PART -I: They don't make them like this any more ....

[JimSig]

.... So recently I got to know from my brother in law the names of the guns that my father in law used to have back in the days.. We narrowed it down to the make and model as much as my BIL could remember. One of the guns that he remembered vividly was a SW model 38 special with a 4 in barrel. He couldn't tell me if it was an M&P model or a model 10 variant. But he was able to describe what he calls a skinny barrel (that's the pencil barrel), a smalle grip than today's L frames and that it was blued and had a blade front sight.. We estimated that it had to be a model 10 variant given the period of ownership. My FIL passed back in 1986. So I was on the hunt to get a model 10 and finally found this nice gun that was shipped to the MI FFL from Minnesota. It was in a much better shape than I expected.. The blueing is very deep, and the wheel is tight with no play and the timing is 100% correct. As I cleaned the gun (really it was clean but I wanted to examine it closely and make sure it is lubed properly) I was amazed by the workmanship quality of such a time piece of the history.

I have two other revolvers a mid 1980s SW 686 4in and a 2016 SW 686 pro series that I like and they are nicely built, But this model 10-5 is something else, it is from an era of SW perfection. Evrything about it says it was handcrafted by experienced gunsmiths.. I am really glad I made the decision to buy it and keep it in the family as a memory of my FIL...

Here are some pictures..