I have just bought a nice S&W model 10-5 with pinned 3-inch barrel and square butt, serial no. 2D83xxx, made in year 1978. At first glance, the barrel looks cylindrical like the well-known "Heavy Barrel"-configuration but it has a very, very light taper to it. The "Magna" service grips are serial numbered to the gun, by the way.

All of the model 10s with 3-inch barrels I have seen so far had round butt grip frames, so I suppose this variation is probably more scarce. In the great reference book "Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson - 3rd. Edition" I cannot find much information centering around this variation.

Does anybody here know more about this particular variation, especially whether it was offered as a regular catalog item or if it was some kind of limited production run made for a distributor or agency? Thank you very much for your assistance.

Here are two (******) pics of the gun:






By the way, after having handled and fired most service handguns available, I strongly believe that Smith & Wesson's "Military & Police" revolvers are among the very best of all combat handguns.