Aside from some holster wear near the front of the barrel, the finish looks decent, and the mechanics of the gun are great: crisp trigger pull, solid cylinder lock-up, and extraordinarily clean bore and cylinder chambers. As you can see, the gun came with rubber grips, which are fine for now (I may replace them with wooden grips later).
This was an export that was reimported in the recent past. The gun came in its original blue plastic box, and there was a label on the side with the name of the person to whom it was originally issued: Josef Uhlik. This is a Slovak name, so I presume the gun was used by the police or a corrections department or something similar in the Slovak Republic. I did a quick cleaning of the gun (although it didn't seem to need it) and was thinking how sweet a firearm it was, when I was struck by the realization that it was not only sweet in the figurative sense but also in the literal. Turns out that the grips smell like...aftershave. I guess ol' Joe used to splash it on kind of heavy before picking up and holstering the revolver everyday (another reason to consider new grips).
This Model 10-14 is a relatively late issue, having been manufactured in 2002 or later (regular production ended in 2010, although the gun is now manufactured as part of S&W's Classics line). Unfortunately, it has the tiny cylinder lock (known disparagingly in the gun community as the "Hillary Hole"), but I don't intend to use it at all, so it doesn't bother me.
I took it to the range this morning and it functioned perfectly. It's an accurate shooter with surprisingly little recoil. The double-action pull isn't excessively heavy, and the single action pull is just short of hair-trigger. The best news is the barrel isn't canted (as was the case with another S&W I purchased about six years ago, brand new).
I'm very pleased to have a .38 spl that I can plink with - even if I have to put up with the aroma of Joe's aftershave.
Update I only found out about this while I was poking around the internet researching some S&W history. Seems like the U.S. Air Force only got around to retiring the last of its revolvers - the S&W M15 Combat Revolver - in 2019. The M15 had been retired decades ago as a regular service sidearm, but was still being used in certain training exercises and programs. Pretty cool-looking handgun.
8 comments:
So now you'll have to find a surplus S&W M15 Combat Revolver? Ha, you've probably already started the search. My dream gun is an AR chambered in 338 Lapua. I even wrote Palmetto and asked them if they had a large caliber lower in the works, sadly no. No way am I forking 5,000 for a rifle.
Well, I kinda sorta wouldn't mind having one.
$5,000 is a very large sum for a rifle. I'd be afraid of dropping it or something.
Do you do competition shooting, by any chance?
No competition for me, strictly recreation. I'd maybe pop for 11 or 1200 for a big rifle but that's about it. My AR10's with 20" stainless barrels cost me between 6 and 700 bucks so there's no way I'd pay more than 1200 for the next size up. I really enjoy 223 and 308 and that will always be the bulk of my shooting.
I love S&W's triggers in single action. You almost just have to breathe on them.
The new ones need a stronger pull, but it's still just about a millimeter pull length.
On the post about Remington there was discussion about them discontinuing ARs, Colt just re-started civilian AR production.
There's money in them black rifles.
Yeah, I just saw that Colt was renewing manufacture of ARs for the civilian market. Pretty cool.
I don't have a lot to go on with respect to S&W's, but, man, you are so right about the trigger. Really love it.
I remember the S&W Model 10-5 I was issued when I joined the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. I always had to use it double action and it was so tough I almost sprained my finger every time I went through the qualification course. the Model 64s that replaced it were much better.
Never did much damage with my airforce issue S&W 38 revolvers but had a lot more success with a pair these: https://tinyurl.com/y72mzvma
Nashville Beat! Good to hear from you. Hope everything is going well out west. I regret that I do not remember what kind of gun my father carried as an ATF officer. When I was young, I do recollect that he routinely carried a snub-nose revolver, but I don't know if it was a Colt or a S&W.
Skeeter: an ADEN cannon? Sweet! That's for getting the job done quickly, no time for messing around.
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