Model 19-7 lew horton 3"

[Slustan83]

LlJust stumbled on to a Smith 19-7 3" factory magnaport that was a Lew Horton edition of 55 according to another thread on the forum. Had a finish related question. Did the cylinder always match the gun when they were finished in the bead blasted blue?

I attached photos. It is more noticeable in pictures but the cylinder doesn't look as matte as the frame.

 

[SVT28]

Appears factory to me. Sometimes that finish gets a little "off" if its been holstered a lot or if it sat in a foam lined case for a while. Perhaps remove the cylinder and allow it to soak in CLP overnight, then scrub it with a nylon brush. Nice gun, would love to find one for sale some day.

SVT28

 

[ABPOS]

That is a beautiful 19. The finish reminds me about how sometimes AR's have anodizing that turns a bit purplish. I'm guessing the cylinder may be a bit different material than the frame or it was done at a different time? I'm not sure how different the material between the frame and cylinder would be but. I realize they are both carbon steel. But it does look a bit like the difference on a 442 where the cylinder and barrel are steel but the frame is Aluminum. Not quite like that but sort of????

 

[CALREB]

Wow nice find and gun, I remember when they came out I called Jim Rae at the PC to see if they had any of the barrels, I think these came out right after the 4" PPC model 14s, Jim said he thought there was 1 left, but it was gone. I looked for one off and on in years past, but after seeing what the last one went for on GB, I decided if I had to have an underlug 3", I would have one of my 14s cut down. Havent done that yet, so I must not need one that bad, HA, Still seeing yours does start the craving.
As far as the color , Ive has a few PC guns from that era where the slide or cylinder has turned plum, which is what it looks like to me. I have a NIB PC 6906 and the slide is a solid plum color.
Real cool handgun hope you enjoy it.

 

[Slustan83]

Wow nice find and gun, I remember when they came out I called Jim Rae at the PC to see if they had any of the barrels, I think these came out right after the 4" PPC model 14s, Jim said he thought there was 1 left, but it was gone. I looked for one off and on in years past, but after seeing what the last one went for on GB, I decided if I had to have an underlug 3", I would have one of my 14s cut down. Havent done that yet, so I must not need one that bad, HA, Still seeing yours does start the craving.
As far as the color , Ive has a few PC guns from that era where the slide or cylinder has turned plum, which is what it looks like to me. I have a NIB PC 6906 and the slide is a solid plum color.
Real cool handgun hope you enjoy it.

Just out of curiosity what were they selling for? I want to keep it, but I also am not much of a collector and on top of that, kids can get expensive.

 

[CALREB]

You know its been a couple years, it was ANIB, and it was around 2300 or 2500 hundred, if I remember right, quite a bit for those days, now a lot of PC guns run in that range or higher.

 

[hkcavalier]

While I can't speak for your gun specifically, it's very common for the cylinder to turn a plum color over time. Best explanation I have seen is that S&W hardened the cylinders differently than barrels and frames, so they take the bluing a bit differently as well.