How should I go about trying to get the gun to function? The pawn guy said he cant open it nor operate the safety lever. Take off the grips and soak in WD40 for a while to see if things loosen up first? The patina seems pretty nice. Best just leave alone I assume....

I would remove the grips first and see what is keeping the safety bar from being depressed, which in turn is keeping the action form working. There should be no reason it can't be opened by lifting up on the latch and tipping the barrel forward. Please throw away that can of WD40 as previous use may be part of the problem as it turns to gooey varnish after awhile. You may need to soak it in penetrating oil such as Kroil to loosen up things.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Be very careful removing the grips, as they are no doubt soft and fragile with age. Drizzle kano kroil in every opening and let if sit for a day to see if things loosen up. If there's gunk in the bore and chambers, put some Hoppe's down there, or better yet a 60/40 mix of Hoppe's and kano, and let that sit too. No need to rush this one.

i got it to open! lubricated everything carefully. the trigger action works good, the break latch also, the safety lever does not move and seems to have no effect one way or the other. appears a spring or something with the lever may be missing. All in all I am happy. So in this condition and with a working action what would retail value roughly be? The blue book says 300-400.....?

Sorry, more like $130-150. The gun has buffed agressively and been reblued, and as you say, it does not operate properly. A shooter at best, and more like a parts gun.

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Peter #2091

Not sure about the re-blue you mention. The patina is very much like other guns that I have from pre WW2 but anything is possible. Even if its just worth $150, thats less than what I paid so I will enjoy it for a while, its actually pretty nice.

+1. Not to say that you got ripped off, but you didn't steal it either. On originals, the trigger guard is blued, with the trigger and latch being case hardened. The extractor will be blued (IIRC) on blue or nickel models.

Here is one I got a few months back for $150 OTD. This gun is original nickel and it works, making it a much different proposition. Don't feel bad though, many people have made much worse buys. Even if your gun was worthless, it was only $150 which barely buys a tank of gas today! It was a cheap lesson truthfully, where guns are concerned.

Since the gun is over 80 yrs old, it simply probably has an old reblue. There are several reblue clues such as blued trigger, smoothness of corners. Originals have a different blue on the trigger guard, like a different shade. Also, compare my side plate to yours, yours is well defined indicating buffing which effects how it fits the gun. On mine, you can barely tell the joint, which is what you want to see. The screw heads are flat on yours, as are the studs on the opposite side of the gun (the end of the screw). Also, S&W blue is much brighter. The shade on your gun could only be from the original finish being lost or removed.

I can't argue that the gun has patina, but you have to look deeper than that. Patina can develop on any gun, original or not. Also, since it was a civilian production gun, you can't compare the finish to a wartime pistol (not that you meant that, just sayin), where quality finish was not a consideration, only durability was. Once you see enough original ones, it will become obvious to you.

In my area (central PA) you can't get a paperweight for less than $100 much less a S&W. I think you did good, but not great. I'd enjoy it for what it is. If you decide to sell it I don't think you'll loose any money.

Count, you will find that most folks here are more then willing to teach the rest of us on many aspects of collecting these cool guns. As long as we are learning,were moving forward. Have you ever taken one of these apart? This one could be one you can learn the intricacies on. Kyle

I agree. Just about everything ammo and gun related seems to be going up big time. Just 2 years ago Bulgarian 7.62x25 tokarev ammo used to cost me 1.59 for 16 (yes 16, neat little bundles in wax paper held together with string!), now its twice the price. Still have a couple hundred rounds thankfully. Bought a really nice CZ52 (99%) 3 years ago for $180, now I see them going for $250 or more.
Our lesson? Buy all the guns and ammo you can afford today :-))

Try a penetrating oil called Gibbs and you will probably retire
those cans of Kroil to some bore cleaning chores. I have a first
model safety hammerless with the push style top latch that
was frozen and after applying Gibbs and working it awhile the
rust crawled right up out of it and works fine now. Just my
2 cents worth.

You did good for $130.00 and congrates!!!

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De Oppresso Liber Μολὼν λαβέ

The reason the safety bar may not move, or seems to do nothing is it may be pinned down. I'm not sure when S&W first began providing a drilled hole in the frame under the grips through which a pin could be inserted which held the safety bar in the down position. This may not have been provided until the Centennial models were introduced, but I do believe many of the early Safety Hammerless models could be and were modified to do so.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I was thinking the same thing. My 38 Safety Hammerless 3rd Model has the pin hole for disabling the safety.