ostlund
Member
thank you for sharing
My Beater Registered Magnum
- Thread starter Modified
- Start date
OP
Modified
Member
Yup, you were talking to a newbie and I joined the conversation. We should do coffee sometime, drop me a pm if you like......
hkcavalier
US Veteran
Nice to see local guys finding great stuff at gun shows! I had kind of given up, especially with the nonsense of the past 8 months.
Great story and great gun. I'm way more impressed with what you've done than the guy who cashes out the 401(k) and buys a 99% RM + box and tools for several grand. No offense to those guys here on the forum, but...
Great story and great gun. I'm way more impressed with what you've done than the guy who cashes out the 401(k) and buys a 99% RM + box and tools for several grand. No offense to those guys here on the forum, but...
OP
Modified
Member
Whenever I get back from being on the road I will send that PM A10.
As far as the local gunshows go: I haven't been to one in months now. I was suffering serious withdrawal symptoms, it's part of why I have picked up some guns off of gunbroker, and part of why I have been focused on fixing this one. The shows have just been so terrible with the current gun control craze that I can't bring myself to go to them, and I used to be a serious junkie (anyone who used to frequent the WAC shows would probably recognize me easily)
Honestly I have quite a few projects and gun related things I should do, but I sort of save them up.
I figure as soon as I get married I won't be able to buy guns like mad any more, so I better buy a lot of them now and worry about fixing them up later, when I can't buy any more, because: married.
As far as the local gunshows go: I haven't been to one in months now. I was suffering serious withdrawal symptoms, it's part of why I have picked up some guns off of gunbroker, and part of why I have been focused on fixing this one. The shows have just been so terrible with the current gun control craze that I can't bring myself to go to them, and I used to be a serious junkie (anyone who used to frequent the WAC shows would probably recognize me easily)
Honestly I have quite a few projects and gun related things I should do, but I sort of save them up.
I figure as soon as I get married I won't be able to buy guns like mad any more, so I better buy a lot of them now and worry about fixing them up later, when I can't buy any more, because: married.
wlp624
Member
Doug M.
Member
I had a lot of respect for your judgment in buying and fixing up this shooter RM (way better idea to me that buying some display model), but you just ruined it.
Biginge
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
GREAT story Strumpet, just wonderful, thanks for sharing.
Dave T
Member
I'll join everyone else and say a great story, a great gun and good for you for putting it back to work.
Oh, and good for you for not asking if you should have it re-blued, or hard chromed or otherwise ruined. It's got great character and tells its own story as is.
Dave
Oh, and good for you for not asking if you should have it re-blued, or hard chromed or otherwise ruined. It's got great character and tells its own story as is.
Dave
Texas Star
US Veteran
I think that Roy Jinks may have misspelled the name of the store owner. Probably should be Zuniga, not Zungia. Just a guess, based on having seen a lot of Zunigas and no Zungias. May be a typo.
I'd certainly restore the gun as much as possible, but it's yours, eyesore that it is...
Was there rust in the action?
I'd certainly restore the gun as much as possible, but it's yours, eyesore that it is...
Was there rust in the action?
OP
Modified
Member
Nah, that very first picture is basically the extent of the rust. There's a bit of very very light pitting here and there on the cylinder mostly. The bulk of the corrosion is on the front sight with a patch of it right under the hammer as you can see in the first picture.
I've spent a bit of time with some brass wool and elbow grease to clean it up. Just slowly and carefully removing a bit more of it every time I have it out.
The thing is that I don't really think it's an eyesore personally. I really like how it's worn, I mean lots of guys have beautiful and nearly pristine, or restored and fully pristine Registered Magnums, I'm the only guy with one that looks like mine.
If it were heavily pitted and really messed up that would be something else, but it's remarkably free of pitting or corrosion at all really.
I appreciate a really nice RM as much as the next guy. So much so that when I have the money I'll be dropping it down on a second one, a pretty one (If anyone happens to have a 5" Registered magnum with a Lanyard ring, Magnas, a grip adapter, Baughman front ramp, and an Ambidextrous King Cockeyed hammer in the box you should sell it to me, I promise to love it forever).
