I didn't want to hijack Slufstuff's thread on his jewel, so I'll plop this here.

I saw this RB 10-5 at my local Cabela's last Friday, but didn't have them pull it out because getting yet another Model 10 wasn't at the top of my gotta-get list.



That night I saw Slufstuff's thread and figured I'd better go back and take a look. So now it's Saturday and my lovely bride is along. I tell her I'm gonna check this gun for a little mark and it probably won't have it. She decides to wait in the car. Winner winner, chicken dinner:



They gave me $20 off for my GI Joe discount and I had $16 in Cabela's bucks, so I got out of there pretty cheap. Backgrounds were running about an hour and a half, so I ply her with seafood and drop the news we'll have to stop back at Cabelas to pick up the new addition. She likes me, so she's cool with it.

The counter man said the guy who brought it in said it belonged to his recently deceased brother-in-law, a Vietnam vet. His wife didn't want it in the house.

Here ya go:





Not bad shape for a 1968/69 gun. No sign of a refinish. Grips are numbered to the gun.







I took it to the range today. No suprises there.

158 grain lead round nose shot a bit high with a 6 o'clock hold at 20 yards.



130 grain FMJ was close to POA/POI with the same hold.



I'll give it a good cleaning and let it hang out and tell war stories with my Victory Models.

Thanks again to Slufstuff for his timely post.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Thats another great find!!
Congrats.
Hank

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Hank
SWCA 2945

Great find! It is interesting it is a Vietnam vets revolver. I wonder if he was a helicopter pilot or aircrew? This just shows there are treasures out there, even in the big box stores.
OP, you might want to invest in a S&W historical letter. It is almost certainly a Vietnam contract piece, but it would be nice to document the contract and delivery info. Even with one already in hand, I would have bought that one without hesitation. I am glad my post got it into a S&W collectors hands. It could have ended up as somebody's glove box gun or worse (I am imagining it rattling around in some wet tackle box as a "snake gun").

Great gun!

Too bad it couldn't stay in the family.

Sig, looks like a winner! Eliza want's to know if you shot those kinds of groups when you were running the streets in Fedland? She's in PD now with 2 years to go until we can go around looking for guns too!
Regards, Chuck

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SWCA1517 SWHF256
Rangers LTW!

Fantastic find, congratulations. I would have been all over that.

I borrowed one of the NIS marked 4” round butt Model 19s from the vault in NO to shoot the dreaded bullseye course at Firearms Instructor school back when you could use a revolver. It took two tries and I was perilously close to making the walk of shame but I squeaked past somehow. I’ve had a soft spot for RB K frames ever since - I’m carrying one now!

She can do 2 years standing on her head, then its smooth sailing.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

My question is for $399 why did you walk out without it the first time? If nothing else you could clean it up and flip it. And the grip adapter is a nice touch

Lots of the Huey pilots carried Model 10s in shoulder holsters when I was in Vietnam.

I would have bought it in a heartbeat to go along with the rest of my military handguns from WWI to VN.

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Keep your powder dry.

I’ve got a safe full of guns I bought to flip. Somehow I never get to the flipping part.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

When it was time for me to attend the police academy, I bought a blue 4" M19 and round butted it. I shot NRA Expert with it. Unfortunately, it wound up with an ex-wife.

A number of years ago, I bought a 1957 shipped RB .38 M&P from a fellow Forum member.

As y'all might guess, I LOVE round butt revolvers.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

***! I didn't stop in because the gf was mad on our way back from Pueblo. Excellent score.

Great find! I am very jealous, would've bought that in a heartbeat! They're still out there..................

The countdown has already begun!

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SWCA1517 SWHF256
Rangers LTW!

Very nice. The 10-5 I was issued in 1970 was a SB. The holster was hung on a pistol belt which was rotated between the legs when flying, for added protection. Every little bit helped. Dead serious on that.

The TO&E for assault helicopter companies called for Crew Chiefs/Gunners to be issued M-16s. Door Gunners were hand receipted the M-60s. The guys in the back didn't always carry the M-16s with them but they normally did.

Chinook (CH47) pilot 67-68 carried one back then. Wonder how he got it home??? I tried.......

If he was issued the piece he could claim combat loss, then pack it away in his hole baggage (personal items transported in a ships hole). Another scenario: he picked it up among the thousands of weapons laying around and put it in his hole baggage. 2 or 3 months later, after the trans-pacific voyage, the trunk with all his stuff would show up at his door step. Simple. Don't ask me how I know all that stuff. It was a long time ago and my memory is not so good.

