New to me 10-5 3"

[skyraider]

It took awhile but I finally found my new carry gun: a M10-5 3" that was manufactured in 1974 or thereabouts. All-in-all, it's in very good condition.

The bluing is mostly intact with just some high point wear and a little wear on the muzzle tip on both sides. Under very bright flourescent lighting the barrel and cylinder are a tiny bit different color of blue. The barrel and cylinder are slightly more gray than the frame. There is no evidence that it has been refinished.

The grips are not original to the gun. They don't have a serial # stamped on the inside of the right grip and they don't fit the gun as well as most magnas do.

Mechanically it seems excellent and the bore looks great. As soon as I get an opportunity I'll take it to the range and post a report.

Any observations and opinions are welcome.

Have a terrific weekend,

Paul Moore
Colorado Springs CO

 

[squidsix]

Very good choice. I love them, and have two myself.

 

[murphydog]

Very nice. It's a fairly early 3" model 10 (a few made in the late 1950s excluded), and as you noted the stocks are from a slightly later K frame; the correct type would have a wider checkered area.

I have fairly often observed the barrel and cylinder on a revolver being a slightly different shade of blue than the rest of the gun. The parts for a given gun were supposed to be blued at the same time for a color match, so I don't know if the metal of the different parts just take the blue differently. Enjoy!

 

[bamabiker]

Congrats! That should make a very good carry gun.
I saw one at a local pawn shop a couple of years ago. It looked like new but they were very proud of it.

 

[Dot_mdb]

Nice gun.

Didn't all of the 10-5 guns come with tapered barrels? Maybe it is the photo but that doesn't look like a tapered barrel.

Bill

 

[skyraider]

Very nice. It's a fairly early 3" model 10 (a few made in the late 1950s excluded), and as you noted the stocks are from a slightly later K frame; the correct type would have a wider checkered area.

I have fairly often observed the barrel and cylinder on a revolver being a slightly different shade of blue than the rest of the gun. The parts for a given gun were supposed to be blued at the same time for a color match, so I don't know if the metal of the different parts just take the blue differently. Enjoy!

Murphydog, you are absolutely correct. The grips are too narrow for the frame. I've got another pair of K frame sq butt magnas that I will check tonight and see if they fit better.

Paul Moore

 

[murphydog]

Nice gun.

Didn't all of the 10-5 guns come with tapered barrels? Maybe it is the photo but that doesn't look like a tapered barrel.

Bill

It has a subtle taper, like 3" model 36s had before the -1. I think most call this style the "heavy" barrel, and the later the "bull" barrel. There is a thread here with an excellent side-by-side photo of the model 36s for comparison.

 

[Dot_mdb]

It has a subtle taper, like 3" model 36s had before the -1. I think most call this style the "heavy" barrel, and the later the "bull" barrel. There is a thread here with an excellent side-by-side photo of the model 36s for comparison.

Thanks for the info. Considering the difference in the barrel shapes I think it is possible that my 4" with the tapered barrel doesn't weigh any more than the 3" version.

Bill

 

[vytoland]

that is one fine looking S&W .38 special you have.

 

[C Islander]

That will make a fine carry gun!

 

[TAROMAN]

The Victoria (Australia) police purchased 3" model 10s with this type of tapered barrel many years ago.
Yours liiks similar to these.
Recently, they were traded back to S&W when that force went to M&P40s. Bud's had a lot of them. Most had replacement or mismatched stocks.
Mine even arrived in a M&P box.
Nice guns, carried lots, apparently seldom fired. Mine:

 

[skyraider]

thanks

Thanks for all the great info. I didn't know about the different levels of barrel taper. I've heard of tapered, heavy and bull barrels, but wasn't sure about the specifics of the terminology.

Thanks for the photo of the ex Victoria gun. It looks exactly like mine! Are there any markings on it that I should look for on mine? The only thing I found on it that I haven't observed on my other S&W revolvers is a small, faint stamped circle or "o" on the left side of the frame hidden by the left grip.

Paul

 

[skyraider]

The Victoria (Australia) police purchased 3" model 10s with this type of tapered barrel many years ago.
Yours liiks similar to these.
Recently, they were traded back to S&W when that force went to M&P40s. Bud's had a lot of them. Most had replacement or mismatched stocks.
Mine even arrived in a M&P box.
Nice guns, carried lots, apparently seldom fired. Mine:

Do you mind giving out the first 4 digits of your serial #? I'd like to see how close to mine it is. Mine's D6243XX (I would have posted the entire # but I forgot the last two digits).

