I have a model 14-4 (K-38) that I'm certain is stainless. I removed the side plate, all the internal parts are stainless, the target hammer, target trigger all appear to be stainless. Every part appears to be stainless and not brushed nickel. Is it possible that Smith manufactured a "one-off" perhaps for one of their executives? It is no more magnetic than my models 60, 66 & 67. Has anyone every heard of anything like this?

I found it on GunBroker and the seller listed is as a Stainless Model 14. As I already had a few model 14s as well as most of the numberer S&Ws and am pretty familiar with the specs of each model I contacted the seller asking if it was possibly nickel...he said, no stainless. I bought it believing it was nickel and he was an uninformed seller. Now, I'm convinced it is stainless...I'd like to hear from other serious S&W collectors...

I think what you've done with this post is to ask a hundred folks willing to reply to say the same thing.

How about some pictures?

It's almost certainly going to be some manner of an aftermarket added finish. A good guess with no pictures would be Hard Chrome.

Uploading pictures....all internal parts appear to be stainless as well, looks identical in color to the internal parts on my 66 & 67...Going to write Smith and see what they can tell me.

Maybe a model 68?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably hard chrome. Below is my factory blued 34-1 in slightly polished hard chrome. Looks just like stainless.

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Psalm 27:2

Not to be Debbie Downer here but shouldn't this thread be moved to the 1961-1980 Revolver Forum?

Plus you might get more information there.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

An avid collector such as yourself should know that there is no such thing as a stainless steel 14-4. Most likely hard chrome as already mentioned above.

Why not post pics of this one and some of your other guns?

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My sgntr is mor thn 30 chrctrs

We've never heard this before, have we?
Some of the hard chrome finishes look so much like stainless.....


Every other month or so, someone shows up here with a gun that has been refinished, dead certain they have found a unicorn. Some were verified by a bona fide S&W expert- the guy who sold it to them at the local gun show.

We haven't found one of the one-of-a-kind guns yet, but hey, you ought to invest $100 in a letter that proves you have a $20,000 gun.
Or a $500 gun.
Roll the dice!

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Post a picture so we can bust your bubble... As noted, this question comes up fairly often and some owners get very upset when the facts are explained to them... SS Metal Life (and others) have an electroless nickel that makes people swear they have a stainless gun.

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S&W factory revolver armorer

Hey I asked about the unicorn thing when I bought my 34-1! But that's part of the learning experience.

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Psalm 27:2

Not a very friendly group at all. Why do people need to act so nasty to a new poster on the forum coming here asking a question. A couple of you act like you are Smith or Wesson. No reason to be nasty to people because you think you know it all.

What is mean or nasty here? It's just plain honesty.

If the doctor tells you there is 0% of recovery of a loved one, that's much better than lying and saying there is a 5% chance.

There's 0% chance it's a stainless gun. Q.E.D.

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Psalm 27:2

I don't know about anyone else but I'm practically drooling in anticipation of seeing the gun. Stainless or not....anything that could be an odd-ball has my interest.

In addition to the obvious answer, Model 14s are not stainless, you answered your own question here.

Maybe accept for the first handful of stainless revolvers S&W made, the silver colored internal parts in stainless revolvers were flash chrome plated standard carbon steel parts. Chrome and stainless steel are not the same shade of silver.

However, even after reading some of these threads, years ago I drove home from Cabela's thinking I had bought a used customized stainless 1911 .45 variant. I would have know better if I'd looked critically at the shade of silver. Also, a local gun store owner showed me a "stainless steel" Colt Detective Special that he had for sale. I told him only once that it was chrome plated. It was going to take someone else to convince him, so you're forgiven.

Welcome to the forum.

I understand there's a prohibition to posting links to an active auction. As this one's closed perhaps a link to it (and the photos) is allowed?

