Hawk
Member
Surely not.
It was a "rescue mission" sort of bling with what appeared to be "real" engraving, nasty, nasty nickle with stuff growing on it and fake ivory stocks with somebody else's initials carved in the right hand stock. Sounds lovely, enh?
Oddly enough, it was trussed up like a Christmas turkey with two separate chastity belts, priced what seemed appropriate for something other than a S&W factory custom and came complete with box, proctologist's gloves and warnings not to handle thing, all suspiciously bereft of S&W trademark on any of the paperwork. There was also a goodly collection of Colt papers in the box - one can only assume someone was matching up paraphernalia for a sale and got a bit confused.
So naturally I buy it, thinking I'll clean it up, have it re-nickled and turn it into a BBQ gun. / light duty shooter.
So's, off comes the chastity belts and I attack the thing with great gusto, Flitz and a quarter pound of shotgun cleaning patches. Hours later it gradually becomes apparent it wasn't nickle - it was sterling silver and did what silver does when ignored for long stretches - it tarnishes. When one cleans it, it shines up such that I don't know if I can photo the thing or not and I cover the mess with Ren Wax so it won't tarnish in the next half hour.
So now I'm wondering what to do with the beast.
1. I assume that my removing the cable ties to get rid of the tarnish blew whatever collectibilty it had. Somehow, putting the wire ties back on just doesn't seem honest.
2. Once I cipher that it's silver, the Standard Catalog has a listing that fits - something S&W made 100 of for the American Historical Foundation. I don't know anything about this firm but assume it's one of those places that gets Billy Mays to advertise commemoratives on late night cable. Hence the attractive pricing.
3. I'm guessing silver is a pee-poor choice for a real finish and even light shooting is "out" unless I get it nickled.
Oh yeah, the "somebody else's initials" looked like CSP but are actually GSP - the thing was once a George S. Patton commemorative 586 from around 1994. There were 100 bling and another 900 sorta bling, or thereabouts.
So, what I'm looking for is confirmation that an AHF release isn't collectible or, if it ever was, removal of the cable ties killed it and I won't cause anyone to stroke out by having it nickled for mild use.
TIA. I'll try to take pics again but this thing is shiny now.
It was a "rescue mission" sort of bling with what appeared to be "real" engraving, nasty, nasty nickle with stuff growing on it and fake ivory stocks with somebody else's initials carved in the right hand stock. Sounds lovely, enh?
Oddly enough, it was trussed up like a Christmas turkey with two separate chastity belts, priced what seemed appropriate for something other than a S&W factory custom and came complete with box, proctologist's gloves and warnings not to handle thing, all suspiciously bereft of S&W trademark on any of the paperwork. There was also a goodly collection of Colt papers in the box - one can only assume someone was matching up paraphernalia for a sale and got a bit confused.
So naturally I buy it, thinking I'll clean it up, have it re-nickled and turn it into a BBQ gun. / light duty shooter.
So's, off comes the chastity belts and I attack the thing with great gusto, Flitz and a quarter pound of shotgun cleaning patches. Hours later it gradually becomes apparent it wasn't nickle - it was sterling silver and did what silver does when ignored for long stretches - it tarnishes. When one cleans it, it shines up such that I don't know if I can photo the thing or not and I cover the mess with Ren Wax so it won't tarnish in the next half hour.
So now I'm wondering what to do with the beast.
1. I assume that my removing the cable ties to get rid of the tarnish blew whatever collectibilty it had. Somehow, putting the wire ties back on just doesn't seem honest.
2. Once I cipher that it's silver, the Standard Catalog has a listing that fits - something S&W made 100 of for the American Historical Foundation. I don't know anything about this firm but assume it's one of those places that gets Billy Mays to advertise commemoratives on late night cable. Hence the attractive pricing.
3. I'm guessing silver is a pee-poor choice for a real finish and even light shooting is "out" unless I get it nickled.
Oh yeah, the "somebody else's initials" looked like CSP but are actually GSP - the thing was once a George S. Patton commemorative 586 from around 1994. There were 100 bling and another 900 sorta bling, or thereabouts.
So, what I'm looking for is confirmation that an AHF release isn't collectible or, if it ever was, removal of the cable ties killed it and I won't cause anyone to stroke out by having it nickled for mild use.
TIA. I'll try to take pics again but this thing is shiny now.
