I bought this gun (S/N 334992) a couple of years ago for $120 in an auction because it was "broken". The cylinder wouldn't open.

It was pitiful. Horrible finish, horrible stocks and I couldn't open it to check out its mechanics. The trigger guard had obviously been squashed a little, and somebody "fixed" it by banging on the front, rear and bottom until it was (mostly) back in shape.

I bought this poor thing as my "learning gun".

When I got home, I tightened by finger the ejector rod and it came open. Nice, shiny chambers and bore. It is the first S&W (or any revolver for that matter) I ever took completely apart and put back together. It had rust (not bad, but there) in the works.

Once cleaned and lubricated, it actually has quite a nice action. It then became my cold-blue experiment gun. (Keep in mind this thing was awful already) My first cold-blue was TERRIBLE...so bad I didn't take any pictures! I re-blued it today and while the pictures below make it look terrible...it's not so bad...and a LOT better than my first attempt. It is likely to become my test mule in the future when I try rust-bluing.

Anyway, I just wanted to give this old girl an acknowledgement for the fun she has given me, and the hard life she lived before I got her...and since I got her.

You should try rust bluing. So much better. I rust blued an heirloom single barrel shotgun for a friend a while back and it turned out great. I boiled it in my low country boil propane burner.

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

That is my kind of rescue!!! Great job! Do you have any "before" pictures??

This is the only picture I have - from the original auction.