[Atticus]

To recap- The hammer stud gave way in June. Sent to Cylinder and Slide (C&S) to evaluate. The smith at C&S found several other problems, including an improperly cut barrel (cut at an angle), and a handfull of other more minor problems. I decided to fix those problems and convert it to roundbutt as well, since it had to be re-blued anyway. The whole deal was costing about as much as the gun was worth, but I really like the gun and I have a fair amount of money in it already. I was told a month ago that it would be done in about a month.... i.e. now. Called today and the smith said he hadn't started on it yet, but would get to it soon. OK.. no biggie...smith's are like that...and they originally told me 4 months anyway. Then reality set in... and I really began to feel that this whole repair thing had gotten out of hand. The guy at C&S literally told me 3 months ago that he really didn't want to fix it anyway. "Those hammer pins are a real pain in the ....". Anyway...I have better things to do with $400 right now. So...I called C&S back and asked them to ship my gun (in pieces) back to me. They said gladly...we'll mail it manana.

My dilemma now is...what the heck can I do with this thing (or the parts of this thing)? Cosmetically it is like new - beautiful bluing, pinned barrel, recessed cylinder, etc, etc. I've never been in this situation with a gun that cost me more than $50. Ya just can't toss a $400 gun.

Should I hold on to it for now and send it off to S&W someday when I feel like I need to double my investment in it.. haha?

Or....is there some way that I could utilize the parts in an efficient and productive way (everything but the frame) (get the barrel re-cut) ?.

I'm not gonna sell it, or toss it...(at least not for awhile).

Have you been in a similar situation, where the repair costs exceed the value of the gun. What did you do?

[Old Fuff]

Been there, done that ......

The only reason I can think of for putting more money into a gun then the gun's market value is if you like it very, very much, and you plan to have it customized into something special, "just for you."

If it were mine I think I'd return it to S&W to have the hammer stud replaced, AND NOTHING ELSE. This I presume wouldn't be too expensive.

When it was returned I'd do one of two things. (1) Sell it, as a fully functional gun even though it wasn't perfect. Unfortunately one doesn't see too many perfect guns these days. (2) I would put it away, and someday when I decided I wanted a cost-be-d---ed, special-gun-for-me I'd get it out of the safe and think up a project.

Correctly done, setting back the barrel and refacing it square shouldn't require refinishing. Other work, such as converting it to a round-butt might. On the other hand you might come on a RB/2 1/2" that you could rebarrel with your 4" one. The 2 1/2" barrel could be mounted an the SB frame and then sold to help finance the project. I can see some interesting possibilities.

[C.R.Sam]

Been thinkin on this problem for a couple days.

Old Fuff came up with better than anything I had thought of.

Sam

[Atticus]

"If it were mine I think I'd return it to S&W to have the hammer stud replaced, AND NOTHING ELSE."

That's what I'm leaning towards. The gun was a good shooter (real good even) prior to the hammer stud snapping. I'm certainly no expert, but the things that were noted by C&S went un-noticed by me. It looked tight, felt tight, and the cylinder/barrel gap was acceptable - although I didn't check it at the top and bottom of each chamber. I told my story to S&W at noon, and they also questioned the need to re-blue the gun. I've got one of their Fed Ex labels at home already...so that's what I'll probably do. I can live with a square butt and any slight imperfections in the blueing....for awhile anyway. Thanks Gents!