They Don't Make Them Like They Used To...

lionquest1

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I have a pre-model 10 made around 1950 I bought recently with a square butt and a pencil barrel. I decided to compare it to my model 64 made in 2013. And being a lefty, I decided to shoot the pre-model 10 right handed to give it a disadvantage. Guess which one had the tighter group?

It wasn't the 64. But, I have to say this. It has a round butt with a bull barrel and I have wooden grips (I can't stand rubber). The square butt is easier to control and the pencil barrel is lighter and easier to manage. Still it was telling that a 66 year old revolver beat out one made only a few years ago.

BTW - the older revolver no longer had the original grips on it and I had to buy some of the newer square butt grips from S@W.
 

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Nice revolvers. Both are well made. One reason that the older M&P may have out performed the 64 is that the M&P may have more rounds downrange which helps accuracy as the barrel "shoots in" and settles the steel among other factors that improve accuracy. I don't think that the rifling and twist changed from the production years. Plus, the shooter factor may have imparted some reason as you may have held the M&P differently from the 64. Characteristics of differing models sometimes affect their "shootability." 'course that's just my opinion,... I could be wrong...
 
Regarding "pencil" barrels - There is no such thing. S&W called them standard barrels, and later (in 1959), there were also heavy barrels (beginning with the Model 10-1).
 
Since the eighties I have always heard them referenced as pencil barrels and bull barrels so as far as I am concerned - the appellation sticks.
 
A pencil has parallel sides. The older Smith and Wesson revolvers have tapered barrels.
I never understood the "pencil barrel" reference.
 
Refridgerators, Dishwashers, Heat Pumps, Lawnmowers, Rake Handles and other handles, and lotsa other stuff made with planned obsolescence. Most rearing their ugly heads in the last decade. As for me, S&W pre82 only.
I agree, but I will stretch to 1985 (Sorta)
 
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