does anyone actually have a new Model 10?
Yep, I do, a 2004 vintage S&W Model 10. Think it's a 10-14 or something like that.
I bought it mainly out of simple curiosity, and partly because I thought I might eventually trade it to an older relative as a home defense gun.
My Model 10 has a pleasant, even, low-key finish, closer to matte black than to the sublime shiny blue of past S&Ws. However, I replaced the stock rubber grips (Butler Creek, I think) with a Hogue wooden grip and the resulting contrast of the warm auburn grips with black figure against the businesslike black gun frame is very handsome. I will note that although I swapped out the stock rubber grips for aesthetic reasons, they are functionally
excellent grips. Rubber is pretty firm, and the size and shape fit just right.
The revolver has very good balance in the hand. The heavy barrel adds a little extra weight but the .38+P gun is still lighter and handier than the typical 4" .357.
Box trigger was smooth, a little heavy, typical of new Smiths. Lockup is tight. The gun shoots very accurately over the fixed sights, and does not seem to have strong ammo preferences -- it gives good groups with 130 gr FMJ practice ammo, and it gives good groups with the "FBI load" 158 gr LSWCHP +P. Just differs slightly in elevation.
The bottom line is, Smith & Wesson is not slopping these things through, and is not treating their (until recently) only production blued gun like a stepchild. I like my little Model 10 enough that I took it to the gunsmith for an action job and general sweetening.
For additional perspective, Gun Tests magazine did a review of the current Model 10 a couple of years ago and said very positive things about it. They liked the trigger, liked the grips, got excellent groups, and overall thought you couldn't do much better for a high-quality handgun for a beginner.
I agree with Gun Tests. The current Model 10's niche is as a high-end starter handgun. It's well made and finished, easy to operate, dead reliable, big enough to tame recoil but small and light enough to fit most hands, comes with comfortable grips, and is accurate, thus fun to practice with at the range. Finally, six rounds of .38 +P hollowpoints is nothing to sneeze at, much better than many of the small autos out there, particularly with the effective new ammo designs like the Speer 135 gr "flying ashtray" Gold Dot .38s.
The fact that some gun store guys tend to steer new or petite shooters, especially women, to small, hard-to-shoot J-frames for home protection, rather than to the far more suitable Model 10, is one of the great mysteries of life.
For all my talk about "beginners" and "petite shooters," I wouldn't feel less well armed with this quietly competent, century-old design than I do with my adjustable-sighted, magnum-loving, up-to-date Ruger GP100. After all, I mostly stick to .38+P for defense in my .357 revolvers.
