Hello. A little backstory is required. So please bear with me. I'm a cop and five years ago I was browsing through a bunch of firearms that my department was preparing to sell to a dealer. They were all firearms confiscated from criminals, found during search warrant services ect. Most were junk, but there were also alot of Rugers, Astras, Stars, Llamas and a few little gems - beat up gems but gems nevertheless. I came across my Outdoorsman among all those handguns. My beat up gem.

Now nobody knew what it was. The tag on it had it identifed as a K-38 Target Masterpiece. I knew what it was. A five screw Outdoorsman with a 6.5" barrel and Diamond Magna grips on it.

It had lived a hard life and the crane was missing. Yes that's right the crane was missing, but everything else was there. The finish had seen better days but the bore was still sharp. I knew that it wasn't a pristine collector piece, but I jumped on it anyway. I put my name on it, but I had to make sure that all efforts had been made to confirm that the owner could not be located. I would hope some cop would do the same for me if he was drooling over one of my revolvers.

I called S&W and was put through to Roy Jinks. He advised me that the Outdoorsman was shipped from the factory to the Rex Gun Company in New York City, New York in August of 1953. It had the 6.5" barrel and a blued finish when it was shipped out. After that it never returned to the factory.

I then did an ATF trace on it. It showed up once at a pawnshop in Flagstaff, Arizona in the spring of 1975. After that nothing. An NCIC query came up with absolutely nothing. My department recovered it in 1997 when serving a search warrant on a burglary suspect's house. Lots of stuff was recovered. The department told the media and for weeks folks came in and looked through the recovered property. Some property was returned to the rightful owners, but the Outdoorsman was not one of them. So I came to a dead end.

So in the fall of 2004 I purchased my Outdoorsman from a local dealer for $50.00. He thought I was nuts, but then he isn't into Smith & Wesson revolvers.Though truth be told there was a littel voice in the back of my head agreeing with him.

Over the years I had a little work done on it here and there. The crane was replaced etc. But there were issues with the cylinder release and the timing was all screwed up and the trigger action was gritty. I finally decided it was time to bite the bullet and take it into a good smith and have it worked on for real. In other words time to spend some money.

I called John Taffin (he lives in my area of Idaho for those who know who he is) and asked for a good gunsmith. I took it to the gunsmith he goes to and yesterday I picked it up. The timing is dead on. The cylinder release is perfect and the grittiness in the action is all gone. Yipeee.

Now I have a dilemma. As I said this old Outdoorsman has had a hard and rather mysterious life. The finish isn't horrible, but there are some scratches and scars. Obviously not all parts match anymore (the cylinder crane) so I guess it's a parts gun for lack of a better word. Or perhaps I should call it a shooter.

I've wanted an Outdoorsman for years.Since I'm a cop I'm not made of money and I'll take my S&W pieces anyway I can. It's a big impressive looking revolver and I'm thrilled to have it. Right now I have spent an estimated $300.00 to include the purchase price. Is it worth spending a couple hundred more for cosmetics? All you hard core S&W collectors please advise. Consider my specimen and that tell me what you would do.

I'll add a photo later.

GREAT STORY - thanks for sharing.

I'll never be hardcore............... but, I say go for it!
You have already saved it from the Boneyard and fixed the mechanics. Now treat yourself to a beautiful new finish!

Yep, it's worth doin a little more to....

Your not going to be happy until you see this one through....

giz

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Non gratum anus rodentum

Have your revolver finished .... but please send it to S&W for the work - no one does a better refinish than the factory!!!

+1 for the refinish. And I commend you for going above and beyond to try to locate the last owner.

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Misty☺

Hell yeah...nickel it!

You guys have convinced me to follow through on what I've been leaning towards. Of course I won't be doing it overnight. But it will get refinished. Though I'm leaning towards a real nice blue job instead of nickel. That might be a little rich for my budget.Thanks again.

Great Story-I'd go for the refinish.

It would be nice to see some before and after pictures here.

For an example of before/after of a $190 S&W reblue, see my thread here: Factory refinished M-28-2 .45 (12 pics)

I think they do a really nice job.

Checkman, I can tell you just flat out fell in love with that N-frame .38, and I can completely understand why. There is just something about owning one of the strongest and most massive .38 Specials ever made. I am fortunate enough to have four of them, including a postwar Model of 1950 like yours.

By all means take this gun further along the road to the perfection you see in it. You saved it from oblivion and put in the time and money to make it work right. Now go the rest of the way and put your stamp on it; once you have done so, the last of its mysterious and troubled history is wiped away and the gun becomes a brand-new family heirloom for you. The gun deserves that last step of respect -- and you deserve to have a gun that has made a complete recovery.

We will want to see photos, of course. Take a few now so that you can do a before and after post when you eventually have the work done.

Congratulations. I love project stories and I love happy endings; looks like this situation offers both!

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David Wilson

+1 For that. . .

Here's member GLL's Outdoorsman, in nickel, with a 5-inch tube. It'd look just as great in a 6-1/2.





Nickel or blue. . .git 'er done.


Bullseye

That is pretty. Will the factory work on a piece made before 1957? At least if it just involves the finish? It was my understanding (I was told this when I called the factory a couple years ago) that anything made before 1957 is not worked on. Seems silly to me in that respect. After all what would be any different between mine and one made in 57?