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I've never seen a US marked M10. I've never even heard a rumor of one. I'd have snagged that so fast I might have hurt myself.

I don't know how mine was marked. The 1st unit I was in, 187th AHC issued me a Victory model complete with butt swivel.

Good score.
Nice Roscoe....

Thought you might enjoy this. The guns are pictured in the order they are pictured in this manual.-

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

I see you collect old TMs too Lee. That's a nice one to have.

I only pick up the ones that contain S&Ws.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

I digress. Field Manual (FM-23-35). The address is Dallas Naval Air Station.

No information on how they were marked.

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Outstanding score

Naval. Your navel is something you contemplate.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Lee,

Have that same manual dated August, 1985. The number is the same, but ends with “-14&P-1”. It covers the 4” S&W and the 4” Ruger. My understanding is that the US purchased almost 100,000 of the “type” during Vietnam. Don’t know what percentage were Smiths and what were Rutgers.

That was a good score!

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No baby we aint

Opps. Correction made. I must have been thinking of an old Bill Cosby joke.

I got the letter back already - fast work by Don at the SWHF!



No surprises, but its nice to confirm it is what it is. February of 1968 was a hopping time to be a Smith headed to Vietnam.

DCASR is the Defense Contract Administration Services Region.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Now if we only knew which unit it ended up in and how it came to be in a Cabela's. It would fit nicely with my later day war bring backs.

I was thinking about doing a FOIA request, but I think it would be a waste of time. I did one for my CMP 1911A1 and the paper trail started in 1995 (by then the old boy was assigned to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard). I suppose this one would be a blank slate.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

A FOIA request! I would never have thought about that. I think you are right about the 10-5. Probably too many hand written inventories going way back. I knew a Colonel who was heavily involved in inventorying all the Army stuff coming back from Desert Storm. What a mess.

I would have grabbed that even without the Vietnam provenance. Sometimes the lonely looking revolver becomes the jewel in the collection. Enjoy that beauty! If only it could talk. Most likely carried by a pilot crew member of an aircraft. I’d really like to have something like it.

I disagree. The CMP 1911 stayed in government service for a over 60 years. Lots of movement. Your revolver was made in 1968 and shipped directly to the Army. It likely came home with a GI shipping out, so I can’t imagine more than a couple of years in service. I know I’d give it a shot if I had it.

I always like it when someone uses old fashioned terminology! So I guess I'll add NICE GAT!!!

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Come and take it!!

When I was a TPC instructor at FTU, I taught what I strongly suspect was the last revolver class ever taught there, to a non-agent from another unit at Quantico who was being given USMS creds, using one of the NIS/ONI guns. As soon as he passed, they decided he should have a P228 instead, so it began again....


I, too, used one of the RB 19s for the instr. bullseye qual ; did you do the 1 hand/240 version or the two-hand/270 (or was it 260, I forget now..). Old age is a terrible thing.

I missed it doing two handed, so I opted for the lower bar and shot one handed and squeaked over.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

The information on the FOIA request regarding the CMP 45’s only go back to the late 70’s, when they first started implementing computerized inventory records.
Doubtful you would ever find out to what unit it was issued to initially.
Also bear in mind this was the standard issue handgun for Army aviators world wide, so it could of just as easily been in fort Campbell it’s entire service life.

Defense Contract Agency also handled procurement for NASA during that time frame.

At Campbell it would have been out of the Arms Room only on certain occasions. In the RVN we took them to bed with us.

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My Dad had me buy a Colt Cobra which was like the one he carried in addition to an M2. He worked out of the US embassy during the TET offensive.. but he wanted a Cobra... He also bought a Browning BDM, in memory of the cases of Browning Hi Powers without serial numbers used by the MACVSOG gents.. he was offered a couple??? but passed due to their lack of serials.

My Dad was in Saigon from the fall of 1967 to the fall of 1968,, so lots of .38 revolvers were in circulation with GI's in country.

The MACV/SOG guys pretty much got whatever they wanted, some with SNs that did not exist, according to the former president of the HSCA (High Standard). Their air support was close to the vest as well. Not all Air America helicopters were blue and grey and the Sea Wolves didn't just carry Navy Seals.

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Good info! Yours is right at 1 1/2 years older than mine, and about 180,000 apart by serial number.