The guy who would know the history of these guns is William Bell.
The guy who would know the history of these guns is William Bell.
I had one each in 3" and 4"; foolishly sold a long time ago.
The first modification was the replacement of the of the firing pin bushing, and resulted in both of my CS-1s being stamped "M". From what I recall, the busing was replaced due to primer material occasionally flowing into the bushing/around the firing pin. The work was done at S&W; both guns shipped through my LGS who was a factory-certified S&W armorer.
I sold both guns either before the second recall/mod happened or I was not made aware of it.
The guns were very sensitive to powder under the extractor star. They did have excellent sights; some of the best that I recall having on a Smith revolver.
-Rainman
Just a Hairy Special Snowflake supply clerk with no field experience, shooting an Asymetric carbine as a Try Hard. Snarky and easily butt hurt. Favorite animal is the Cape Buffalo....likely indicative of a personality disorder.
"If I had a grandpa, he would look like Delbert Belton".
It may well have been. It had been issued to another agent before me and when he turned it in I asked for it to be issued to me. It was not without its warts, even after having been worked on earlier by a gunsmith (of unknown competence). That said, I'd have loved to have had the opportunity to own and address its faults on my own dime. C'est la vie and water long under the bridge now.
There's nothing civil about this war.
Yep, the "M" stamp is for the hammer nose bushing modification/recall that affected 686's, 681's, 586's, and 581's. S&W started incorporating the changes sometime during the run of CS-1's, so some got the "M" stamp at the factory, and some did not. Because of this, they all had to be sent to Glynco to be inspected (S&W sent personnel to Glynco to do this). The guns that did not have the hammer nose bushing modification got fixed and got the "M" stamp. Those that already had the "M" stamp got inspected and got the "2" stamp in front of the M.
There were 3,200 CS-1 overrun guns sold to the public. They shipped with the magna grips. Approximately 2,500 of the Customs guns were sold to the public through the Sales Exchange program before it was shut down. Those guns went back to the factory before they were sold to distributors.
Congrats - a GREAT revolver once the very early kinks were fixed. I owned & carried in anger both the 4" & 3" back when they were current items & they served me well. The 4" in particular saw 1000s of full house 125 JHPs shooting IPSC in duty gear - used to really unhinge my fellow competitors on adjacent stages if I was shooting simultaneously! I'd love to have a set of them again someday.
Ruger did have a limited production run of 3" Speed Sixes; that would be one of my grail revolvers. A 3" GP100 with adjustable sights (front plug-in, rear adjustable) is another grail; Ruger last year produced a limited run of them, too. Not that the OEM Ruger adjustable is a bad thing, but replacing it with one of Hamilton Bowen's Rough Country sight sets would make for a pretty rugged carry/concealment revolver...
Best, Jon
My LGS has a three inch stainless speed six. Let me know
A lot of those old CS 1s at FLETC are indeed still around as blank firing guns for role players. I have yet to see one as a SIM gun.
Sadly, many were cut in half and are were used as "trigger finger strength enhancers". When folks were having trouble with the 96D or DAK, the FIs would issue them a complete revolver grip and trigger lock work that had the barrel and cylinder cut off. They were also converted to DAO. So, a student on a break, or at their dorm room, could dry fire in DAO to their hears content.
(Oh, HCM, I signed the petition. We need to get that damn thing some circulation!)
Last edited by Gadfly; 01-05-2017 at 02:50 PM.
“A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.” - Shane