I'm going to do it. I just got of the phone with my father and he agrees that it should be taken that final step. Matter of fact he's willing to throw in a few dollars to help offset the cost. Actually he thinks a nickel plated Outdoorsman would be pretty impressive looking as well. Have to admit it would be pretty.

Okay I'll post some before photos of it tomorrow and sometime in the next few months I'll bring this thread back to life with after photos. Thanks for all your advice.

And yes I am glad I saved it from the boneyard.

Better shoot it a lot now, because when you get it back, it'll be too pretty to shoot! You'll just want to look at it and wipe it down a lot.

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Richard Gillespie

Just for novelty, and because they look good, at least consider having it done as a "Pinto".

I agree with having it re-finished by S&W if they will. The 1957 restriction has more to do with parts availability than anything, they want to be sure they can fix it if they screw something up!

Can I ask what the approximate serial number is? Just a general interest question. No need to be specific, just the S and everything before the comma.

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Dick Burg

Sure thing. It is S96***. And here are some photos. Remember this is a project revolver and a shooter. Plus if you read my first thread it's seen better days. But hopefully it will look pretty again in the next few months. Sorry about the photos. I'm not very good at picture taking.

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Those are A-zoom snap caps in the cylinder in case anybody is wondering. Not live ammo.

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OK, so where are the bad spots that demand refinishing? Its not a bad old gun at all. Sure, its got some character. Bet you've got more bad spots on your body after all these years than that nice old gun has. I'm guessing you're not checking in to a Hollywood hospital for cosmetic surgery... You might be better off spending that addtional $200 and look for a great old Heiser holster to complement it. Not a new holster, but one that someone has worn a bit in the past.

If you want to make it into a BBQ gun, its OK too. But you've probably got a few other nice guns to work that duty.

I'm old so I understand falling down. Say you refinished it and were trying to navigate a steep slope and fell.. You'd undo all that pretty refinishing. But if you left it just the way it is, you'd laugh, cuss yourself for being clumsy, reholster the gun and never give it another thought. Just explaining the options. If any one was rude enough to comment on the fact its lost a tiny bit of blue, you could hit them, shoot them with it, or explain what they'd look like if they'd been through what that fine old revolvers been through.

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Dick Burg

I'd probably refinish it with a nice blued finish.

My 1951 Outdoorsman. My first S&W and the last one to ever leave my collection. I once thought of re-doing it in black chrome but never found the money or shop at the time. The finish on these is rarely the high polish blue so if you are looking to get back to original keep that in mind. Mine has some holster wear on the barrel and frame but I will keep here as is except for grip changes. The original magnas stay in the safe.

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Revolver luvin' Mountaineer

Checkman:

That Outdoorsman is not in very bad shape at all !
The honest wear appears to be from spending time in a holster and not from abuse.

Read Mr. Burg's comments carefully !
I would leave it as is and enjoy shooting it regularly !

If you are willing I would appreciate the serial number for my files ! (Offline)

gllewis@pasadena.edu

Jerry

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.38/44 Outdoorsman Accumulator

I'll get the SN # to you. Boy oh boy to refinish or not to refinish. What to do? I have a .357 magnum made by that other company and I would like to have that prettied up as well. Decisions decisions.

That gun does not look like it needs a refinish to me, but it's your gun. I would leave it the way it is, it has character. Maybe give it a good waxing with Renaissance Wax.

Part of orig. post by checkman.

I then did an ATF trace on it. It showed up once at a pawnshop in Flagstaff, Arizona in the spring of 1975. After that nothing. An NCIC query came up with absolutely nothing. My department recovered it in 1997 when serving a search warrant on a burglary suspect's house.

How did it "show up" in a pawn shop? Were the pawn shop's records turned over to ATF due to ownership change or FFL holder going out of biz? My understanding is the pertinent info of the gun stays with the FFL holder.

Just curious.

Cary

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Reason only visits those ...

Why don't you run it by the gunsmith who did the mechanicals and get his opinion.Maybe there are some options besides a factory reblue.
Bill

Beats me. Initially after I requested an ATF trace and I recieved a response that there was no record of the revolver having ever exsisted period. So I called the ATF in Virginia and spoke to a supervisor. I explained to him that the revolver was defintely manufactured by Smith & Wesson. He told me that due to the age they would have to do an old fashioned search through their records.

So a couple months later I recieved a response from the ATF telling me about the pawnshop in Flagstaff.

I don't work for the ATF and I'm not in the retail end of firearms. As a cop I send a trace request to the ATF and they send me whatever information they have on the weapon in question.

For example many years ago we had an M1 carbine used in a drive-by. The ATF had record of it being sold (?) at a sporting goods store in Alabama in 1981. That was it. No other records of it having been used in a previous crime ect.

Sorry I can't be more of a help.

Checkman, thanks for the info.

Cary/Lubbock Louie

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Reason only visits those ...

The gun is really not truly original or highly collectible due to the parts change. Although I would never recommend refinishing a truly collectible S&W, in this case, I don't see any harm. It sounds like the gun will be more valuable to you personally if it is reblued. So in that case, go for it.

As far as S&W refinishing guns, Roy Jinks was the service manager at one time and established the policy of not refinishing guns that were made prior to 1957 when they started model marking. The problem, to some, was that when the factory received an older Smith, they would change parts and even update roll marks. As far as the factory was concerned, they were improving one of their products and were not factoring in the collectible aspects. To collectors, this was a terrible thing, so Roy stopped the practice with older guns.

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James Redfield
LM #497

Yep I called the factory and found that out.