Picked up an old school S&W 10-8

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bdb benzino

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I have always wanted one of the older pinned and recessed S&W's, my father has some but I only have a newer 686+, which I love and a couple of Taurus snubbies, that I have also come to love.

I have been on the lookout for a nice revolver to fit the "old school" bill for a while, and today at my LGS I found a semi-worn, but not so fired 4" blued model 10-8 , It appeared to have been stored in a bad enviroment for the finish, but mechanicaly it is rock solid. I am going to have it reblued any way so not a big deal for me. :D
I only had time for around 40 rounds but it shot 125gr 38+p JHP well, and very accurate as I thought it would.
How do all you guys feel about the model 10 and do you enjoy yours?
 
Shoot a 10-5 after passing on a lot of them in shops. I prefer the pencil barrel to the heavier bull barrels. Light and easy to manage. Even the girls love these things.
 
I carried a 10-8 for two years as an armed security officer doing entrance security at a federal courthouse. It is a great revolver and more accurate than I am. I still have it and enjoy it on the range. If for some reason it were the only gun I could keep I would not feel out gunned with it. Glad I can keep more than one. Your 125gr. SJHP 38 Spec+P load is the same load we were require to carry. It is a very accurate load.
 
I have a model 10 4 inch. This is my home defense revolver. I have the revolver loaded with 158gr LSWCHP +Ps. A 4 inch model 10 will shoot POA with 158gr ammo. I shoot ragged holes at my range with mine using 158gr double action at 10yds. By far the revolver I shoot the best and I trust my life with it.

Enough said,
roaddog28
 
Have 2 Model 10 Smiths, one pencil barrel and one heavy barrel. These guns are probably the most fun to shoot out of all my Smiths.
 
I must admit that the trigger on this 10-8 is probably the best of me or my fathers revolvers, incredibly smooth!! My dad's 66-1 is a close second for sweet triggers.
When firing all six rounds in a fairly fast manner, I found this pistol to be quick for follow uip shots and right off the bat I could keep all my shots some what close together.

Its odd, when I first started collecting pistols I was into hi-cap 9mm's and Glock 40's, now I don't even have a pistol with a capacity over 11. I seem to be moved by single stack semi-auto's and revolvers these days, and if its polymer in my pants its a Kahr!
 
I've got a 5" nickel plated 10-5 with Detroit Police Dept. on the backstrap. It shoots very good. When I get my mom to the range it's the only one she wants to shoot. She's in her 80s.
 
I have a 10-8, my inheritance revolver from my stepfather. It will go to my son when I croak, too. It is very accurate and reliable, and like others said, if I was restricted to just it, with my preferreed Winchester 158gr LSWCHP, I wouldn't feel underarmed at all. I have leather and speedloaders around, just in case. :)


easydoesit.jpg
 
I've got this 10-7...

DSC_0003-1.jpg

It's accurate, very tame with 158 gr. LRN and a joy to shoot.
 
I stopped by a local gun shop this afternoon to see if they had any old Smiths. The guy pulled out a nickel model 10-8 that had me drooling! It locked up tight, had a smooth trigger, and the finish was nearly flawless - you could barely see a turn line on the cylinder. Price is $369. I'm thinkin'...I'm thinkin'...
 
Is the 10-8 the first year they put the bull barrel on?? Or was it offered both ways for a number of years?
From everyone's responses it seems that this model has a place with a lot of THR members.

Man I would have been all over that nickel one for $370, I paid a little less than $300 but mine is not flawless, but it is solid and lockup is sweet!
 
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Don't think for too long Rainbowbob. From the swap meet prices I saw two weekends ago at Munroe just up the road from you that's a darned fair price for one in great shape. The swap meet blued ones with some holster wear were tagged with higher prices than that by more than a little.

I got my own blued 6" Model 10 a few months back. Shoots nice and it's a joy to behold but I didn't have "the right" ammo for it. About 3 weeks ago I finally got set up for reloading and coincidentally tripped over a deal on a big box of .38 reloading supplies. About 3500 bullets, lots of Bullseye powder and 3300 primers. I got into reloading and shot my test batches of 148 HBWC's, 140gn DEWC and some 158gn truncated cone semi wad cutters. The loads for all are set now and I've made a few ice cream buckets full. The old girl shoots nice tight groups almost without serious effort on my part. Plans call for using it at my club's Speed Steel shoots this summer along with my Model 19.

