I'm not sure how common these are really, figured some of you guys might like to see this one.

I bought this gun off of a local classifieds and when I was first looking at it in relatively poor pictures I thought it was interesting how nice the blue was. I don't know that I have ever seen a post war Pre-Model 10 with a blue like this. The 6" barrel was also unusual in my limited experience, and I didn't have a long action pre-10. So, since it was cheap, I figured I'd go buy it.

The first thing I noticed was this:



The odd thing was that the rest of the gun was really very nicely re-blued to my eye. I could see being fooled by the rest of the gun without a really close examination. S&W did an amazing job re-bluing.




I did notice this when I was checking to see if the numbers matched (they all do, save for the stocks):



I remember reading something about the Diamond being put on the gun when you have a factory refinish, I couldn't figure out what the S meant however.

When I got the stocks off I found this:



Again, Diamond S, but also 1258 denoting December of '58 I believe?

The reverse side has a B in the lower left corner:



Makes sense given that it is a re-blue.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with the gun. It's certainly not in pristine shape (been in and out of a holster quite a lot since the re-blue), or original, but I like the idea of a gun re-finished in a nice blue in the 50's, and it's cool to finally see a clearly factory re-finished gun first hand. Plus the action and lockup are of course fantastic.

Very pretty gun. The finish reminds me of black saphire. It looks deep & rich. I think you're right about all of the stamps. Some of them are just inspector stamps. Yep, that's a beauty. But then, I'm a K-frame addict.

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Why, I aughta.....

I'm a K-frame addict, too. Very nice gun. I can't for sure answer detailed questions about the markings but it's definitely a cool piece.

***GRJ***

Well sir I like it! I don't know what "cheap" is but knowing me I would have bought it. Kyle

Oh, $300 even.

I used to have this rule for myself, if I came across a good condition Pre-10 for $250 I would just buy it, no debating my brain on it, just buying it. I've since upped that price to $300.

In the past 5 years or so I have had a total of 7 Pre-10s (including this one), 5 of which I have sold to friends or people who don't yet know the joys of S&W collecting for what I paid. Drug dealer style.

I feel like $300 for all the work and skill that went into producing one of these is really cheap. I know at one time it was a lot less for a pre-10, but since I have been in this game the price has just climbed, and the guns have become less and less common to happen across.

Jiminy Cricket what a nice revolver! Thanks for sharing.

S denotes trip back to Service Dept.


Charlie