I've always been a big fan of hard chrome. I must've had 5 or 6 done back in the day. Unfortunately, I traded off every one of them since I always found something new and exciting, and those hard-chrome guns never failed to impress my trading partners. My all-time favorite was a 2" Model 15 that was round-butted and sent off to Armoloy. Talk about raising a stir every time I brought it out! Sadly, though, the lure of something even more fancy won out. Now I look back and can't figure how anything could be hotter than that 15....

I can't believe that over 10 people paid the troll to cross the bridge..... er, wait.......Toll.

While we await pictures of the stainless 14-4 here are some pictures of my stainless 25-5. This finish may not be "collectible" but it has the benefit of being hard to damage and holster wear pretty much doesn't happen. While my 98+% blue and nickel ones don't get out of the safe, this one gets to go to the range. That stainless 14-4 may become one of your favorites. And welcome to the Forum.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

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Here is a late post war S prefix M&P that at some point was chromed without being over polished. Fortunately the hammer, trigger and star were not plated and it retains the original grips. Not much collector value but it is a birth year/month revolver.

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Where did you have the guns plated, are they still doing the process, and what was the cost! Many years back all the local sheriff's deputies were having the guns done for durability! I have a 17-6(K- chuker) that is finished challenged!

jcelect

Check out Metalife by Ron Mahovsky. He has an online website

Armoloy. They are still around and have franchises in several states, but I do not know if they still do firearms. I last used them in the mid 1980s, so I doubt their prices are the same.
Mahovshy's Metalife is certainly a good choice as well. A place called The Action Works does it, too.
Wright Armory, here in Mesa AZ took over doing the Robar finishes like NP3 since Robar went out of business.

Usually, guys come here for answers to questions, not a participation trophy...

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S&W factory revolver armorer

Say what? That makes no sense at all and has nothing to do with what I said. Did you make that up all by yourself?

The odds of this being a true stainless 14-4 are tiny. It is possible, but roughly about as likely as me going to med school on a gymnastics scholarship.
The requests for pictures are not unreasonable, and I did not see anything I would call harsh feedback.

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NHI, 10-8.

If this 14-4 has raised so much interest and speculation, just call or e-mail
Mr. Roy Jinks up in Mass.

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Likewise, we will all be needing some pictures of you in your gymnastics getup before we can proceed with the review of your scholarship application.

as noted above this comes up ALL the time, heck we got tired of replying, asking for a simple PICTURE and then none come along...we had two shops back in the mid 70s and 1980's and used the services of first Armaloy, then a better process from Mahovskys Metalife SS and yes it looks like stainless steel
as well as holds up better , harder surface (around 53-54 on the Rockwell C scale) so many PDS and others used this back in the day we had the shops. So again, the OP said he has a model 14 but its stainless ???, please put on a picture or two, quite easy enough to do, and so it goes............

Here are my first two from the mid 70's yes BOITH guns were blued, the Browning a1969 and the DWA a 1975.......Metalife SS

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dan
NRA Benefactor,PMA

*
Hah. I'm going to work from the assumption that you are sarcastic rather than brave AND stupid: 6', 218 or so, modest but shrinking food blister, and hairy enough I could go to a furry convention without a costume. I suspect that most of the members would find that to be at least as traumatizing as Iggy's pile of rattlers picture and refrain in the interest of being considerate.

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NHI, 10-8.

Looks like we skeert AirborneRepublican away.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Good lookin big bore.........

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Yes, it's HIGHLY unlikely, but we've seen a few (several?) same era guns with the wrong model number (29s stamped as 57s, vs, etc. come to mind) stamped in the yoke opening. The 14-4 and 67-1 were fraternal timeframe twins. Until we see definitive pics, it's theoretically possible a Model 67 just fell into the wrong stamper by mistake on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon. Most of these factory stamping error 'oddballs' have a curious following but not a huge premium (maybe 10 or 20% just for uniqueness?). In my opinion, it falls right along with low but not single digit serial numbers. Very neat and interesting, but not hugely rare. I haven't had any wrong model number guns, but I've had a couple used, run of the mill 2-digit SN's. They just didn't do much for me and I passed them along to folks more interested in them.

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

was thinking the same thing.