What does it mean?

[Colt Smith]

Ok, I know you guys can help with this one. I brought home two "new" Smiths today. They both needed a good cleaning. I started with the model 10 Police trade-in. Good honest wear but overall decent shape. Basic finish wear some nicks, etc. So when I came across a small punch mark right in the center of the forward bottom corner of the frame opening I thought it was just a nick. It looks like a small punch mark made with a sharp round tool like an awl/ice pick etc.. Ok, finished cleaning and moved on to the second revolver. This one is a minty 15-3. It had a lot of residual fouling in the chambers and bore so I began cleaning. Then I noticed the same punch mark in the same place and I became very curious. I checked my 19-6 snubby but it didn't have it. All three guns came from different sources. Can somebody tell me the significance of the punch mark on the M10 and M15?

 

[ArchAngelCD]

right in the center of the forward bottom corner of the frame opening

I'm confused as to what that means. Can you post a picture?

 

[madcratebuilder]

Could it be from a rockwell hardness test?

 

[crebralfix]

I bet that nick is where someone tried to pry up the side plate. The trick is to tap the base of the grip on that side so it pops off. Jerry Miculek's DVD demonstrates this technique and he shows you how to clean the whole gun. I recommend you get this DVD and just clean the internals as shown. It will also give you a chance to inspect the guns for worn parts.

 

[Colt Smith]

I'll post pics later if I can but the marks appear in the center of the frame thickness not by an edge. It doesn't look like an attempt was made to pry anything apart. It's not in a location where parts meet. Imagine the revolver with the crane closed and the cylinder locked in place. Picture the forward face surface of the cylinder and follow the edge downward to the very bottom 6 O'clock position. Now find the bottom corner of the frame opening just in front of the 6 O'clock point on the cylinder. Now, in that corner or nook in the center of that edge, not by any joining parts, is a small punch mark as described earlier. It's only a single stroke punch, meaning it doesn't look like there was a sustained effort to pry or scratch or dig in that area. They hit it and quit it. It might be from a test like the Rockwell test as was suggested by madcratebuilder. As for me, I wasn't trying to take any side plates off. I don't do any of that to my revolvers as I am not qualified to do that work. I only do basic cleaning and removing grips is as far as I go. Was Rockwell testing done to many revolvers in the production run or a few here and there? Is the test done with a device that punches a tool into the frame?

 

[rcmodel]

About half my S&W's have it.

That ranges from a 1950 Target .44 Spl, up to a Model 66 Stainless.
My 625-6 stainless doesn't.

My 49 has it, and my 36 from the same year doesn't.

I have always believe it is a Rockwell Hardness test done on some guns, but not all of them.
For some reason known only to S&W.

rcmodel

 

[Colt Smith]

Interesting. Thanks.

 

[chriske]

I know axactly what you mean : some of my S&W guns have that exact same "nick", some others don't.
I don't worry about them ( I'm sure you don't either), but I have no idea what they are or why they're there.