Noob questions?

[Tyrod]

Concerning MIM verus Forged, are both these materials used in Smith revolvers case hardened? Visually is there a way to tell the difference between the two?

Concerning early stainless revolvers, do the hammer & trigger that are stainless with some sort of hard chroming look different than their case hardened counterparts? Can the stainless hammer & trigger be upgraded to forged?

Did the model 60 ever come in a fixed sight model? Or if not a model 60 specificly, what model would be similar to a model 60 in fixed sights. More specificly, stainless, J frame, exposed spur hammer, fixed sights and 2 to 3" barrel (expecially the 3" barrel). One last question, when the model 60 was changed to 357 magnum was the 38 special only version dropped or did they still make the 38 special version along side the 357 version? One more very last question, I promise. Besides the obvious chambering differences, did S&W change the cylinder length and frame to accomodate a longer cartridge or was the frame long enough already?

 

[Smith357]

Concerning MIM verus Forged, are both these materials used in Smith revolvers case hardened?

No, just the forged parts are case color hardened, the mim parts are processed to look like they have been case color hardened.

Visually is there a way to tell the difference between the two?

Yes, look for the sloppy mold marks on the hammers and a hollow backside on the triggers to spot the mim parts.

Concerning early stainless revolvers, do the hammer & trigger that are stainless with some sort of hard chroming look different than their case hardened counterparts?

I can't tell the difference buy looking at them, unless they are side by side, then the hard chromed parts look a little whiter.

Can the stainless hammer & trigger be upgraded to forged?

Yes

Did the model 60 ever come in a fixed sight model? Or if not a model 60 specificly, what model would be similar to a model 60 in fixed sights. More specificly, J frame, exposed spur hammer, fixed sights and 2 to 3" barrel (expecially the 3" barrel).

Not sure about all the model variations, someone who knows a lot more than i do will chime in and correct all my misinformation.

 

[snubbiefan]

I'll just add that I believe they call the chromed hammer and trigger on the no-dashes "flash chromed forged parts". The dash-1 dropped the flash chroming, but they are still forged.

Part of any plating process is preparation of the base metal. You would need to have the hammer and trigger highly polished to make them look like an older car-bumper....if you wanted that look. They likely never could have gotten that look with forged parts and dropped the flash-chroming in the -1.

 

[murphydog]

I believe the MIM parts are case-hardened, but they look different than forged parts receiving the same process.

All model 60s with the exception of small special runs (the -1 and 4, and the occasional 3") were fixed-sight 2" .38s, up to the mid-late 1990s. The .38 and .357 model 60s were made at the same time but the factory website can tell you if that is still the case.