- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
- Messages
- 4,793
Hey guys,
Wanted to relate a recent event and ask you to check my thoughts on fixing it. Just picked up a perfect S&W K-38 Masterpiece with the original box as part of a knives + cash for guns deal. (A pre-Model 14 K-38 4".)
Break it out separately and I only paid about $225 for it, so I was very pleased. He told me it was from his Dad, and was dated from 1947, but I checked Fjestad's and inside the crane and there is a version marking there, so I know it had to have been made after 1958.
With the box and gowithits accessories it all came with and everything I'm putting it at late 50's so. It's in phenomenal condition, and I was so pumped at the deal I wasn't paying enough attention. Cylinder and grip frame have matching serial #'s, ribbed barrel, perfect original square butt target grips, there wasn't even a pall drag line on the cylinder! Locks up like a bank vault, and sweet 3 lb. SA letoff. Blueing was perfect all around. I'd bet $100 it has never been fired.
So I do the deal and get it all signed over and get it home, and am showing it to my son who only knows autoloaders, and he asks "What's the 'K' on the bottom of the grip frame stand for?" I told him it was because it was a K-Frame Smith.
So then he asks, "OK, then, what's the 'B' on the frame behind the trigger guard stand for?"
"B"?? WTH? I put on my reading glasses and there right where your middle finger would lie behind the trigger is a poorly engraved "B" made by some fool with a Dremel! Aaagggh!
I swear, a freakin' _perfect_ 50+ year old S&W and some MORON carved the first initial of his last name into it! If the old owner wasn't already dead I'd kill him I swear (preferably with a Dremel!)
My son tells me to just let it go, you got a great shooter for a good price, so relax and enjoy it, but I can't. I'm too damned picky for my own good I guess.
I don't think a gunsmith could do much better, but I'm going to try and polish it out with a kratex bit and then I'll have to heat it up a bit and try and cold blue the spot. I've used both Oxpho-Blue for bright blue finishes, and Brownell's 44-40 for darker more matte blues, and this looks like the latter. Trouble is, the kratex bit turns everything it hits into glass, which is why it's perfect for triggers and feed ramps, etc. The finish on this one is a matte blue, so I don't know how close I can get it.
Bottom line, is it will never probably blend 100% with the old finish, but I can't stand seeing that stupid "B" scrawled into the frame!
If anyone has advice on the best way to go about this I'd appreciate it.
If I was going to re-sell this I don't think I'd do it, but this will be a great little shooter.
Funny thing, I had never heard of a K-38 with anything but a 6" barrel, but this is a 4". Was hoping for the 6, but this would be the perfect pistol to transition beginning shooters to a larger and heavier L-frame .357.
Later,
Norm
Wanted to relate a recent event and ask you to check my thoughts on fixing it. Just picked up a perfect S&W K-38 Masterpiece with the original box as part of a knives + cash for guns deal. (A pre-Model 14 K-38 4".)
Break it out separately and I only paid about $225 for it, so I was very pleased. He told me it was from his Dad, and was dated from 1947, but I checked Fjestad's and inside the crane and there is a version marking there, so I know it had to have been made after 1958.
With the box and gowithits accessories it all came with and everything I'm putting it at late 50's so. It's in phenomenal condition, and I was so pumped at the deal I wasn't paying enough attention. Cylinder and grip frame have matching serial #'s, ribbed barrel, perfect original square butt target grips, there wasn't even a pall drag line on the cylinder! Locks up like a bank vault, and sweet 3 lb. SA letoff. Blueing was perfect all around. I'd bet $100 it has never been fired.
So I do the deal and get it all signed over and get it home, and am showing it to my son who only knows autoloaders, and he asks "What's the 'K' on the bottom of the grip frame stand for?" I told him it was because it was a K-Frame Smith.
So then he asks, "OK, then, what's the 'B' on the frame behind the trigger guard stand for?"
"B"?? WTH? I put on my reading glasses and there right where your middle finger would lie behind the trigger is a poorly engraved "B" made by some fool with a Dremel! Aaagggh!
I swear, a freakin' _perfect_ 50+ year old S&W and some MORON carved the first initial of his last name into it! If the old owner wasn't already dead I'd kill him I swear (preferably with a Dremel!)
My son tells me to just let it go, you got a great shooter for a good price, so relax and enjoy it, but I can't. I'm too damned picky for my own good I guess.
I don't think a gunsmith could do much better, but I'm going to try and polish it out with a kratex bit and then I'll have to heat it up a bit and try and cold blue the spot. I've used both Oxpho-Blue for bright blue finishes, and Brownell's 44-40 for darker more matte blues, and this looks like the latter. Trouble is, the kratex bit turns everything it hits into glass, which is why it's perfect for triggers and feed ramps, etc. The finish on this one is a matte blue, so I don't know how close I can get it.
Bottom line, is it will never probably blend 100% with the old finish, but I can't stand seeing that stupid "B" scrawled into the frame!
If anyone has advice on the best way to go about this I'd appreciate it.
If I was going to re-sell this I don't think I'd do it, but this will be a great little shooter.
Funny thing, I had never heard of a K-38 with anything but a 6" barrel, but this is a 4". Was hoping for the 6, but this would be the perfect pistol to transition beginning shooters to a larger and heavier L-frame .357.
Later,
Norm
. I say enjoy it and you can later tell your grandkids a story called "B. I hate you!"
