meets the frame, the right side plate, the left side with cylinder release.


Sgt Lumpy
 
From 61 to 62 it could have either a dash-2,-3-4-5-6 { Busy weren't they } depending on if it is a heavy or tapered barrel, Engineering change -4 removed the 4th screw { from the trigger guard } on the tapered barrel, engineering change 6 removed it from the heavy barrel. As you posted Sgt. Lumpy,a picture would help determining just which one he has. as would the dash number.
 
The 74412 number sounds as if it is the floor assembly number. Where are you finding that number?

If it is the floor assembly number, it really has no application outside of the S&W factory, and can be ignored.
 
Hopefully these pics are good

050_zps93950b8e.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

051_zps639c30bf.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

052_zpsff3ebaab.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

053_zpsd60d04b8.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

054_zps115453a7.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

055_zpsdf455863.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

Sorry it took a day. Been very busy
 
It appears to be a 61 or 62, 4 screw, pencil barrel, Model 10, no dash.

The front sight is likely the 1/10 inch wide variety. I've seen others like that, that look like the half moon sight that's been cut flat on the back. I don't know enough about that vintage gun to know much about the front sights. But I assumed it was some kind of transitional sight between the half moon and the combat style front ramp.

As RJay suggested, that year 10 had a wide variety of options. All the dashes through about -6, denoting various things like sight width, barrel contour, number of screws in the frame etc.

Maybe not this particular model, but it's likely the model 10 in general was the most produced and most widely distributed revolver in history. Eleventy gazillion US cops had them in the 20th century. That and countless bad guys, pvt citizens, foreign owners etc means there were a lot of them. Probably a lot of them at the bottom of Lake Superior and the Hudson River, as well as in the drawers of a lot of retired coppers.


Sgt Lumpy
 
Very good info everyone Thank you.

I am looking forward to putting a couple rounds through it soon. I hear these are pretty accurate. :)
 
They are excellent shooting revolvers, one of the best ever. If you want to go full retro, pick up a box of round nose lead 158gn ammo...the standard old police load.
I put some through my nearly identical Model 10 recently. It was low recoil/very accurate.
Then, load it with +p self defense loads and call yourself well-armed.
 
You cringe. It's what you do. You're a cringer. You see cringable things and you cringe at them. It's a tough job, but...well you know...:D


Sgt Lumpy
 
I cringe at "pencil barrel." (Shudder)
Click to expand...
So do I...a heavy barrel is much more shootable. However, most things in life are compromises.
With the heavy barrel, it will be much easier to shoot accurately, but at the same time, the cops would carry it much more that shoot it, and wanted the equipment they carried as light a possible. Consider the walking beat-cop who had never actually been in a gun fight pencil barrel would be "better". Nevertheless, inasmuch as I am not a cop, all my shooting is for sport, and would never conceal carry a four-inch (carry a snub, which is also is a compromise), I would have little use for the thin barrel.
 
I much prefer the taper barrel to the heavy barrel, and find it is easy to shoot, even with +P SD loads.
BTW...a four inch taper barrel Model 10 is easy to CCW in the right holster. I use a Bianchi pistol pocket #3.
 
I don't like pencil barrels either. Bull or taper look fine to me. I also don't care for half moon front sights. I like ramp fronts and fixed rear. That's how weird I am...:eek:


Sgt Lumpy
 
What "pencil barrel"? That is a standard weight barrel with nothing "pencil" about it. Is this yet another term that was "redefined" ten minutes ago or have you folks never seen a real "pencil barrel"?

Jim
 
"Pencil barrel" is a term that's been around for half a century at least. It defines the bbl in the OP's gun. The other two options are the bull (all one diameter) and the tapered (not truly tapered, but stepped down at the frame, likely the most produced). No it's not a ten minute ago term.


Sgt Lumpy
 
I didn't say it was invented ten minutes ago, I said it seems to have been redefined. The old S&W's, Colts and H&Rs with six inch (or longer barrels), very thin, with almost no taper, were said to have "pencil barrels", and anyone who has seen them knows why. That kind of barrel has long been out of fashion.

They were also used on semi-autos, mainly .22's like the 10" barrel Colt Woodsman which really looks almost like a pencil is stuck in the front.

Jim
 
Some of you misunderstand me... I have nothing against the tapered barrel, it's the term "pencil barrel" that sets my teeth on edge. Standard, lightweight, tapered are all acceptable in my mind, but "pencil barrel" makes me cringe.

I love my tapered barrel 10s and M&Ps. Especially when they are in nickel with ivory stocks.


standard.jpg
 
I didn't say it was invented ten minutes ago, I said it seems to have been redefined.
Click to expand...

Well, what you said was:

That is a standard weight barrel with nothing "pencil" about it.
Click to expand...

And that's not really accurate. S&W collectors and afficianados refer to that bbl as a "Pencil Barrel". They don't refer to it as a standard weight barrel.

There are three types of S&W revolver barrels. Pencil, taper and bull. The ones in the pics, including the nickel w/ivory, are what S&W nuts would call "Pencil". The length doesn't define it. There are snub nose Smiths with pencil barrels. Pencil barrels don't have upper ribs.

Nothing personal and not trying to make Saxon cringe. It's just what they call it.


Sgt Lumpy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top