Truth be told, I like my Model 94 Trapper better than the Marlin. It's a personal preference thing. BUT the Marlin Project was fun.
So I started looking around for a project gun and happened to run across J&G Sales in Prescott, AZ. They had a Featured gun .. "Smith & Wesson 10 Revolver, 38 Special, No Barrel, Round Butt, GSS, CAI Mark, Used, S&W."
The more I looked at it the more I decided I would try it out. Have never tinkered with S&W's (other than shooting them) I figured it would be a good project. So I ordered one! Within a couple days it was here!
The frame was marked by whoever had it in the foreign country and by Century Arms who imported it back in the US. I was told the "JP" stood for "Jabatan Polis" which is Malaysian for "Police Department" according to Google Translate. The gun showed lack of care, but probably had not been fired much. There was no end shake and it locked up tightly.
Though it had been a 2" barrel gun originally (see the short extractor rod?) I decided I wanted a 4" Heavy Barrel. Scouting around the internet I found what I wanted from Numrich Gun Parts. Changing to a longer barrel meant changing the extractor rod to the longer one and I found a new one at a decent price from Midway USA. The barrel had been stripped which meant that I had to buy the locking plunger that locks the extractor rod. Also I had to buy the spring and the retaining pin. Again Numrich had those. And I had to buy the longer center pin that releases the extractor lock when you push the cylinder release. I ordered a set of grips as the wood grips were beat and cracked. I figure by the time I am done I will have $350 to $380 in it.
I lucked out in fitting the barrel. It fit almost perfectly. To make sure it was crush fit tight I raised the metal on the barrel where it goes against the frame about .010". I had to remove a few thousandths off the breech end of the barrel as it was slightly dragging the cylinder.
Overall it came together rather easily.
Because the frame was originally a 2" round barrel, the heavy 4" barrel does not line up with the top strap as on a standard S&W. If a gunsmith was doing this to build a "sales" gun or one for a customer it would probably be an issue. For me, this will be a "truck gun" and I don't mind it.
Putting it together I figure it came out pretty well.
I have only run about 150 rounds through it but it seems I got the barrel lined up fairly well. I have loaded some ammo with different bullets and loads will see what it likes.
So far I am happy with it.
