I had a very early Pre 10 that had the smoothest double action I've ever felt. I'm thinking of buying a 1905 from auction, don't know the change or serial yet. My question: would the action be the smooth long action that I felt on the Pre 10?

Varies with the gun. Oil the action and see. Most older ones have "worn-in" pretty well.

If it's a pre 1947 gun, it should be the long action. If you buy it and the action is not as smooth as you prefer, you can always do an action job and slick it up. Ed.

Pre-10 covers a lot of ground. I'd think of sticking with the post war S and C prefix era or jump back to 361XXX to say 640XXX. Avoiding soft cylinders and war years.

The 1905 Change 4 is a favorite of mine.