Unloved; Bangity Ed.

A kind of gnarly-looking Smith & Wesson Model 10-7:

There were freckles of surface rust. Under the grips, there was bright orange rust. All the rust (or 99.44% of it) was scrubbed off with gun solvent and a copper pad.

The inside of the crane is fine, so the neglect apparently didn't reach to the internals. The timing is excellent. There is no endshake. The bore and chambers are in fine shape; the bore is bright and there is very little firing erosion in the chambers.

S&W began producing 10-7s in 1977. S&W stopped pinning barrels in 1982, so I have a five-year production window for the gun. Before the days of CCW permits, six-inch barrels were very popular for non-police purchasers. Most cop shops got away from 6" barrels in the early-mid 1960s,

My guess would be that somebody bought the gun, fired it a little, and then put it away. It then laid on a shelf in a workshop or basement until it got sold off in an estate sale or a nursing-home downsizing.

It'll be treated better and shot more often.