Model 10-6 .357 Magnum? Need Help Identifying

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.357Magnum

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First and foremost, thank you all for receiving me here! 29 year old wheel gun newbie who just recently bought his first S&W revolver on 1/7/2024, at a gun show. I traded a Beretta Bobcat Covert 21A (.22 LR) and $275 cash. Everything appears to function as it should, and the rifling is strong. I called on a friend, who's very knowledgeable on S&W revolvers, and took to his S&W Standard Catalog for some basic identification attempts. From what we gathered, we think this might either be a Model 10 made for the New York State Police (1972) chambered in .357 Magnum, or a Model 10 that was converted into a .357 Magnum by a hobbyist and/or gunsmith that refurbishes old S&Ws.

I humbly ask and thank you in advance for your expertise and guidance identifying this revolver. My friend did say that part of the charm of an old Smith is having knowledgeable people identify it! Full disclaimer, I know nothing about these guns, except what I've gathered so far from the catalog.
 

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Muley Gil said:
Welcome to the Forum.

Is it marked .357 Magnum on the barrel?
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Hello, thanks for your reply. I cannot find any markings on the firearm that say .357 Magnum. I've been told the gun has been re-blued, so it may have lost that marking during that process.
 
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It was quite common in the 70s in SW MO for police limited to 38 split Model 10s to have a gunsmith lengthen the chambers to accept 357 ammo, which the guys I knew who did this used sparingly.
 
I can’t see a blued gun in your photo. I see a stainless steel gun.
 
Welcome to the S&W Forum! It pleases me to no end to hear from a guy under 30 interested in great revolvers. Wonderful. Many of us are well over twice your age and we sometimes wonder if we are a dying breed. :)

If you tell us the serial number on the butt, we can let you know if it is in the right serial number range for an NYSP unit. It most likely is, but that doesn't mean it actually went to the NY department, since there were some overruns. To know for certain, you will have to get a letter on it from the S&W Historical Foundation.

In any case, I own two of the NYSP guns and I can tell you that you are fortunate to have one of these relatively uncommon Model 10 revolvers that were chambered for the magnum cartridge. It was not long afterwards that S&W replaced them with the Model 13-1, due to demand for that configuration.
 
JP@AK said:
Welcome to the S&W Forum! It pleases me to no end to hear from a guy under 30 interested in great revolvers. Wonderful. Many of us are well over twice your age and we sometimes wonder if we are a dying breed. :)

If you tell us the serial number on the butt, we can let you know if it is in the right serial number range for an NYSP unit. It most likely is, but that doesn't mean it actually went to the NY department, since there were some overruns. To know for certain, you will have to get a letter on it from the S&W Historical Foundation.

In any case, I own two of the NYSP guns and I can tell you that you are fortunate to have one of these relatively uncommon Model 10 revolvers that were chambered for the magnum cartridge. It was not long afterwards that S&W replaced them with the Model 13-1, due to demand for that configuration.
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Hi Jack! Thanks so much for the warm welcome! Yes, I love seeing collector's faces light up when I tell them I love all the older stuff!

Serial number is D706762.
 
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You cannot see enough of the gun in the attached photo to tell what it other than some sort of S&W 400 or 600 series revolver. Just answer the other post by Rpg. Is there any caliber marking on the right side of the barrel? A 10-6 can be either a .38 Spl. or a .357 Magnum. It was the precursor to the Model 13 which was basically identical to the .357 10-6.
 
You stated that the serial number was D706762. That is in the right range for the NYSP revolvers.

However, in the picture you posted of the right side, the barrel appears to read 38 S&W Special CTG. That isn't a good sign with respect to it being one that was made for the New York agency. Those actually have 357 Magnum CTG on the right side of the barrel.

Check to see if the cylinder has counterbored chambers. I suspect it does not. In that case, you simply have a standard Model 10-6, that was originally chambered for the .38 Special and has had the cylinder altered to accept the magnum cartridge.
 
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Alk8944 said:
You cannot see enough of the gun in the attached photo to tell what it other than some sort of S&W 400 or 600 series revolver. Just answer the other post by Rpg. Is there any caliber marking on the right side of the barrel? A 10-6 can be either a .38 Spl. or a .357 Magnum. It was the precursor to the Model 13 which was basically identical to the .357 10-6.
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Thanks for the reply! No, there is no caliber marking on the right side of the barrel. I believe this was lost during the re-blueing process.
 
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The pics from the other site won't download but I screengrabbed this shot of the serial number.

Pics on the other site show recessed cylinder and pinned barrel. The cutout area isn't real clear but appears to be marked 10-6.

