"I'm really curious as to why someone would do this to the gun."
Are you talking about the barrel change, the rear sight change, or both?
The original barrel may have been too long for what the owner wanted to do with it (came with an 8 3/8" barrel and the owner just became a cop and needed a duty gun). Or perhaps it suffered a bulged barrel.
The rear sight? The owner read about the new, improved rear sight on the updated 1950 .357 and wanted to upgrade. Or, he damaged the original sight and when he sent it back to the factory, this is what he got.
My pappy bought a used post WW II .38 special Military & Police revolver in 1968. While firing it, the rear of the barrel split (the 13th shot out of a box of early Super Vel ammo). The shop that sold him the gun and ammo sent it to the factory and it came back with a new barrel, with the serrated ramp instead of the half moon front sight. Obviously, S&W didn't have any late '40s barrels in stock at the time of the rebarrel.
50-60 years after the fact, it's kinda hard to determine the WHY.
Are you talking about the barrel change, the rear sight change, or both?
The original barrel may have been too long for what the owner wanted to do with it (came with an 8 3/8" barrel and the owner just became a cop and needed a duty gun). Or perhaps it suffered a bulged barrel.
The rear sight? The owner read about the new, improved rear sight on the updated 1950 .357 and wanted to upgrade. Or, he damaged the original sight and when he sent it back to the factory, this is what he got.
My pappy bought a used post WW II .38 special Military & Police revolver in 1968. While firing it, the rear of the barrel split (the 13th shot out of a box of early Super Vel ammo). The shop that sold him the gun and ammo sent it to the factory and it came back with a new barrel, with the serrated ramp instead of the half moon front sight. Obviously, S&W didn't have any late '40s barrels in stock at the time of the rebarrel.
50-60 years after the fact, it's kinda hard to determine the WHY.
