Registered Magnum? (Finally Restored!)

[S&WIowegan]

If it was my gun, I would spend the money to restore it. BUT, if you go that route, you should recognize you're doing it for love, not money. I don't believe you could ever get your money back for a restoration in your lifetime. Just sayin,

 

[Onomea]

Here's a Kansas City non-RM that Dave Chicoine, Jr restored for me. Keith Brown grips.

 

[Joe Kent]

Onomea, do you have any "before" pictures of your KC revolver? I am considering the same work on mine. Thanks in advance, Joe.

 

[Onomea]

Joe, re "before pix," I am not sure. I need to check my other computer. Also sent you a PM.

 

[Buford57]

It may be the lighting in the pictures, my aging eyes or a combination, but that finish almost looks like paint. Where it is gone from the cylinder it looks like there is blue underneath. Is that actual plating or some kind of DIY finish? Could it be stripped without polishing in order to assess the condition of the metal underneath?

Talk about diamonds in the rough. But with the right treatment I'll bet she shines!

 

[bwade]

I wish it was paint, but it is plated. I think the restorers can do a reverse plating process that will remove it without polishing, or at least I hope that is how they do it.

Blaine

 

[S&WIowegan]

Blaine,

I hope you mean "remove it WITHOUT polishing"! If someone takes the buffing wheel to it, the value will drop like a rock.

 

[Jim Kuykendall]

Congratulations! I own RM 3615 and it is a 4" specimen. The serial number is 56323, which is slightly higher than yours. Of course you know that they weren't finished in SN order. Mine was shipped April 11, 1938.Hope this information increases your interest in these fine old revolvers. I must agree with the other posters, start with the letter from Roy Jinks.

 

[mikeruns]

It's always fun to see new finds on reg magnums.
I was thinking to myself that this revolver may have been plated way back by a lawman or outdoorsman or someone who just wanted as much resistance to weather for utilitarian purposes and said revolver may have a very colored history as is. It will be interesting to see if you find out it's original owner and stories that may come out of your find including info about the nickling. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

 

[Old Seabee]

Reg Mag

Hello if I may chime in I have a nickel reg mag that I have not taken time to have Mr Jinks ck It. Reg # 2197 ser # 5177x It is a 3 &1/2 inch

 

[bwade]

Factory Letter In

The factory letter just came in, now what?

 

[CelticSire]

Recollections... Death of East Troy Navy pilot recalls memories of first casualty of WWII

Cecil Gardner is mentioned in this article, possibly the same individual

 

[cgt4570]

First off, whatever you do, don't do any more harm.
That said, you can vastly improve the appearance of it and make it very presentable as a shooter without spending too much more money. If you aren't ready to invest a few more thousand dollars on a complete, correct restoration, I would start with the following: (which is pretty much what I did with a previously plated RM I used to own)
-have the hammer and trigger de-plated and then properly case colored (will probably cost about a hundred bucks)
-replace the grips with correct pre-war magnas. (for a good used set $200-400)
-carefully clean the gun with 'Flitz' metal polish and a soft cloth. This will remove the milk-y-ness of the aged plating and blend the areas where the plating has flaked off.
You are lucky in that the sights haven't been plated as was so often the case when these were refinished (back when they were just another cheap used service revolver).

Just offering another possibility that will make it a gun you can still show off while you contemplate future options.

P.S. If you need a set of comparable condition pre-war magna grips, PM me and I'll let you know what I've got to choose from.

 

[DCWilson]

The factory letter just came in, now what?

Now you need to find a qualified shop that can restore this for you. I think it would be better to find a place that will remove the nickel in a plating reversal process rather than just buff it away. After you are down to bare metal, you need to have a qualified refinisher recut the stampings wherever they are weak, then give a sensitive polish to the gun before giving it its new blue.

I think a couple of unnecvessary words remained in the letter when the historian edited a standard phrase to reflect your particular revolver. Where it says "checkered walnut Magna grips with grip" I think the words "with grip" should be deleted. Earlier RMs with non-Magna stocks sometimes came with a custom grip adapter to widen the total grip and give extra support to the middle finger. But Magna stocks are incompatible with that adapter unless someone undertakes to thin the magnas (not advised) or creates some custom shims. I don't think the company did that, though home woodworkers and custom gunsmiths did.

The front sight on the gun now is not a Sheard gold bead sight and would need to be replaced if you wanted to be consistent with the gun's original configuration. Similarly, the rear sight leaf does not look like a King 111, which had a U-shaped notch and a white outline. That photo is out of focus, but I don't see the white outline and it looks like the notch is square rather than rounded. It shouldn't be impossible to find a King 111 leaf.

As SP said above, you will need to get some prewar N-frame stocks for this gun.

This sounds like a lot of work, but the good news is that the gun does not seem to have been aggressively polished before its nickel experience. Frame edges are not rounded and the sideplate still mates well with the frame. That's good.

Talk to David Chicoine's shop first (oldwestgunsmith.com). If they can't help you, there is a firm called Ford's that has had a good reputation in the past, though I have heard opinions that their recent work was not as consistently good as in prior years. Nevertheless, those are the two places I would start.

It is my belief that 4.5 inch barrels are not common on RMs. That makes this one distinctive and interesting.

 

[bwade]

Well so far I have reblued it and found a nice set of Pachs that fit real good... Just kidding! Its only been oiled so far. I will have to think about any moves next since it appears very pricey to restore RMs, but I did email the Sheriff's office about Mr. Gardner and I will update you guys if they reply. Chris, I will PM you.

Blaine

 

[Buford57]

Here's some info about the Walworth County SO that may interest you. They were pretty progressive for 1938.

Walworth County Sheriff

 

[bwade]

More pics.

Here are more pictures of the sights David. Let me know if I need to take anymore.

 

[DCWilson]

The only Cecil M. Gardner in the Social Security Death Index was born in 1909 and died in 1997. He last lived in El Paso, and his SS card was issued in Tennessee.

No Cecil Gardners were enrolled in SS in Wisconsin, nor drew their last benefit there.

 

[DCWilson]

Here are more pictures of the sights David. Let me know if I need to take anymore.

A Sheard gold bead front sight would look like this one, which is mounted on a much smaller revolver. The one for your RM might be slightly longer and a little taller, but would still look much the same. (This gun, a .22/32 Kit Gun, was shipped in 1937, so you are in the ballpark as far as dating is concerned.)

And this is a King 111 rear sight leaf. It is mounted on the same .22/32 Kit Gun.

I can see in your new photos that the rear sight blade on yours was definitely replaced. It is now a no-outline square notch leaf.

 

[Toyman]

If you want to take you inquiry one step further submit a copy of your letter to Smith and Wesson Historical and see what is in scanned documents. This might straighten out question on the type of grips.
This will cost a little but if any documents are found could be interesting.