It looks like a competition gun used for shooting matches that allow the kind of sight mounted on it. Its initial construction looks like it could have been for use in PPC or Practical Pistol Competition/Practical Police Competition matches that have been popular for years. That kind of gun would have had adjustable sights either front and back or just on the back in addition to the bull barrel and cut off hammer spur.
The parts look to have been "jewelled" sometime, which was an effort to make them smooth for better "action" feel. Kinda gaudy and over-the-top in appearance but some folks liked it. Price is something that is hard to figure as far as value. The potential maker in Redding is unknown to me but Bill Davis was in Sacramento, California for years and specialized in PPC guns built on the model 10 Smith and Wesson 38 spl. Its possible that Cameron could still be around as Redding has grown into a pretty big town in the last thirty years... There were a fairly large number of pistol smiths specializing in PPC guns in California many years ago. It should shoot pretty well as long as whomever owned it before you did not hack it up. Those guns were usually really nice and were made to shoot the 148 grain wadcutter target load accurately. Of course they would shoot the regular and high velocity loads well too. However, most owners restricted those guns to the 148 gr, match loads. Hope this helps.
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