Hello to everyone.
I'm new to Smith & Wesson by an inheritances of my Father's S&W 15-3. I've had the revolver for 2 years now after his Dad's death and only recently started to search it's age. That's how I stumbled on to the website and it's wealth of information.
I think this 15-3 was made in 1972. The serial number is 5K355XX.
I remember shooting the revolver back in the '70s as a teenager but haven't touched it since then.
Dad served 20 years with the Air Force back in the '50s & '60s as Military Police and said he use to carry a Model 15. Thats probably why he bought this 15-3 in '72 or '73. He carried this 15-3 for twenty years as a security officer. It was a daily carry piece and shows light wear marks from the leather holster. Other than keeping the barrel and cambers oiled I doubt it was ever serviced.
I found a very detailed video showing how to service a S&W revolver. "Disassembly and Care of the S&W Revolver ~ Learn how to from a Factory Trained Armorer! - YouTube"
With this video I was able to disassemble the revolver and check everything out. Much to my surprise the mechanics of the revolver were just dry with a very light coat of gun powder residue. Compared to my '91 Ruger GP100 the S&W is built like a Swiss watch.
It's all clean and ready to shoot when I get the time.
I'm new to Smith & Wesson by an inheritances of my Father's S&W 15-3. I've had the revolver for 2 years now after his Dad's death and only recently started to search it's age. That's how I stumbled on to the website and it's wealth of information.
I think this 15-3 was made in 1972. The serial number is 5K355XX.
I remember shooting the revolver back in the '70s as a teenager but haven't touched it since then.
Dad served 20 years with the Air Force back in the '50s & '60s as Military Police and said he use to carry a Model 15. Thats probably why he bought this 15-3 in '72 or '73. He carried this 15-3 for twenty years as a security officer. It was a daily carry piece and shows light wear marks from the leather holster. Other than keeping the barrel and cambers oiled I doubt it was ever serviced.
I found a very detailed video showing how to service a S&W revolver. "Disassembly and Care of the S&W Revolver ~ Learn how to from a Factory Trained Armorer! - YouTube"
With this video I was able to disassemble the revolver and check everything out. Much to my surprise the mechanics of the revolver were just dry with a very light coat of gun powder residue. Compared to my '91 Ruger GP100 the S&W is built like a Swiss watch.
It's all clean and ready to shoot when I get the time.
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