My old Model 19 came with hogue grips and some really badly marked up wooden target grips. I've been carving down the old wood ones to suit my grip for the Model 10 and it's feeling really nice now. It's drying off it's third coat of stock oil just now but I'll see if I can mount them up and snap a picture of it for the Model 10 fraternity.
 
How do all you guys feel about the model 10 and do you enjoy yours?
Click to expand...

Love 'em. I own a couple of Model 10 cousins, the adjustable sight Model 15 (one a 2", the other a 4"). Though I technically do not own a Model 10, I do own a pre-Model 10 5 screw, specifically a 6" Military & Police Transitional Model, made in or around 1947. As for refinishing, it would have to be in pretty rough shape for me to reblue, but that's just me. Got pictures?

Anyway, here's my pre-10. Group was shot at 7 yards, DA 2 hand hold slow fire using 148 grain wadcutters propelled by 3.2 grains of W231. Superb shooting gun, well worth the $300 I paid for it last month.


DSC07051.jpg


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Nice guns. My grandfather had a perfect condition S&W Model 10-5, complete with the original blue box, and it passed to my family when he died. We haven't fired it since then, but I've replaced the ancient junk bare lead hardball ammo in it with new Speer .38 SPL +P 125-grain Gold Dot Hollowpoints. I did discover a surprise in the blue box, though: along with the gun was a bag of CCI .38 shotshells. I can only venture a guess that he bought them as snake-shot. My parents use that for their bedside gun, although I otherwise don't really know what to do with it. All our other revolvers (with the exception of an old aluminum S&W Model 38 Airweight that can't even take +P) are .357, so it's kind of an oddball. It could easily be carried concealed, but I have a Makarov for that. There's just no defined purpose for it other than what they use it for.
 
Picked up a model 10-8 4 inch heavy barrel at a gun show a couple of years ago, one of those service weapon trade-ins. Looks like crap but is mechanically solid. I love the thing and it's my bedside gun loaded with 125 gr +P ammo. That's probably more than needed for house distances and will explore a standard load at some point. I like the balance of the heavy barrel over the pencil style, but that's just personal preference. It came with some oversized rubber grips which I replaced with original style wooden grips. That made it more comfortable for my wife with her small hands.

I have a K-38 for "serious" target work but the model 10 is my favorite plinking centerfire. It's also the one I use when teaching newcomers the basics of centerfire handgun shooting.

BCRider: Congrats on the reloading find. Reloading adds to my enjoyment of the shooting hobby. With two 38 specials and five different 357 magnums it lets me shoot a lot more than I could with store bought ammo. Those 148 gr. wadcutters with a little Bullseye are inexpensive, accurate and just plain fun to shoot. And the brass from those target loads lasts a LONG time.

BTW, a member of our gun club shoots action pistol on the state and national levels. Although he uses fancy autos now, he started out with a model 10 and said that's where he learned the trigger control and other basics that help him now.

This may be a figment of my aging memory, but wasn't there a Model 10 Club thread on the forum at one time?

Jeff
 
I guess I'm just too old. I have never thought of a M10-8 as old school. That's damn near a new gun. This is old school.

late twenties 4th change target model.
4thchange01.jpg

Same thing just older and a little fancier.
MP02.jpg

This K38 just makes it into "old school" to me.
k3804.jpg
 
Mod 10-5 2". Mod 10-9 4". Mod 10-7 4". Mod 19-5 2 1/2". Sorry...The 19 slipped in there.:D

No! I "hate" model 10s...:evil:

For general target shooting, self defence and just plain duribility/versitility (.38 Special and +P). Hands down, it's hard to beat the Mod 10.
 
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Don't own a M10.....yet! But in 1978 got a steal of a deal on its stainless cousin from a gunshop north of Ft Knox, an NIB M64 with 4-inch heavy barrel. 125 grain plated or jacketed or lead slugs pushed by 4.9 grains of Unique...enough authority if needed, and plenty of accuracy and fun all the time!
 
That is about as fine a collection of revolvers as I've ever seen, Madcratebuilder. Beautiful. By chance, have you applied Renaissance wax or some similar treatment? The finish is exquisite.
 
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