Revolver restoration

J

Jack19

New member
I've got a pre-war X&X M&P .38 that I inherited from an uncle who, in his infinite wizdumb, turned the front half moon sight into a red insert ramp with some hand tools. ARGH!!

I's a great shooter but, I'd like to get it put back into it's original configuration and don't mind spending a little money to do so (given the value of the weapon isn't all that great either.)

Who would do that kind of work. Any ideas? :confused:
 
Jack,

Any relatively competent gunsmith SHOULD be able to simply replace the barrel with a proper copy.

That way you don't have to try slicing the front sight off and soldering a replacement onto the stub.

It would probably be cheaper just to replace the barrel, as well.

Finding the proper barrel may present something of a challenge, but if Gun Parts Corp doesn't have it I would be VERY surprised.
 
The sight could be built up with a MIG welder, and filed to shape, but refinishing would be a problem unless the whole gun is reblued. I think I would call S&W and talk to them about the job and cost. Also try www.cylinder-slide.com; they do that kind of work.

Jim
 
Sarco used to have a lot of M&P parts. As far as I remember four inch .38 Special barrels were $15.
To change the barrel is actually quite simple; after driving the pin out, the barrel unscrews. The gap between barrel and cylinder has has to be checked.
I recently reblued an old M&P Victory with Brownell's Belgian Blue and am very happy with the outcome.
 
Ordinarily I'd suggest sending any S&W revolver to the factory for repair or refurbishing, figuring that the factory ought to know more about taking care of its own products than anyone else does. However, when I sent my 1946 .38 M&P to S&W for some minor work, the service department shipped it right back to me, untouched. The return shipment included a note, stating that S&W no longer repairs revolvers that were manufactured before the model number was stamped in the yoke cut, that is, before 1957.

(Consequently, I had the work done by a local gunsmith, who, I now know, has an amazing ability to charge a lot of money for botching S&W repair jobs in totally unexpected ways.)
 
Just found the S&W 1999Gunsmithing Services Price List.

New front sight on forged models ...Parts+ .......$62.40

Refinishing....blue, stainless etc. .......$117 - $158

Even if they'd accept to work on the gun this would probably exceed it's monetary value.
 
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