I think that is Smith and Wesson had any sense, they would be making these types of 22 revolvers today. There is nothing like them. They now make only shadows of these superbly functioning and beautifully designed weapons.
Hello Teuthis
You struck a nerve with me on this subject and it is worth discussion. I am afraid we will never see this Happen. S&W has either dropped the Old processes or retired the real Factory workers who were Gun smiths not bean counters. The Bluing for one has been changed from the old fashioned carbona Blue to the newer Dip & Ship of todays world. With all the Government Regs. on hazordous Waste it would be far too risky to go back to it, or even consider it but there was not a more Deep black shinny Bluing in my mind.
The newer process later used in the 1980's and forward time span looks Blotchy and Lighter in color shade. All of the Internal action Parts were Hand Lapped and fitted until around The mid 1960's. They had Two Processes used on all Building of their revolvers but They dropped the soft fitting process which involved taking raw parts and making them fit as a rough fit on all their revolvers prior to the final Hard fitting process which involved Buffing, filing, and final fitting before final inspection.
This Soft fitting process is why we see the Older revolvers having serial numbers on the face of the cylinder, the rear of the extractor, the under side of the Barrel flat above the extractor cut out, the Bottom of the grip frame, the crane area on the main frame and even the right grips panel to insure during the final Hard fitting process all the original parts got back with the revolver they were fitted for as nothing had been standardized at that time and all the parts were hand fitted that were serial numbered.
This Process was time consuming and costly, but to me this Time span exhibited some of the smoothest actions and closest tollerences ever seen on any production revolvers, Bar None. The newer MIM Process used today saves a lot of time, wastes a lot less steel, and replaces many fine craftsman with machines doing all the work. Just the wood alone on these Early Pre-War S&W revolver's was all made in House and was Gorgeous as they used Carcassion Walnut which in essense was the Heart wood of fine Older Huge Black walnut trees, that never get close to that size before they are harvested today, so that style of Deep grain definition is not seen any more.
later they switched to a standard Black walnut, that to me, closely resembled a Grade Three 2X4 Purchased at home Depot as far as Grain definition and quality goes. This Carcassin Walnut had Heavy Pronounced Black streaks running through it, that gave the wood a striking contrast like no other wood used since. They even changed the Line's per inch of Checkering as a cost cutting measure. it took far more time to cut 18-21 Lines per inch in their grips than what replaced it as 12-14 Lines per inch.
We Later saw the Panels did not come close to Matched grain or color & Through time S&W found ways to cut labor costs as they are in business to Make money not attract collector Interest, so Sadly we will never see the Old process come back into play and even if they could we more than Likely could not afford to pay for it unless you were of course Bill Gate's in today's fast paced Care Free throw away world..
Revolver fanatic
