Several months ago a guard company put up a lot of revolvers for sale at a local gun shop. I picked up this Model 10-6 for $135 plus tax. It was in great mechanical shape, but was filthy and missing a lot of bluing. It had also been spray painted with black paint - not even a “bake-on” finish.

About a month later I got lucky and won a Model 10-8 “parts kit” on gunbroker.com that had a three inch barrel. So - since it was a common revolver and not in ”minty” condition, it was time to convert it.




Sorry for the photos not being the complete revolver. I had disassembled it to remove the black paint prior to deciding to make photos and was not in the mood to reassemble. Notice the lovely patina on the barrel.


First step was to remove the old barrel. This 10-6 is a pinned barrel frame. The donor barrel was from a 10-8 which is not a pinned barrel variation. Interestingly, it had been cut for a pin, once again proving S&W uses everything. The revolver had a pretty good pressure ring at the front of the frame. Once that was removed and the frame nose squared, the barrel from the 10-8 was easy to install.



Here it is with the three inch barrel and a set of round butt grips on the square butt frame. I used a scribe to outline using the grips as a guide.


Here’s the butt still in the white after using a vertical belt sander, then hand files, and finally finer and finer grades of abrasives.





And here it is all done. I cold blued the front and rear grip straps. The grips are Precision Gun Specialties. They have a fine sandpaper finish, are easy to hold onto, and fit my hand well. It still isn’t that pretty. The new barrel is a lot better looking than the old one, and I now have a three-inch Model 10 for less than $200.

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S&WCA 1729

Burt, you done good!

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Outstanding job of resurrection. That will serve you and future owners well for many years to come.

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LEX ET ORDO

You are more adventurous than me!! The price was right for the conversion. What are you going to do for an encore? Bob

I would name it Annie (as in "Little Orphan") and you, Daddy Warbucks can be proud of what you have done for her.

Froggie

That looks like a fun project.........I don't have the skills to change a barrel, but I'd certainly attempt the other mods. I like the result a lot.

Good job!
I was very close to doing a similar project a few years back when a 3" M&P fell in my lap, $150.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

Nice job of making just what you wanted out of parts. Looks good and I am sure it will preform.

Well done. A little TLC goes a long way.

Very nice job.

I love the Model 8. Mine went to Australia before it came back home.

Great job.

Model 10-8 2015-07-10 (1).jpg

As I was making my previous post I was thinking how great it is to be able to take a gun with virtually no value and so little to recommend it and see the potential to make something desirable and useful out of it. A lot of us dream of ordering, finding, or making specific, hard-to-find (or nonexistent) variants but are stymied by not wanting to "destroy originality." A rescue like this one is definitely a win-win! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Froggie

Impressive, a model 10 3" for under $200. you give me hope even though I'm a week late to the party

Great job!!