Bought a rusty 36 bearing serial number 5400xx on the butt.
Figure it was made between 1962 and 1969, but thought I would ask if anyone here could nail it down to closer than "maybe 1966".

Paid very little for it. Will be cleaning off rust and bluing to see what I have, later next week. If the pitting is as bad as I think, I'll probably just duracoat it.

When I took it apart, the hand spring turned to dust.

You are not going to get any closer than that without a letter, or finding someone with a serial number near yours who lettered or knows when it was shipped. SCSW is not very specific on early J frames, just says sometime between 62-69

I think it's going to be closer to a 1965 gun.

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Dick

Thank you. I thought as much. I have a customer who has some sort of special "in" with the folks at Smith. Every time he buys a used one from the shops around here, he calls and gets a month/date of production (without a $50 fee and letter). I'll try him, and see what he says. I'll also ask him if he's a member here, come to think of it. He could be a good resource to the forum.

Not interested in paying Smith for a letter, since the letter costs $50 and I paid $20 for the revolver.

$20? That's well worth it even if the piece is never up to being more than a paperweight. How come I never run across any of these kind of deals?

I'd love to see some before and after pictures of the $20 Smith.

ME too! The grips are worth $15-$20 if they are beat up!

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

If it's rusty and you are gonna refinish it anyway, why are you so hung up on the date? It's obviously not a collector specimen by all accounts. I wasnt suggesting you get a letter, would be silly for a gun in that shape.

I will post photos.
Nipster-
Didn't really think you were giving me advice to get a letter.
Didn't mean to come across that way, either.

I am going to work on it tomorrow.
The cylinder is badly pitted, and so is the exterior of the barrel at the muzzle. I think after cleaning that the bore will be fine. By the time I get the hand spring from Numerich, I should be ready to assemble and test fire.

Edit:
If you look at the black stuff on the towel (between the yoke, the hand, and the trigger) that's what's left of the hand spring.

I bought a .22lr rifle for $20, earlier this year. Shoots great.
The trick is to find some kid who just got married to a wife who "doesn't like guns"

Here are additional photos. They don't really show it as bad as it is, because they don't show the barrel or the side of the cylinder that was sitting in water. Apparently, this was in a wet basement for decades.

If you want to make it a pinto ,check my ad in the accessories for sale forum.

Here's an update. I spent about 5 hours on it yesterday and got rid of all the rust, but there's a lot of pitting. Found a complete spring set in my range box this morning, so the hand spring is no longer an issue. Yesterday I blued and left the parts in oil overnight. Today I reassembled with all new springs, and voila. It's a pig, but I shot five rounds (into a snail) and the timing was perfect. This weekend, it will be off to the range to see how it really shoots. I will post photos later.

See new photos

And more photos

And the last bunch. It's never going to be pretty, but it works and the bore is good. I have a friend who told me he spent 60 hours on one of these, taking every single thing down to the white. He had it reblued and it turned out like new. I do not have that degree of time or inclination. The last photo is just gun porn - the ugly duckling next to my 686.

Ugly ducklings have their place too, just like showpieces. That's one you won't be afraid of getting a little dirty, or of letting it rattle around in the glove box/console of your rig, or in a tackle box.
I don't mind ugly guns if what I paid for them reflects that. Sounds like the price (even including your labor) was right on that one. I wish I could run across one like that. Have fun with it!

looks like you got an excellent deal....as to obtaining exact shipping dates without a letter from S&W....simply join the smith&wesson collectors assoc.roy provides to members free...and its available right here on the S&W forum

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

I shot the 36 yesterday at the range. I was able to get single-action 5-shot groups within 4" at the 7 yard line. That's actually as good as I think I can do. I think this revolver is better than that - which is to say - I'm not really all that good a shot anymore, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

I had a guy look at it after I got it working. He said he'd give me $150 for it, but I think there is way too much utility in having a beater like this around. It's a keeper. I think I'll take the wood grips off and keep them nice, and put some rubber ones on, that I have in my tool box. I just have to find the stinkin' screw for those grips. Why did I just throw them in there without putting them in a bag?

The operative language is "it works." What you have here is a great utility carry gun that you are not afarid to knock around. I only wish I had the skill and knowledge to rehab a similar find. Congrats!

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

In the next-to-last batch of photos you posted, it looks like the cylinder hasn't been reblued yet, or it didn't take very well? (no offense)
I've got 3 different old blued Chiefs on which the cylinder was the roughest looking part-- they just seem to collect more finish damage (nicks, scuffs, etc) than the rest of the gun. I've had good results refinishing the cylinders by beadblasting then using oxpho-blue-- this produces an attractive (to me anyway) matt black finish. Not as durable as hot blue or something like duracoat etc, but easily touched up if required.