My 624 Finally Finished

[TAROMAN]

As a long time .44 Special shooter, I've always wanted a 4" 624.
It soon became obvious that these are not exactly common.
A long search ensued, with a couple "misses" along the way.
Finally scored one on GB. It was OK at best with a lot of use showing.
The nice thing about these SS Smiths is how easy it is to polish them.
This one took about a week's worth of work. In the end it came up pretty good.
The sideplate had a significant gouge, however, and there was some endshake.
So, off to the mothership it went for a tuneup.
So, it arrived yesterday. Time for an image before it proceeds to get REAL dirty:

And, I believe that Elmer Keith was on to something with magnas on N-Frames.

 

[~Rascal~]

Beautiful! Looks like a brand new gun, bet it'll handle/shoot great for you!

 

[Stirling]

Now THAT is a real looker!!! I'd love an N-frame .44 Special myself and a M24/624 4" would fit the bill nicely.

 

[semperfi71]

Nice one. And I, like Elmer, prefer the magnas on the non-neavy-recoil N Frames. Elmer, of course used them on the heavy-recoil N-Frames though. He was tough.

 

[AR_Paratrooper]

That looks pretty sweet. It looks like it just rolled off the factory floor!

 

[MikeyB]

Very very nice!!

I love model 24's. I have the granddaddy 1950 with a 4".

 

[CWH44300]

Beautiful stocks and the finish looks great, the grandfather was right on many things including the 4" Nframe in 44 has the be all and end all when it comes to sidearms, to me the stainless just takes it up another notch, any real six gunner would be proud to pack that one, again it looks great,
thanks for posting it.

 

[stevie-ca]

That revolver looks great!!

 

[snubbyfan]

She's a beauty, enjoy!

 

[papajohn428]

I've got one on the way next week, same model, but a bit worn. Now I have a goal in mind on how I want to make it look. Well done!

 

[Rifle_rod9]

I bought one just like it about a month ago.
After it arrived, it looked like it had hardly been shot! Sure enough, after talking to the original owner he said he was more of collector than a shooter. I got lucky for a change!

I love mine! Goes nicely with my 696

Just be sure to shoot it!

 

[TAROMAN]

Its dirty now..

Just be sure to shoot it!

And it looks like its a keeper:

 

[johnny3]

m624

Great shooters for sure.

 

[TAROMAN]

Great shooters for sure.

Johnny,

WOW, twins!
That's too cool. How long has yours been with you?

 

[2hawk]

Taroman, you do know how to make them shine! Mind sharing any secrets?

Beautiful gun, grips, and shooting! You've got the whole package!

 

[TAROMAN]

Taroman, you do know how to make them shine! Mind sharing any secrets?

Beautiful gun, grips, and shooting! You've got the whole package!

Glad to:

I have polished up a number of really beat up SS Smiths.
For jobs like this, you will need a lot more than Mother's.
I use auto body sandpaper (dry - tried it both ways) cut into 1" wide strips.
Depending on how bad it is, have started out with as coarse as 600 grit.
Different areas will probably need different grits to start. You may even need to use a fine file to smooth out deep gouges, usually the bottom of the triggerguard where the gun has been dropped.
Strip the gun, install sideplate with all flathead screws. I keep a set of screws just for this purpose.
For the flat areas, I wrap the sandpaper around a little aluminum sanding black I made.
After all has been worked with the first sandpaper, go to the next finer grade. Work it with this one to smooth out all the scratches from the last grade.
Repeat this with finer and finer sandpaper until you end up with 2000 grit (or 2500 if you can get it).
You will quickly learn that if you don't completely remove the previous scratches before going finer that you will have to back up and do it over, Trust me on this!
After its polished to 2000 all over, start in with Mother's and rub, rub, rub. I start out polishing with a cotton shop rag and end up with a microfiber cloth.

Here are three of the worst that I have done:

This model 67 was a complete junker. $150 at the LGS. Dirtiest and most beat one I ever saw. Soaked 3 days in Ed's red before even starting on it:

Here's one of the $210 Ohio prison guns:

This one had a very coarse sandblast finish with lots of pitting (yes, stainless DOES rust!) like it had been a boat gun. It took more work than the others:

 

[2hawk]

EXCELLENT!

I move we have this posted in the "Notable Threads" section!
Good job, Taro!

 

[Culina]

even kurac has a 624

 

[Dale53]

I've had this one for many, many years (bought it the year they came out):

Mine has been shot a good bit. It is extremely shootable. My favorite load for it has been the Skeeter Load (7.5 grs of Unique behind a 250 gr Keith (Mihec version of the H&G #503). This makes an exceptionally good field load for general use.

Dale53

 

[williamlayton]

I hate/love people with skills and especially hate/love folks that show off their skills.
I traded any skill that I had for a beer and a cig in a bar.
Blessings