Police Trade-in 640s at Centerfire

Mothballed?? How to polish out surface abrasions?

I believe these are from the Michigan State police. These were their issued backup weapons. I e-mailed a sales rep at Kieslers and she only said it was a batch of guns from a "state police contract". Her words not mine. Some quick online research seemed to confirm this.

Does anybody know when or if these were mothballed and put away in storage? Any recommendations how to polish out surface abrasions or simple holster scratches?
 
I believe these are from the Michigan State police. These were their issued backup weapons. I e-mailed a sales rep at Kieslers and she only said it was a batch of guns from a "state police contract". Her words not mine. Some quick online research seemed to confirm this.

I found a PDF that MSP used that stated they used the 640 from 19XX until 2015. They started issuing Glock 17s and 26's as a backup in mid 2015.

Not sure if the 640 I ordered is going to work it's way into being a backup gun but I'm definitely going to carry it.
 
Mine came today, a couple of twins, both were tight and showed likely carry a lot shot a little life so far, had the old style cylinder release, a couple of spots of minor rubbbing, little nicks in the Goodyears. One had the red nail polish on front sight mod. FFL bud took one and I the other. Late Christmas gift for the new wife. My 396 will keep its spot riding withme.
 
My 640-1's showed up on 11Jan17. They both had been carried and dropped.

The early one BUC29XX had ZERO cylinder movement laterally or front to back. It has the old style thumb piece. Inside it has forged parts with the exception of the trigger that is MIM. It was totally dry and had NO carbon at all in the lockwork. It has the matt Scotch-Brite 7448 finish and with just a little massaging all the dings with the exception of a line of pits on the cylinder and a divot in the trigger guard went away. It has the Uncle Mike's 59007 grips.

The later one COM94XX has a just perceptible lateral motion on the cylinder and none front to back. It has the new kidney shaped MIM thumb piece. It has MIM lockwork. It had a little carbon fouling and old grease internally. It had the dull shiny finish the late 1990 guns have. I Mothered it and now the only dings still visible are a couple pits on the top strap and one on the side plate by the trigger guard grip screw (the one at the 6 o'clock position). It has the Uncle Mike's 59007 grips.

Of the 2, COM94XX has the better trigger.

I plan to get a Wolff 30323 Rebound spring pack of 14 pound springs and set them up like my other J frames.

Eventually I will swap out the 59007 Grips with Crimson Trace LG 350's.

They will also be getting Mika Black Round Cut Pocket holsters.

Lastly I will replace the plastic mainspring swivels with steel ones because even though they are functional I loathe plastic parts in revolvers.

I am very happy with both revolvers and would sincerely like to thank Mr Rippert for giving the heads-up on the availability .

Thank you sir
 
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Serger:

I forgot to mention that in my write up on my gun...the plastic mainspring swivel. I have at least four centennial style 357s now with those plastic parts, and would love to switch them out for just the reason that you cited. I have bought a couple of modern 1911 style guns, one a Colt and the other a Kimber, and both had plastic mainspring housings, I bought machined metal (one steel, the other aluminum) and swapped them out. I cannot see why they put these plastic parts in otherwise fine revolvers and semi-autos.

Can you share a source to obtain steel replacements?

Thanks for bringing that up, I had forgotten, even though I noted it during disassembly.
 
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Serger:

I forgot to mention that in my write up on my gun...the plastic mainspring swivel. I have at least four centennial style 357s now with those plastic parts, and would love to switch them out for just the reason that you cited. I have bought a couple of modern 1911 style guns, one a Colt and the other a Kimber, and both had plastic mainspring housings, I bought machined metal (one steel, the other aluminum) and swapped them out. I cannot see why they put these plastic parts in otherwise fine revolvers and semi-autos.

Can you share a source to obtain steel replacements?

Thanks for bringing that up, I had forgotten, even though I noted it during disassembly.

I hope Serger has a source for the steel J frame mainspring replacements swivels as well that he can share. I've been searching internet parts suppliers for the past two days and can only come up with the plastic ones for that part number.

Maybe someone knows what S&W model still uses the steel one and can share the model pistol and part number as an alternative.

Thanks for any help Serger.
 
Thanks, Serger!!! I just ordered four of them, one for each of my modern J Magnum revolvers: my "new" 640-1, my 640-1 Pro Series, my 340 PD, and my M&P 340.

I have an account with them, and everything was already on file, so it won't be long until that little nit picking back of your mind irritant is taken care of!! Thinking about those 1911s.... What really irritated me was that for example on the Kimber, you had a gun that retails for well over a thousand dollars, and they put a plastic mainspring housing on it. Geeze...I would have been happy to pay a few more bucks to have had an all metal gun, so I have to find one for sale somewhere on the Internet, and try to match finish, correct checkering, etc., then buy it, then install it....for a few bucks they could have just tacked on the cost. Same with the Colt. By the way, check all your new Colt and Kimber 1911s... I'll bet they all have the plastic MS housing. Just a pet peeve. Rant over.

Thanks again for the lead on the replacement part!!

Best Regards, Les
 
Thanks for that link. From my phone, I can't see any details; is that swivel also correct for my current production 642-1 Pro Series?
 
TruckGun,

When I did my search for the swivel I used the model 60 page that Numrich has. I figured that gun was new enough to fit the bill. Then when I crossed referenced it to the model 640 the number was the same. So I ASSume it's right for your 642-1 Pro. It seems a generic part for the J frames from about 1970 on. Hope this helps.

(But when you ASSume it makes an *** out of u and me). Isn't that how the mnemonic goes?

And Ya'll are quite welcome.
 
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I don't feel like the interior was very dirty. I simply took the grips off and opened the face plate and took that pic. If you can enlarge it you will see it was not bad. A little dried lube ( I think) and that's all. This revolver has signs of being carried a lot but not fired very much. I will post some more pics when I polish it


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