HomeSmith Trainwreck #3 "Short & Sweet"

[Shotguncoach]

Trainwreck #1 "Mud Hen" is still relaxing in her Ed's Red bath, and Trainwreck #5 "Bullshooter" is ready for it's first range trip, so tonight after SWMBO went to bed I started on Trainwreck #3 "Short & Sweet".

Short & Sweet is a 10-8 .38 special with a 3" heavy barrel. It started out life blued, but now it's.....well....it's just plain ugly.

This one has freckles, scabies, pits, and a delightfully eclectic finish that is part blue and part bare metal with just a touch of rust, failed dreams, and lost hopes.

 

[Shotguncoach]

It's missing the cylinder latch button, the inside looks to be almost as munged up as Mud Hen, the ejector rod isn't quite straight, and the cylinder has a really cool 3D effect happening. The good news is that the frame under the grips looks much better than I thought it would. There may be some life left in this one...

 

[Shotguncoach]

After the grips were off and the glamour shots taken, I sprayed some RemOil up inside the frame and started on getting the sideplate off.

I still need help from my emotional support llama when I think about that stuck sideplate screw on Mud Hen, so I was very pleasantly surprised when all three sideplate screws came out without any fuss at all. The screws went into my favorite "these have to go back in a certain order" parts holding device: an old .45 AARP ammo tray.

With the screws safely stored in the correct left to right order, I started whacking the grip frame with an old hammer handle to raise the sideplate. I whacked. I whacked some more. I pondered how my life had led to me banging on things with an old piece of wood in the garage at 9pm on a Thursday night. More whacking. Turn on some music. Whack some more in time with the beat. Maybe the hammer handle is defective. Found another one and whacked more. This handle had a slightly deeper tone that made for more pleasant whacking. Whack whack whack. SWMBO woke up and wanted to know what the h*ll I was doing. I asked for some privacy during my whacking and she went away mumbling about how the dog was smarter than I was.

Finally after what seemed like 3 days of whacking the sideplate started to lift. After that life was easy and it only took 173 more whacks to get it loose.

The inside turned out to be better than I had hoped for. Nasty, but just dirty nasty...not full of pits and orange shag carpet.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Once the sideplate was off it was a simple matter of removing every single piece. I managed to get this one apart without any Zings! or pieces flying about the garage. I was worried about the cylinder stop and it's itty bitty spring, but that same goofy reground screwdriver and page 17 of Mr. Kuhnhausen's book popped it right out.

30 minutes of effort, a toothbrush, a carding brush, 87 Q-tips, 14 rolls of shop towels, and an entire house reeking of Hoppe's #9 because the inside garage door was open resulted in something that didn't really look half bad inside.

There was only one small oops putting it all back together.....check the pictures and tell me if you've ever done this.

 

[teletech]

Gun abuse is always harder to see when it's been done to something nice like a 3" Smith. Glad it found you.
Polish and re-blue, sandblast and parkerize,...?
Looks like it's a good candidate for engraving practice.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Once the old girl was greased up, back together, and the bench had been scanned for extra pieces, it was time to add the mandatory dog hair (it helps with waterproofing), put the sideplate back on, and install the cylinder release button and a new set of shoes from the parts kit.

The trigger breaks at 52 ounces in single action mode and the timing is perfect on all 6 chambers. This one will go to the range on Sunday with Bullshooter.

*note to self: get a trigger pull gauge that doesn't max out at 5 pounds

As long as you don't actually, you know, look at it this one seems pretty nice. It's tempting to just leave it as-is and let it live out the rest of it's life in the center console of my truck, but I have other plans for this one.

 

[Shotguncoach]

"But Coach, you didn't actually fix anything! All you did was clean....why?"

Have no fear, there will be much more to this story. This first exercise was to really just to establish a baseline and make sure there weren't any hidden problems with the frame. I don't see much point (other than practice) in performing work to set up parts that will not be in the final, finished work.

We all remember Jenny's number, but who remembers the name of the band that performed the song?

The parts kit gives a hint of where I plan for this one to eventually go.

Range report on Sunday!

 

[alwslate]

Doesn't look like it needed any fixing beyond a good cleaning and lubing. Ditch the rubber grips and put the magnas back on

 

[Shotguncoach]

Doesn't look like it needed any fixing beyond a good cleaning and lubing. Ditch the rubber grips and put the magnas back on

I like the way magnas look, but I've never been able to shoot consistently with them on a K-frame....especially a round butt version. Something about the shape of my hands makes K-frame magnas twist on every shot. That's after the trigger guard bangs into my middle finger of course.

J and N-frame magnas work fine, and service stocks with a T-grip on K-frames work well too. It's just a combination of tolerances that makes the K-frame magnas not work for me. I keep them all in a tote just in case I ever decide to try that thing where someone gives me money and they take away one of my babies. I've never done that but I've heard about it....

 

[2152hq]

Perfect candidate for for complete polishing.
Then a rust blue finish.
Polish to 320 or even 400. You can keep that level of gloss if you do the rust bluing with that in mind and don't just let the rusting cycles build heavily.

The current condition of the metal around the bbl markings and the S&W medallion looks good in that it can be carefully polished and the lettering not need any recut.
The cylinder surface rust damage is easy to polish off and keep the metal crisp.
The flutes of what I can see look to be in pretty good condition. Those can be difficult to polish for some and to keep the edges sharp & not draw out the round edge at the rear.

All part of learning the trade.

Nice 3" K frame revolver

 

[handejector]

What tipped you off, the hard trigger pull?

There was only one small oops putting it all back together.....check the pictures and tell me if you've ever done this.

 

[handejector]

Trainwreck #1 "Mud Hen" is still relaxing in her Ed's Red bath,

Which one is Mud Hen? I looked thru your threads but did not see that term.

 

[Shotguncoach]

What tipped you off, the hard trigger pull?

Actually, yes. I went to manipulate the trigger in order to install the hammer and it wouldn't move.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Which one is Mud Hen? I looked thru your threads but did not see that term.

Mud Hen is the original trainwreck and didn't get a name until towards the end of the first "Trainwreck guns for learning" thread. It's a nasty looking 6" 5 screw K frame that needs a lawnmower to clear out the inside of the frame…….after I finally get that #%!€£ sideplate screw out.

 

[bgrafsr]

Where did you get your parts, "Every gun part"?

 

[dsf]

"But Coach, you didn't actually fix anything! All you did was clean....why?"

Have no fear, there will be much more to this story. This first exercise was to really just to establish a baseline and make sure there weren't any hidden problems with the frame. I don't see much point (other than practice) in performing work to set up parts that will not be in the final, finished work.

We all remember Jenny's number, but who remembers the name of the band that performed the song?

The parts kit gives a hint of where I plan for this one to eventually go.

Range report on Sunday!

Are you going to make it Tutone?

Nope, didn't have to look it up.

 

[KAC]

Rust and bluing loss like that indicates to me that there was considerable blood on that revolver. You can speculate where that blood came from, but I have my suspicions.

KAC

 

[Pig Hunter]

I agree with 2152hq, perfect candidate for rust blue. You can even take the barrel off to make it a nicer job. Rust blue is a procedure many custom gunmakers use as the finish is tougher than hot blue and really gives a custom look. Another plus is minimal equipment is needed and no tubs of nasty chemicals.

 

[Shotguncoach]

You guys are spot on. I absolutely want to rust blue the frame and create a faux pinto that is blue and stainless.

I even bought my own pots so that my wife won't kill me when I start boiling guns on the stove….

 

[mikerjf]

"Jenny Jenny, you're the girl for me"...

(Just don't change that number when polishing!)