OP, posting pics here isn't hard. Hit reply, click "go advanced" and scroll down to "manage attachments". Then it's something like "select files to upload".
 

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.357Magnum said:
Please note that the picture of the revolver that says .38 S&W Special CTG was not was not uploaded by me. That was someone else replying to my post with a picture of their gun. The right side of the barrel on mine has absolutely no markings. Hope that clears it up!
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Yes. I see that now. Not being a regular user of that forum, I didn't realize at first how to see your added photos. Just figured it out.

Now I do see that there is no caliber mark on the right side, as you said. I also do see the counterbored cylinder, which is a good sign.

Too bad about the poor reblue job. But your gun may well be one of the NYSP units. It very likely is. Your serial number is higher than one of mine and just a tiny bit lower than the other one. You will have to letter the gun to be sure, but I think the odds are good.

Added: Note also that the D prefix in the serial number on the butt has been nearly eliminated by over-polishing when the revolver was reblued. Over-polishing probably accounts for the missing caliber stamp on the barrel, too.
 
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More pics attached...
 

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JP@AK said:
Yes. I see that now. Not being a regular user of that forum, I didn't realize at first how to see your added photos. Just figured it out.

Now I do see that there is no caliber mark on the right side, as you said. I also do see the counterbored cylinder, which is a good sign.

Too bad about the poor reblue job. But your gun may well be one of the NYSP units. It very likely is. Your serial number is higher than one of mine and just a tiny bit lower than the other one. You will have to letter the gun to be sure, but I think the odds are good.
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Forgive the rookie question, but how can one tell that the reblue job is bad?
 
Another point to consider. The target stocks - which actually have been altered - did not come on that gun. All of the NYSP Model 10-6 revolvers I have ever seen, including the two I own, shipped with Magna stocks, not targets.
 
.357Magnum said:
how can one tell that the reblue job is bad?
Click to expand...

Over-polishing is the biggest sin in this case. This is seen on the butt and on both sides of the barrel. On the left side "Smith & Wesson" is faded, although not completely eliminated as is the cartridge stamp on the other side.

Also, the trigger and hammer appear to be blued, which they should not be.

Finally, you can see that the screws on the sideplate are in holes that are more deeply countersunk than they should be.

On the plus side, whoever did this at least did not greatly reduced the tight sideplate fit, like we see so often on guns refinished outside the factory.
 
AlHunt said:
The pics from the other site won't download but I screengrabbed this shot of the serial number.

Pics on the other site show recessed cylinder and pinned barrel. The cutout area isn't real clear but appears to be marked 10-6.

OP, posting pics here isn't hard. Hit reply, click "go advanced" and scroll down to "manage attachments". Then it's something like "select files to upload".
Click to expand...

More pics added to the original post, thanks! Yes, the cutout is marked 10-6.
 
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JP@AK said:
Over-polishing is the biggest sin in this case. This is seen on the butt and on both sides of the barrel. On the left side "Smith & Wesson" is faded, although not completely eliminated as is the cartridge stamp on the other side.

Also, the trigger and hammer appear to be blued, which they should not be.

Finally, you can see that the screws on the sideplate are in holes that are more deeply countersunk than they should be.

On the plus side, whoever did this at least did not greatly reduced the tight sideplate fit, like we see so often on guns refinished outside the factory.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that explanation! Is it possible or probable that it was reblued because it was beat up being a police revolver?

My biggest concern is, can this thing actually shoot .357 Magnum? The recessed/counterbored cylinder and the fact that .357 magnums fit perfectly in the cylinder tell me yes, but the fact that the marking on the right side of the barrel is gone kind of scares me. Thoughts?
 
.357Magnum said:
Also, I just figured out how to input a picture within a post, and not as an attachment. I can try to edit the original post to make it mimic the post in the other website, but it'll be an exercise :eek:
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother. Your pics are here and hosted on this server and will be here as long as the board exists. If you put them on a 3rd party host, they'll probably disappear at some point and leave more holes in the board.

Everyone here understands how to view attached pics.
 
JP@AK said:
Your gun may well be one of the NYSP units. It very likely is. Your serial number is higher than one of mine and just a tiny bit lower than the other one. You will have to letter the gun to be sure, but I think the odds are good.
Click to expand...

This is great! If there's a good chance it's an NYSP unit, then it's definitely worth the $100 to get a letter to confirm. Thanks for all this information! What would an NYSP unit be worth? That horrible reblue job isn't going to help me, but I'd like to know what mine would go for, and what one in good condition would go for, if you or anyone here happen to know. Thanks!
 
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