HomeSmith Trainwreck: The Tetanus Special

[Shotguncoach]

I have a couple of other projects to get out of the way before I start this one, but this is such a magnificent specimen that I wanted to post some pictures so that everyone else could bask in the glory of a pristine, well cared for, never fired, new in the box Model 10-6.

The previous owner carefully stored his treasure in a custom made, almost perfectly fitting leather....thing....that performed its' primary function of trapping and retaining moisture with an excellence that could only be matched by that towel that was in the bottom of your Jr High gym locker.



I give you...The Tetanus Special. I'm pretty sure that I overpaid by a factor of 10 but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Let's start with the good part: the stocks.

We've got a set of PC Magna's that actually look almost not bad from the front. The back has a bit of mung built up around the metal but that should clean off without much trouble.

As with all true museum quality heirloom firearms, the right stock panel is numbered to the gun.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Now that we have that out of the way, we're done with the good part. I wanted something that would test my refinishing abilities....I think I found it.

Let's start by verifying our model number. Yep, there's a 10-6 in there, surrounded by a fascinating mosaic of rust and what may be old oil that is trying to turn back into dinosaurs. It may also be dried ketchup.

How about the recoil shield? Absolutely pristine, never fired after the factory testing. You can tell because the factory-applied mixture of cayenne pepper and hollandaise sauce has not been disturbed.

The most important part of any precision firearm is the bore. This is where the Tetanus Special really shines. The bore is so clean that the light reflected off of my thumbnail is reflected and refracted so many times that it cancels itself out and becomes nothing. This one is a tack driver for sure, and even better: it appears to be one of the only known examples of the experimental single groove rifling technique.

 

[Shotguncoach]

The grip frame is a masterpiece of hand fitting with nary a tool mark and with the factory hot wing sauce preservative coating still intact. I'm told that the assembly line used Roy's personal wing sauce recipe on the truly special guns.

The backstrap is as smooth as a piece of truckstop toiletpaper and is finished with an early experimental color known as Flat Dark Erf.

Our trigger guard is another rarely seen specimen of factory applied texture and color. Only 184,209 examples were shipped in the Kentucky Clay color. I'm hoping that when I letter this one it comes back as one of those chosen few.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Moving on to our sideplate, we find a glorious rendition of the rare and often imitated "Trailing Clouds" Smith & Wesson logo. A little Renaissance Wax will brighten that right up.

Looking at the other side of the frame, I see the only flaw in this true masterpiece of craftsmanship: there is a small area just in front of the thumbpiece that was missed when the jug of pool acid was spilled into the ultraviolet light blocking enclosure where the Tetanus Special was stored when it was on loan to the Vatican. I should be able to fix that with only a few hours of work.

I'm also extremely happy to see that the trigger appears to be scraping on the side of the frame. That's always a good sign.

Another custom touch that I won't have to apply myself is the anti-reflective finish on the back of the frame and in the sight channel. Mike and Don told me about this rarely seen custom-shop treatment while we were playing tiddlywinks in the parking lot of a Black Sabbath concert in 1983. I never thought I would get to see an example outside of the Smithsonian, but here it is.

 

[Crookedcreek]

Just a little elbow grease and....time, just how old are you?
Some solace in that you did not over pay for the stocks!

P.S. I thought it was supposed to be 'dry heat' in Arizona....I would have expected that to happen here in Missouri!

 

[Shotguncoach]

Putting my snark away for the moment, I really don't think this is as bad as it looks. Yes, there will be some challenging curved areas to clean up and I'm sure that I will find some pitting underneath the piles of rust, but overall I think we'll be fine in the end.

As a bonus (real this time) the serial number placement will work for a round butt conversion...I've been wanting to try that for a while.

Interestingly, the Tetanus Special is in really good shape mechanically. The timing is spot on all the way around and the trigger pull is not half bad.

The first thing that this project needs is a good bath. I'm going to take the stocks off and plop the rest of the gun into a bath of Ed's Red for about a month while I do other things. That should help when it comes time to take out screws and barrel pins. I'm not planning on trying to save the barrel and cylinder. Those are easily replaceable and there will be enough work to do on the frame, sideplate, and yoke.

So what should the Tetanus Special become? How does a round butt, 3" barrel, faux Model 13 pinto sound? Let's have some ideas......

 

[-BTM-]

Love it. I’d buy that in a heartbeat, here in CA it’s hard to find a basket case for sale. I’ve bought two with similar plans now for about $300 each but they turned out to be too clean! I can’t destroy a classic K38 and a Model 15 in good condition.

