I picked up this 65-3 over the weekend for $299. The shop got two in and I picked the best, but both showed a lot of carry wear and some dings. Even the goodyears were chewed up! Serial AJD67xx, from 1985 or so. The gun may not look too bad here:



In this picture though, you can see what I was dealing with. Lots of grime. However, look at the cylinder face. I can't find a single sign that this gun was ever fired. The bore was pristine once I pushed the crud out.



After some scrubbing, wiping, polishing, rummaging through the parts bin, and more polishing, I now have a fairly respectable "beater".





I plan to practice replicating the factory satin finish on this gun. I may use it for other projects in the future as well, while I'm not shooting the snot out of it. It has a really sweet trigger and action. This is my first K-frame 357 by the way.

Thanks for looking.

Dan

Great photos.

I think I got the sister of your 65-3 a few weeks ago -- the corrosion under the wood grips was awful. It hours and hours of fine sanding and polishing to make most of that disappear -- plus putting some nice cocobolo Hogue grips (which covered the area) helped as well.

Then I had a couple dings in the edges -- but they were comparatively easy -- they are now just gone.

I really like the looks of it now -- and even better -- its mechanism is in excellent shape and it's a great shooter.

K frames are like potato chips. You're hooked, my friend.
That's a great find. Enjoy it!

Yup mine was in very similar shape. There was only one ding that bothered me because it was a bit sharp, but it dressed up fine. Did yours look to be fired much?

I sent an email to Century trying to find out where they received these revolvers from. We'll see what they say.

I picked this gun over better looking ones because it's mechanism was tight and the lockup was almost like new. The rifling was sharp. I suspect this gun was fired only as qualification required.

Your 65 cleaned up very well. You have a very fine looking one there. Many law enforcement agencies allowed their officers to carry 65s and 66s. In Virginia the Department of Corrections used to issue the 65 to their officers. A friend of mine used to work for VA DOC and wishes he could find a nice 4" 65 to replace the one he had to turn in when he left for another agency. Enjoy the 65 and remember K-frames are similar to Lay's Potato Chips. With Lay's you can't eat just one, with K-frames you can't have just one.

65s are great revolvers and they shoot great groups. Comfortable to carry, accurate and powerful. K Frame goodness.

My #65-2 has made a great trail gun.

Dragon, looks and sounds good to me! I was looking for something like yours even at much higher prices with no luck. I guess it is all in your timing. I have bought 2 K frames since, a 67 no dash, and a 10-8. I still need (want) a 357. Enjoy yours. I would! Bob

There seem to be a lot of these floating around, as well as CDC marked 64s. Most shops mark up far higher than my LGS does though.

My project piece was a 64-3. It has turned out to be a dandy.
I took it by to see Ron Power a while back. He did a little tweeking on it. Installed Ball Loc, Chamfered the chambers, Installed an end shake bearing. I have been using it for matches in SSR. It has also bagged a few poison snakes over the summer. It is a great shooter.

Bob

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ICORE MO2908

Yeah, you got a great deal! I paid $400 for mine and I didn't blink an eye. I thought it might be a bit much, but it was a 65. So...

Look at that a dimond in the ruff.

So I take it these guns were cranked out pretty fast to fill contracts?

As I mentioned before, the gun is essentially unfired. I don't think it was even used for qualifications. As such, I get to see all the goodies on the gun as it came from the factory. The forcing cone is cut very rough, almost looks like it's threaded. I have polished this as best I can, and will fire jacketed bullets to see how it handles those before I go to cast. If I get copper fouling or severe leading, I may need to get it re-cut.

One chamber is also cut pretty rough, again looking like it's threads. I suppose the correct term would be chatter marks. I polished that up a little too.

The yoke screw was not fit correctly on the gun. The apparent solution was to leave the screw loose. Tightening it properly caused severe binding opening the cylinder. I had to learn how to fit the screw here through a forum search, and I now have that corrected.

This really has turned into a "project" gun. Range report coming up tomorrow or the next.

Range Report: This gun shoots pretty well. Sights are nicely regulated for 158gr with a 6 o'clock hold, so much so that I was really bummed when I ran out of ammo.

7 yards DA offhand


10 yards DA offhand


I don't have any stunning 25 yard groups to show you. I think even Herman Cain's campaign adviser could have picked a better target than I did for stainless sights on a sunny day. This one was fairly photogenic:



I know what you're thinking...did he fire five shots, or only four? It was four. I finished off what I had of this load into a 1.9" group.



This gun is pretty high on my favorite shooter list after only one range trip. Thanks for looking.

Dan