Paul

 

[Chaosrob]

Nothing like the excitement of finally finding what you have been searching for, is there? Congrats on a great pistol and may it always serve you flawlessly.

 

[Mickey D]

Nice fined. I really like the 3"ers.

 

[TAROMAN]

Do you mind giving out the first 4 digits of your serial #? I'd like to see how close to mine it is. Mine's D6243XX (I would have posted the entire # but I forgot the last two digits).
Paul

Mine is D704499 just a bit "younger".

 

[TAROMAN]

Thanks for the photo of the ex Victoria gun. It looks exactly like mine! Are there any markings on it that I should look for on mine? The only thing I found on it that I haven't observed on my other S&W revolvers is a small, faint stamped circle or "o" on the left side of the frame hidden by the left grip.
Paul

The Victoria Police Armoury revolvers all appear to have had a micro-barcode inventory sticker on the sideplate.
Most folks removed these immediately.
Chose to leave mine intact, as its part of the gun's history:

 

[deanodog]

A pair of Victoria trade-in model 10-5s

I had to have two of them

 

[skyraider]

Thanks to everyone for all the great information. Two of my good friends live near Melbourne in Victoria, AU. One of them has a son who is a member of the Victoria Police force. His son is very aware of the revolvers that were traded back in to S&W and he is going to see if he can track my serial # to one of those trade in guns. It's not really a valuable gun, so I'd get information from my friend's son regarding my M10-5's serial # than pay for a letter from S&W. If he says it was not a Victoria Police gun, I may pay for a letter. There weren't that many 3" Model 10's made during the pinned barrel era, and it would be interesting to know it's history.

Paul

 

[Road Rat]

I had to have two of them

I shudda bought two. My daughter immediately stole the one I got. I checked back with Bud's and they were all GONE.........

 

[K-framer]

Ahh, the classic 3" HB Mod 10. Far and away, my favorite revolver. Nice find.

 

[j38]

Paul, That one should get the job done just fine. Enjoy!

Jerry

 

[skyraider]

Range Report

Today I had a brief window of opportunity to go to the range and try out my 3" Model 10-5 that is now my carry gun. For ammo I just took what I had at the house (haven't yet ordered any of Buffalo Bore or Golden Spear, etc). I have a box of 125 gr SJHP--don't even remember buying it--that might be good self defense stuff, so I tried it first while the gun was cold (I would guess that in any true emergency your gun will be cold). The wind was blowing out of the southwest creating a crosswind (200 at 20 g to 25). I managed to put the first six rounds I've ever shot out of this gun in a group of about 4" at 10 yds. Not great, but I've never shot the gun and the wind was honestly blowing tumbleweeds across the range.

Here's the first interesting thing: every round was approx. 3" low of my point of aim. After shooting the first six rounds I remembered reading that hotter or lighter (faster) rounds will be low because the gun deflects up and off of target less before the round leaves the barrel faster. Makes sense.

In order to do a somewhat scientific experiment, the next cylinder full was std. load 158 gr. .38 spl ball ammo. the first shot literally hit the bullseye, and the next five were within a 3" group around the bullseye. Someone on this forum told me that the fixed sights on the Model 10's were set using 158 gr. standard load ammo.

As a result, whatever I decide to use while carrying will be 158 gr. standard load stuff. That seems to be what this gun really likes. The Buffalo Bore may be what I try first because it is designed for shorter barrels.

Thanks for all the terrific input,

Paul Moore

 

[Mike McLellan]

Looks just fine to me.

 

[gatchelguy]

I got my 10.5 3" # D812*** (812 happens to be my area code) from J&G Sales in AZ a few years ago. It is one of those 'carried a lot but seldom shot' pieces. Stamped on the left of the frame between the cylinder and the trigger is: C.A.I. Georgia VT. I learned from the S&W forum of the time that these CAI guns were Aussie police trade ins. Since it's a shooter I replaced the Magnas with some more comfortable Pacs and installed Wolff reduced power springs. My old arthritic hands appreciate that.