Mud puppy came home with me

[DeaconKC]

A sad little S&W Victory model came into the shop a couple weeks ago. The barrel was cut down to 2", the .38 S&W cylinder has been reamed to .38 Special and the piece de resistance, someone seems to have electro-pencilled their name or social security number into the frame and them "erased" it using the same method. Well, I will try to clean it up as much as possible and then touch up the reblue. Since it has no collector value left it will donate the lanyard ring to another S&W that is missing one.

[Baltimore Ed]

Looks like mine, also cut and rechambered. Poor things. Survive war only to come home only to get bubba'ed.

[Major 2]

I'd be all over that and maybe make a FITZ Special... cool project.

I made an offer on a mud puppy Combat Masterpiece beater, but the owner turned it down he said" it was his Granddads, and he would wall hang it."
It had a bent arbor and need some internal TLC , so I figured $200 in parts to make it go bang again.
Anymore that that and my offer = to much VS the value of the piece. 
So, when the owner declined, I was not broken hearted.

My LGS has Mod 19 2"er, mud puppyish, but I'll pass, consigner wants to much IMHO...beside Mod 19 is not so much a WOW gun project anyway.

[DeaconKC]

Roger, you might be onto something with the Fitz idea.

[Baltimore Ed]

Already Fitz'ed a pitted up Smith

[DeaconKC]

Oooooh! Dat's nnice!

[Major 2]

Here's that Mod 19 I mentioned, but it doesn't really flick my Bic

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

A sad little S&W Victory model came into the shop a couple weeks ago. The barrel was cut down to 2", the .38 S&W cylinder has been reamed to .38 Special...

Reaming a .38 S&W with a ,38 Spl reamer leaves an odd shaped chamber. The 38 S&W has a tapered case, wider at the base, so a fired .38 Spl case fired in it will have a wider bulge near the base. Not a safety issue, but if excessively sized too often might show up as an odd crack. It was often done, and if the fired cases get tossed, who cares.

[DeaconKC]

I have the dies to reload .38 S&W, so I am actually just thinking of using those in the gun.

[Earl Brasse]

I think you have a good idea with shooting the .38 S&W out of it Deacon.
Maybe measure the chamber throats & bore just for fun to see what might help that 2 incher give you all it can.
The gun looks pretty nice in the pics & looks like it will be a lot of fun.

Those electric pencils were sold to folks who figured they would never die or sell their stuff, lol.

Just a thought on lessening the marks,
Making sure to support the back side, gently tap the area back to flat. ( I used a tiny Jewelers hammer)
(the electric pencil usually raises the area around the "dots".)
Then use a stone or extra file diamond hone to blend the areas back to smooth.

I did this on a Winchester 1894 30 in WCF 2nd year production that someone used one of those infernal things on.
Without getting real heavy with it I was able to get about 2/3 of it to go away. (since the receiver had silvered out it was easier to blend it)
Ended up sort of like indistinct random dots.
Sold it years back, maybe should have kept that one although it was pretty tired as I remember.

[Pitspitr]

I'd be all over that and maybe make a FITZ Special... cool project.

I made an offer on a mud puppy Combat Masterpiece beater, but the owner turned it down he said" it was his Granddads, and he would wall hang it."
It had a bent arbor and need some internal TLC , so I figured $200 in parts to make it go bang again.
Anymore that that and my offer = to much VS the value of the piece. 
So, when the owner declined, I was not broken hearted.

My LGS has Mod 19 2"er, mud puppyish, but I'll pass, consigner wants to much IMHO...beside Mod 19 is not so much a WOW gun project anyway.

OMG! Someone did that to a "Masterpiece?" The offender needs beat over the head with it!

[DeaconKC]

A surefire way to get thrown out of my LGS is to "snap" the cylinder shut on a revolver...

[DeaconKC]

Okay, update time. The "engraving" had gone pretty deep and even raised some sharp edges above the surface. Had to first smooth the raised edges, which was done with some small needle files. Then I tried to smooth as much of the below surface area with just sandpaper. Worked through several grits, finally finishing up with 400 grit. Turns out this is actually smoother than the bead blasting done when built. Anyway, then touched it up with some cold blue and with a little oil and TLC the little bugger looks somewhat better.
Still thinking about a Fitz, except the hammer still has really nice color case left on it and I hate to bob it because it's so nice.

[Major 2]

I keep my eyes open for project like that.
   still occasionally drool uncontrollably, but have pretty much don't lust anymore...
I have avoided all the old haunts like Gun broker and the such....
  Fraud & malpractice is the main reason, not to mention the stiff prices, shipping, FFL transfers etc.

My frendly LGS is about the only vice of acquisition I use anymore... and even then, I have to be selective and frugal.

[Tornado]

Looks good Deacon.

[DeaconKC]

Well, started the Fitzing this morning. Basic cuts done, now just file work to make everything look nicer. I may have some grooves cut into the top of the hammer as that way the old timers would be able to partly cock the hammer, then catch it so they could get a single action shot off if needed, but that will be down the road.

[Major 2]

I like it    A LOT

[DeaconKC]

Well, it may get some more attention down the road, but for right now I'm calling it good. I don't think I will try to have grooves cut in the hammer top as it just won't work. Anyway some file and sandpaper work, some Oxphoblue and oil and it looks okay. I like the little beast.