Club Obi Wan

I just broke down and bought a Model 10 at a gun show this weekend. It is in super shape and I Love it. I haven't taken it to the range yet to form an opinion of the actual firing of it though. My question is if anybody knows how to get the history or at least when it was made by the serial number without spending the $30 to send it to the S & W historian?

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Honestly, I'm not totally sure, but I think the only way is to send the serial number to S&W and let them research it.

Congrats on the purchase!

Wrightknife,

There's a couple ways to get the history by s/n.

One is join www.smith-wessonforum.com and post approx s/n (like 124xxx), the kind folks there will let you know. (I say APPROX serial number, as you don't want the whole 'net to know what exact guns you own...)

Another is Roy Jinks, the S&W historian, wrote about 4 books. S/N ranges are covered. There's also a Standard Catalog of S&W by Jim Supica.

You can post approx s/n here and I'll try to look it up (I have the books), but it may take me 'till next week to reply.

Good luck with your 10. Post pics!

Regards,
Indy45

Great! I will IM you with the S/N and let you give it a try. I may also join the other forum too, sounds like fun.

Thanks for the information!

The S&W Model 10 is a wondefrul revolver - one of my favorite to shoot. Did you get a 4 or 6 inch barrel?

I got the 4 inch as it was the length of Indy's gun. It is tight and smooth, I believe I will love shooting it too. It has a nice parkerized finish on it too.

Wrightknife,

Saw your post on Smith-Wessonforum.com, the reply was correct your D prefix s/n was made 1975-76. More likely 1975, as range thru 75-76 was D750001 - D870000, as you indicated yours was D783xxx.

To see if your gun's wood grips are the originals, remove and look for a pencilled or stamped s/n behind the right grip inside, should match the gun.

The fact it's parkerized surprised me, I thought most Model 10s were blued. (This isn't a problem if original; if refinished to parkerized the collector value would be a little less. Gun will shoot fine.)

Late production Smiths have the newer safety features like hammer block and metallurgy will be stronger, so you can shoot jacketed .38s along with lead. Lead semi wad cutters would probably be more accurate for targets.

You can also get more info on your S&W if you post pictures and note any special markings OTHER than the standard ones like the S/N, "Smith & Wesson", "Made in the USA...", ".38 Smith & Wesson Special CTG"; best bet is post pics to Smith-Wessonforum, those guys are sharp.

Here's my pre WWI M&P, made in 1916:


Regards,
Indy45

Thanks for the info Indy45! That is one cool gun you have there. I will post a pic of mine shortly and see if it helps you any. I don't think the grips are original, the medallion is a small silver one with a bird on it.

Your Model 10 doesn't look parkerized. Looks a bit faded in areas (holster wear?) but really appears to be in good shape.

Parkerized finishes are often grey in color...and are matte finish. You can easily mark it with a finger nail.

There are matte blue finishes as well, but again yours doesn;t have that same look.

I'll see if I can get a picture of mine up for comparison....ah, one little edit later and here we are:




For comaparison, here we have a picture mil-spec parkerized piece:

Yes,

I have seen some parkerized guns now and it is definitely not. I believe it is just the matte black finish. I really like the look of it though.

Thanks,

Ah, that it s very nice looking revolver my friend! I agree, that it is not parkerized, but that has to be one of the mattest (sp?) blued finishes I've seen.