Round butt 3” sounds perfect.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Just a little elbow grease and....time, just how old are you?
Some solace in that you did not over pay for the stocks!

P.S. I thought it was supposed to be 'dry heat' in Arizona....I would have expected that to happen here in Missouri!

It is dry, but that means that people who live here don't spend as much time as they should wiping down and oiling their firearms. In this case, I'd say that this gun lived in that "holster" for years, probably under the seat of a truck. The leather absorbed any moisture that happened to be present and here we are.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Love it. I’d buy that in a heartbeat, here in CA it’s hard to find a basket case for sale. I’ve bought two with similar plans now for about $300 each but they turned out to be too clean! I can’t destroy a classic K38 and a Model 15 in good condition.

Round butt 3” sounds perfect.

I had to get past that myself. It's hard to take apart a pretty gun, but a better beginning product gets you a better ending product. I really enjoy working on ones like this one because even a hack like me can make it better than it is now and it lets me practice my technique for when I do work on the nice ones.

 

[mtgianni]

I'm looking forward to following this one. It looks like it was hidden in an alkali spring somewhere.

 

[Protocall_Design]

It's always good to see a nice example of tannic acid patina...

I'm in for a 3" round butt, blue or pinto. I have a 3" M65 that is one of my favorites.

 

[pasound]

By the same rules, no long term storage in foam-lined plastic cases.
A pinto will look good on that frame.
First revolver I ever owned was a 10-6 local PD trade-in from a hardware store.
Somewhere under all that rust is the same gun. Good cleaning!

 

[SS336]

OMG! You are a glutton for punishment.
As Crookedcreek said “you did not over pay for the stocks!”
If anyone can resurrect this hunk of rust you can. Can’t wait to see the progress you make. good luck.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Now that the pair of Model 19 snubbies, the 4-screw Combat Masterpiece, the Bicentennial Security Six, and the grok 17 are out of the way, it's time to come back to the Tetanus Special. SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) is going to be chicken sitting (yes, you read that correctly) for some friends this coming week, which means that I'll have plenty of time in the evenings.

The first step was to use the patent pending Ed's Red retrieval device (a stick) to remove the carcass from it's bath. It didn't look too bad immediately after coming out of the fluid...let's see what hosing it down with a can of brake cleaner will do.

 

[Shotguncoach]

I played ball with the shop assistant while the brake cleaner dried and then we came inside to the bench to examine the glory of our treasure....

Yep. It's nasty. If anything it looks worse now than it did when I got it. The rust appears to have "fluffed up" a bit from soaking in the Ed's Red.

....and Hey! We can attach more than 5 images now. Yay.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Our month long soak in Ed's Red did exactly what I was hoping for and all of the screws came out without any issue. Inside, the Special was really in better shape than I thought it would be. Yes, it's nasty, but it wasn't a solid block of rust. Slidey things slid, rotatey things rotated, and the hammer hammered.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Big chunks of things washed out of the bore when it was sprayed with brake cleaner, so I was curious as to what it would look like after a little attention. I have to admit that I have never had a pile of crud form from brushing a bore before. That was a first for me.

The real surprise was when I put some light down the bore....it looked amazing! What had looked like a trashed bore apparently was simply the worst case of fouling this side of FFFg.

Mounting the cylinder in a vise and scrubbing the chambers with a .40 caliber bore brush produced similar amazing results.

The shop assistant and I talked it over and we decided that if everything else checked out, the Tetanus Special should make at least one range trip before the major surgery began.

 

[Shotguncoach]

A few drops of oil were dropped into strategic places inside and the Special was buttoned up again without any cleaning.

The rear gauge checked out perfectly, and the cylinder gap was .011" free and .009" with the wedge, giving an endshake measurement of .002". Cylinder timing was good all the way around.

The double action pull was a rather crunchy 11 1/2 pounds. The single action pull was 3 1/2 pounds and was almost as crisp as a two week old banana.

Rumaging around in the pile turned up a set of goodyear stocks with an appropriately rusty screw. We're ready to hit the range.

Why even bother to shoot it in the present condition? First of all, it's safe. The bore is clear, the mechanism works, the timing is on, and the clearances are as they should be. Second, if anything will answer the question of "Do I need to clean my revolver every time I go to the range?", this will.

Third - it's mine and I feel like shooting it. I was originally planning to replace both the barrel and the cylinder but now there may be a chance that they are worth saving. I'd like to know before I start....

Range report tomorrow!

 

[Tanners Owner]

@Shotguncoach - really enjoy your posts on resurrecting these abused and neglected revolvers. You just might inspire me to try….probably not