Recent content by Hondo44

I’m not aware of any Kit Gun with grooves on the back strap and I’ve seen hundreds of them. You might be thinking of K frame .22s. And just FYI, from the beginning in 1955, the airweight Kit Gun is built on the J frame while the steel Kit Gun is built on the I frame until Oct 1960.

You asked for the date of manufacture. The shipping date can be close to the manufactured date or years apart, especially during the depression era 1929 to 1940. A photo of your gun will help us determine the manufactured time period or answers to the following questions: Do the grips have...

In collector’s terms you have a 32 RP post war I frame Transitional Model. It’s definitely made before 1952 because that’s when it was changed to the Improved I frame with a coil mainspring replacing the flat leaf mainspring.

The Regulation Police model was a marketing plan. The enlarged grip was a quick way to enlarge the grip to make it more appealing to police officers as a duty gun. The round butt is pretty puny (actually 1/8" shorter than it is after 1953) for someone with average or larger hands. It enabled S&W...

If it functions properly it's about a $300 to $350 gun. About 20,000 were produced.

Lubrication!! Always spray the seam before removing side plate and when installing it.

Target stocks are seldom stamped with the serial number because they didn’t need fitting to the grip frame. The 4 stamped in the yoke cut out of the frame is an inspector code number. The 3 to 5 digit number in the yoke cut out and on the yoke is a work/assembly factory number matching the...

You do remember correctly. The Kit Gun airweight which became the Model 43 has a 3 1/2” barrel.

You’re welcome. Some of those dings on the frame like under the barrel retaining pin will need to be stoned to get out, then sanded and polished.

We polished it ready for bluing. After 6 years of use the finely polished surface remains the same with only routine cleaning and oiling. He'll never blue it now. It's a great shooter!

Not the best lighting to evaluate the finish. But does look like the surface prep before applying the bluing is seriously lacking. Give it another try by leveling out the little nicks and surface imperfections. Finish up with 2000 grit paper using a flat sanding block on the flat surfaces, then...

Since high school 65 years ago my best friend wanted a Ruger Super Blackhawk with a ribbed barrel. He’d had the Ruger SBH for years and it needed a refinish. Six years ago he found an 8 3/8” .44 mag model 29 barrel. Now he is very happy with his 6 1/2” “Super Smith”!

As I recall the pre WWII I frame uses three different hands: Earliest which has a typical hand spring and doesn't have a side plate mounted hammer block safety, Followed by the first style side plate mounted safety block which included a different style hand spring, And lastly the second style...

Notice also when looking at the butt: The right side grip is much thicker than the left grip. The grips are copies.

gee.cobra said: “The other number (19906), stamped on the yoke and frame match each other, but do not match the main serial number.” Ben is correct, those assembly numbers are random numbers of 3 to 5 digits stamped in three locations: Yoke, Yoke cut in the frame and backside (inside) the side...