I am impressed with your ability to find two prewar rear sights. They are tough. I am also impressed with your willingness to handle its problems with out a lot of kvetching.
jaykellogg
Absent Comrade
Here is a picture of a rear sight on a registered magnum.
OP
Modified
Member
Actually, I'm happy as a clam about having to do simple fixes to a gun like this. The thing is I'm a very hands on learner, I don't really retain information unless it's very real and in front of me. A gun like this is amazing for a guy like me.
I really wish I were a handier guy, but I do not have the knack for really doing serious wood or metalwork. I never really have. I do however have a knack for tracking down rare or unusual things. Which leads to your point on prewar sights:
I now have found three prewar rear sights as of a couple minutes ago:
My sincerest apologies to anyone here that I may have beat out on the auction.
My hope is that the sight fits my Registered Magnum since it appears to be the right one, but I have no measurements. Also, that I can swap the sight blade since this one seems to be a round notch King companion to that front sight.
Furthermore I'm not entirely happy with the sights on my King Modified .38/44 outdoorsman:
So I also hope that I can use that front sight from the auction on this, and the sight blade on this, because I adore how that sight picture works on my target M&P, which I think has the K Frame equivalent of that sight set in the auction I just won:
I'm not entirely sure what sight blades fit into that King ramp on the Outdoorsman, or how it might shoot if I did swap the sights in such a way, but it seems like it should be a fairly simple job to do with the right screw drivers, and something I could reverse.
I love old Smith & Wessons.
Edit: This came in while I was typing
Here is a picture of a rear sight on a registered magnum.
Very good, thank you, looks about like the one I just bought do you think?
Last edited:
SixgunStrumpet; Very good said:
Sixgun,
I was bidding on that sight early on! BUT It was in case you had not came across it. Had I won it, I would have contacted you last night at auction end and offered it to you. That should be the correct sight for your RM! P.S. Do Not throw away that King Paper bag.......
I was bidding on that sight early on! BUT It was in case you had not came across it. Had I won it, I would have contacted you last night at auction end and offered it to you. That should be the correct sight for your RM! P.S. Do Not throw away that King Paper bag.......
Bill_in_fl
Member
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story and all the followup posts from you and everyone else. But I have to say, that if that was my pre war registered magnum, I'd buff it out to a mirror polish, then have it hot tank blued in the old S&W bluing style. You may not have bad rust pits now, but if you don't get rid of the shallow pits that ARE on it, they will only increase in depth if you don't get rid of them. Rust is insidious, if you don't get rid of it and get down to the bottom of the pits beyond where the rust is, and refinish it as a preventative against future rusting, it WILL get worse. I understand yours and others liking that worn and "been there" look, but that's what I'd do if it were mine. But it's your revolver to do with what you want and if you like it that way, then more power to you. Best of luck on this project, I've enjoyed reading it immensely.
.
.
Last edited:
OP
Modified
Member
Sixgun,
I was bidding on that sight early on! BUT It was in case you had not came across it. Had I won it, I would have contacted you last night at auction end and offered it to you. That should be the correct sight for your RM! P.S. Do Not throw away that King Paper bag.......
Oh, I don't think there is any danger of that bag going away. I've been enamored of King products ever since I first saw a picture of a Registered Magnum with that little mirror on the front sight.
Heck, I even bought one of those king sights with the mirror in it just because I thought it was too neat not to. I never could figure out what it was for, and I never really planned to fit it to anything anyway.
I'd always assumed a good coating of Breakfree CLP + the Dehumidifier in my gun room would do the trick.
Does anyone have any experience with Renaissance wax? I've heard that it's pretty amazing stuff but it seems like something that usually only gets applied to objects that aren't going to see any further use, could it protect some of the surfaces of a gun that gets shot on occasion?
My buddy Fredo Batali uses renwax and swears by it. He just rewaxes after he's been at the range....
Similar threads
