I think the 64-2 would "clean up" fairly nice. If you decide to try to get rid of the scratches yourself you need to decide if you want the original brushed finish or a polished finish.
You can touch up the finish on a brushed finish stainless steel and fix significant scratches with Scotch Brite pads.
There are basically three types of finish for stainless steel:
1. Brushed. This is the original finish on your model 64-2. You can see fine linear polishing marks in the surface. Scotch Brite pads come in different levels of coarseness.
Light Grey, called Ultra Fine Hand - (600-800) 800 grit.
Green, called Light Duty Hand Pad - (600) 600 grit
Maroon pad, called General Purpose Hand - (320-400)
Work in a small area with tiny (1" square) piece of pad and stroke in one direction only following the linear polishing direction from the factory. Avoid any surfaces but the brushed stainless surfaces. Generally the green pad can be used for all applications varying the pressure dependent upon the degree of the scratch you attempting to fix but you might want to start with the maroon pad and use it until the main scratches are about 90% removed. Then move to the green pads to nearly finish off the scratches, and then finish off with the light grey pad. Look at You Tube for examples of how to do it or further research the S&W Forum.
2. You could also go for a bright polished finish. You can achieve this with a polishing compound like Flitz (there's others), soft rags, elbow grease, and a lot of time. Or you can use power tools. I'm not much for taking power tools to S&W revolvers but the side plate is scratched up enough you might consider it.
3. A third option would be bead blasted to give a dull uniform appearance but unless you have experience and the tools for this you would need to turn a bead blasted job over to someone else.
John
