Recent content by kscharlie

For a "purist" collector, yes it has been ruined. Why? Because it is not factory original. I am not what you would call a purist collector. I collect what I want...period. The rule of thumb regarding value is that any gun altered/modified/re-blued outside the factory is worth 50% of its...

I sure would like a pic of your 4" M&Ps!!! Great collection. Adding a 48 and a 53 would be a lot cheaper than, say, starting a collection of every known barrel length Registered Magnums. It's all perspective. :)

I just noticed that your hammer is not a target hammer. It would appear that someone who had a bit of knowledge about how the S&W hammer/trigger worked machined the face of the hammer flat. Btw, I love the Sanderson stocks!

The earliest post war S&W I have is from 1947, a K-22 Masterpiece. I have 20 I, J, K and N frames from between then and 1959. All of the left side frame pins are polished flat. All of my pre war guns have the "proud" pins. So my guess is that the practice of polishing the pins flat started...

I don't have meaty fingers, but they sure are long. I only have one kit gun, a Model of 1953 square butt. The original "tiny" stocks did not make for a decent grip. So I got a set of J frame target stocks and put them on the gun. That made a world of difference. You might want to try the...

Comparison of K-38 tapered barrel/rib, 1949, to K-38 Heavy barrel, 1950.

Serial # 482442 shipped January, 1927. 3 1/4" barrel.

Yes they are Cokes. Larger checking pattern, swells in the center, and to me the most obvious is the oval shape of the bottom of the stocks. Targets on the left, Cokes on the right.

It's the lighting. And the stocks have not been stained and/or refinished.

Several days ago I was browsing ebay for a particular set of N frame stocks. I did not find what I was originally looking for, but I did stumble across a nice set of non relieved K frame target stocks. It just so happened that one of my K-22s was wearing a set of magna stocks that did not...

Without seeing pics, a ball park value would be in the $500 range. Maybe a bit more for a 31-1. JMO.

While not originally "mis-marked", it ended up that way. Here is a Model of 1905, 1st Change, that was shipped in August of 1906. At that time, there was no address line on the frame. The 4-line address did not appear until after WW II. Yet this one has the 4-line address. Turns out that...

The remaining label on your box was on it when it left the factory the first time. Your box is missing the label containing the model, serial number, etc. Here are the labels from my Model 17-4 that I purchased new way back in April of 1980. The label like yours is still attached to the box...

And here is one from GB that is much closer in condition to the OP gun. It may be somewhat "hit and miss" as you say, but it all comes down to three things: condition, condition, condition. Nice Model of 1950

The stocks on your gun are not period correct as they do not have the diamond center, which was eliminated ca. 1968. The Model of 1950 ended production in 1961. Depending on when your gun was manufactured, the correct diamond magna stocks would be either sharp shoulder or rounded shoulder...