New Guy, First S&W

[Adamski]

Hey guys. New here from Syracuse, NY. Just picked up my first S&W revolver. It's a 36 no dash, 1-7/8" barrel with the serial number 181xxx. Any idea when it might have been made?

Got it for $245otd. The previous owner carved his name into the side plate which is why I got a decent deal on it. I ordered up some new grips and a new side plate from numerich today. It definitely needs a good cleaning and maybe some trigger work. It has the grittiest DA trigger I've ever felt.

 

[bamabiker]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your first S&W.
Don't get rid of those grips they probably number to that gun. And while you have the sideplate off give everything a good cleaning. Maybe it will help that trigger.

 

[DCWilson]

Welcome to the forum. Nice first gun. Shoot it in good health.

Part of the gritty feel probably stems from the movement of the coil trigger spring inside the trigger rebound slide. You will see this assembly when you get the sideplate off. You might want to read about disassembling the action on a Smith so you can do it safely and correctly, and once you have the rebound slide out you can clean it and its spring thoroughly. But if you don't want to disassemble the gun, at least spray a little pressurized cleaning oil in there to dissolve and flush out some of the grime that has probably built up.

You know you should not pry a sideplate off, right? Just take the grips off and the screws out of the sideplate, hold the gun loosely in one hand, and rap the grip frame of the gun sharply with the handle of a screwdriver. The vibration will lift the sideplate to the point where you can remove it.

You may need to do some custom fitting of the new sideplate to make it fit your gun well. Don't rush it; slow and steady wins the race.

 

[Wraith_K]

Still despite the engraving..for $245 that's a price I can live with.
I'll 2nd bamabiker on the cleaning, sounds to me like it's got 20years of grime built into it.

 

[snubbyfan]

Welcome to the forum. Nice first gun. Shoot it in good health.

Part of the gritty feel probably stems from the movement of the coil trigger spring inside the trigger rebound slide. You will see this assembly when you get the sideplate off. You might want to read about disassembling the action on a Smith so you can do it safely and correctly, and once you have the rebound slide out you can clean it and its spring thoroughly. But if you don't want to disassemble the gun, at least spray a little pressurized cleaning oil in there to dissolve and flush out some of the grime that has probably built up.

You know you should not pry a sideplate off, right? Just take the grips off and the screws out of the sideplate, hold the gun loosely in one hand, and rap the grip frame of the gun sharply with the handle of a screwdriver. The vibration will lift the sideplate to the point where you can remove it.

You may need to do some custom fitting of the new sideplate to make it fit your gun well. Don't rush it; slow and steady wins the race.

Welcome from the panhandle of West Virginia.
Good advice I agree, sounds like it could use a good detail cleaning.

 

[rwsmith]

Looks like

You got a good gun. I won't care about the aesthetics if you don't. Little fixing up and you got a new gun w/o breaking the bank.

 

[Marine Corps Air]

Welcome aboard! You'll read some outstanding information from these posts.

Am I correct in stating that each of the screws is custom fit to the same position in the side plate, especially the one opposite the yoke? If so, all you need to do is place them carefully on your work bench.

 

[M3Stuart]

Welcome to the forum! Enjoy your S&W!

 

[Adamski]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

I found these grips on ebay. If I don't like them, I'm going to go with the t-grip or checkered Higue Bantam grips.

The president of my gun club, who I know well, knows these revolvers inside and out. I may have to bring it to him for some triggerwork if I can't get the trigger to pull without hurting...lol

 

[hotrod150]

If you're still not happy with the DA trigger after you get it cleaned, google up "yoda trigger job" on youtube. This will give you an idea on how to disassemble the innerds, and how to improve the DA pull. I like a stock main sprng and a 13# rebound spring. I also polish the rebound slide & adjacent surfaces with an arkansas stone. So far it's resulted in really nice DA trigger pulls on all my j-frames.

 

[Adamski]

Thanks hotrod, will do

 

[Harkrader]

Adamski:
I got a K22 Combat Masterpiece "Third Model Pre-17" for a good price, partly because some moron cut his SSAN and some other looong number into the side of the barrel, and on the frame below the cylinder release latch, as well as on the bottom of the grip frame. I thought about sending it off to have all that buffed out, but decided it is part of the "charm" of the gun. Besides, I didn't want to lose the rest of the otherwise fine finish. It shows very little use, kinda weird after the owner did that to it.
Something to think about.
-Harkrader

 

[hotrod150]

You should use that number to steal his identity-- that'll teach him to deface a S&W!