I think I am finally finished now. This was one of J&G's $249 "Very Good Plus" M64's. It was purchased to be a project gun. I wanted a .38 Spec. I could use at the range and something I could do a little work on. Sort of a learning experience.

There was a little more work than I thought there would be. Nothing terrible; but more involved. I planned to touch up the finish and swap out the hammer to a spurred hammer when I decided to order it.

After picking it up from my dealer, I found the ejector rod would hang up when the cylinder was in one position. Bullseye Smith (thanks again John) gave me some pointers, and I decided the rod was probably bent. I couldn't rule out the center pin though.

So, since the parts were not very expensive, (under $20 with shipping) I ordered an ejector rod, center pin and ejector rod collar from Midway. I guess I didn't expect the ejector rod and center pin to be that much longer than needed ;-)

It took some time for me to fit these. File and stone, check fit, then try again. I was nervous about making the parts too short. So, I just went very slowly. Ejection is very smooth now no matter what position the cylinder is in.

I ordered the hammer and stirrup from S&W. I have to say, I really didn't do any fitting of the hammer when I first installed it. It is a MIM hammer and I just dropped it in. After the first range session, I used Jerry Miculek's DVD and did some real light work on the hammer. Not very much though.

For the finish I used 600 and 1000 grit paper and some maroon scotch brite pads I happened to have. Working on the finish took the longest for me. I would get it looking like I wanted and then see something that needed touched up. I would try to do the touch up and usually ended up doing the whole side....again.

I guess with the work that I did, I have about 25+ hours into this project. At the range, I have been using 4.0 Gr of 231 with a 158 Gr LSWC on top. If I do my part, at 10 yards I can get one hole six shot groups. Doing my part doesn't happen every time though.

This was a fun project for me. I have had a lot of time on my hands since I had surgery on 8/3. Still a few more weeks before I can go back to work. I told my wife I needed something to do and a new gun would make me feel better ;-) She is great, she acted like she believed me...

Thanks,

Rick

Good post. Was looking at one of those myself {J&G is about one and a half hour drive away}

azmick, this is what it looked like when I got home from my dealer's with it. The grips I have on it now, I picked up from eBay. The Tyler-T came from Bob on the forum. In person the grips don't look orange at all. I guess it's my camera and/or my lighting.

I did paint the front sight with three coats of Testors Fluorescent Green #1174, after degreasing it with denatured alcohol. Then when the paint was dry, I put one coat of my wife's clear nail polish stuff on it. I can pick up the front sight better this way.

I am very satisfied with the gun.

Thanks,

Rick

There were some scratches on the sideplate when I got it. I think they may be from a holster snap. They didn't come out when I was going over the gun with the sand paper and scotch brite pads. They did get lighter though, but not gone completely. I guess I don't mind them though now. They add some character.

Good job, Rick!

I think she looks stunning. If J&G Sales weren't an entire 7 minutes away from me, I'd probably have to head down there and snatch one up myself (as I've been planning on doing for a month or more now). I've blown all my expendable cash on other stuff, though.

Perhaps next week.

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matt

Very nice, very nice indeed!
that came out very nice.
I can tell you from just general experience that the 4" makes a excellent house gun.
even though you don't have night sights, I have found the its very easy to point and generally put the front sight( what little you can see of it) on what you want to shoot in low light up close.
good luck

I used to have trouble getting past Whiskey Row

I recommended one of these for a buddy that wanted a house gun. He is very shotgun knowledgable but pistol poor. He cleaned it with Simichrome & is very pleased with it.

Rickkster,
Sure looks nice, something of which to be proud.

I just got my model 64-5 today from J&G. Not bad, but it needed a good cleaning inside. I cleaned up the outside with a scotchbrite pad also and it looks much better. I don't like the Hogue rubber grips at all, so I am getting a pair of S&W RB stocks for it. I too wanted to change out the hammer and I have several spare K frame hammers, but they will not work. The hammer nose bushing sits up higher on my K frame hammers than on the one that came on the 64, and the hammer noses bind when I try and use one of my hammers. The hammers are the same size, but the position of the bushings are different. I even tried taking the hammer nose from the Model 64 hammer and put it in one of my spare hammers and it still binds up. Guess for now I will keep it DAO until I can figure out what to do.

I have been thinking of revolvers, for the home, and just got my April/May 2010 J&G Sales flyer. I thought that I would check the forum and see what people thought of these mod 64s. Rickkster, you would have to put an absolutely beautiful image of your '64 for me to find. I do not think that I will get it out of my mind until I go down there and get one for myself. After all, it is only two and a half hours to Prescott for me...

Nice work, nice gun! (Whisky Row and S&W!)

Is it possible to convert these out of DAO? How hard is it if it is even possible.

Are you mixing MIM and pre-MIM parts? I recall that 64-5 was pre-MIM.

No, I'm not mixing parts. My gun has pre-mim parts in it. I did take the gun to the range and after shooting it, I have decided to keep it DAO, as it shoots good and I can do real well with it that way. I am very happy with it and have been considering buying another one for our son.

Nice job Rickkster! The 38 Spl in a 64 format makes for a great IDPA or PD gun. Enjoy that beauty.

Now all you need is an IWB rig and a couple speedloaders.

I tried searching, and could not find the answer...

Is there a guide here for figuring out when these were made, or better yet, what department they came from?

Nice gun, Rikkster... RBs are awesome. Very nice polishing job, not too shiny. These 64s supposedly came from Brinks (Armored Car Co). I'm totally pleased with mine.
Bob

I don't think they're cop guns. Most are surplus security and armored car guns.

Edit to add: Obviously the NY-1 guns are NYPD...

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Centennial Every Day

That turned out very nice!
Glad you enjoyed the project and ended up with a good shooter!