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Thread: Anyone bought a French LEO Model 10?

  1. #11
    Member JonInWA's Avatar
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    Feb 2011
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    The Trausch grips, that is! Best, Jon

  2. #12
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Jenks View Post
    I just ordered one, I’ll update when it gets in.
    I am very tempted. Sure, they look like they’ve been stored in a dead man’s ass, but I bet the trigger and lock up is still great. I’d love to have C&S dovetail in a 14k gold bead front, hog out the rear (non like it’ll hurt the finish), and then run it as is. Probably be under 5 bills for a wheelie with awesome sights that can get thrown around in pea gravel duting ECQC evos, with total abandon.
    ”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB

  3. #13
    Site Supporter S Jenks's Avatar
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    Jan 2012
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    Live Free or Die
    It will definitely be a project gun...what that entails has yet to be determined.

  4. #14
    Site Supporter S Jenks's Avatar
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    Jan 2012
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    Live Free or Die
    Ok, where to start?

    Gun is a 10-8 square butt, pinned barrel. I’m still a revolver novice so let me know if I miss anything.

    The bad:

    “Stored in a dead man’s ass” covers it pretty well. Mine is pitted beyond belief. The worst is the underside of the trigger guard, it looks like cottage cheese. The screws have been pulled with an ill-fitting screwdriver.

    The cylinder gap is the only mechanical issue I could find. According to my cheap-o feeler set it measures 0.015”. I know that’s way out of spec for a new gun, is this one ok to shoot?

    The Trausch grips are getting tacky, as if the rubber is starting to decompose. They make the gun feel like an old single action as they push your dominant hand further from the trigger and hammer. Different. Oh yeah, they smell faintly like cigarette smoke.

    The good:

    Timing appears healthy when I cock the hammer while putting resistance against the cylinder (this is my one issue with the Australian M10 I purchased from Buds a few years ago, the timing is starting to go).

    Endshake and cylinder play appear normal.

    Barrel hasn’t been scrubbed out yet but appears to have healthy rifling. No issues with the crown.

    No issues with the ejector rod being bent, no apparent cracks in the forcing cone.

    Cocked hammer holds fast when forward pressure is applied to it.

    Trigger pull feels like a classic K frame should - as in better than my newish 686+ PC.

    No rust on the internals. I’ve pulled the sideplate but haven’t taken out the innards yet, but everything appears fine at first glance.

    “Shot little but carried a lot” or maybe “shot little but dragged behind a Renault a lot” could sum it up. There are a few import/proof marks and I’ll try to post pics in the next day or so. Anything else I should be looking for, aside from actually shooting it?

  5. #15
    Member
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    Oct 2018
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    Mid-Atlantic
    Anyone else picked one of these up?

  6. #16
    Site Supporter
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    Sep 2017
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    South Louisiana
    @S Jenks - Update?

    FWIW, I've got a 10-8 and it doesn't have a pinned barrel. Yours could easily be explained by it being an early-production one that used a left-over 10-6 frame, or maybe it was specced that way by the agency that ordered it.

    I hope yours is as accurate as mine - mine thinks it's a match gun, it gave <2" groups at 25 yards when I could see the sights better than now.

  7. #17
    Site Supporter S Jenks's Avatar
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    Jan 2012
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    Live Free or Die
    Quote Originally Posted by revchuck38 View Post
    @S Jenks - Update?
    Unfortunately no, things have been busy between work and the holidays. As soon as I get to the range I’ll post results.

  8. #18
    Site Supporter
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    Mar 2015
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    Central Virginia
    Quote Originally Posted by S Jenks View Post
    Ok, where to start?

    Gun is a 10-8 square butt, pinned barrel. I’m still a revolver novice so let me know if I miss anything.

    The bad:

    “Stored in a dead man’s ass” covers it pretty well. Mine is pitted beyond belief. The worst is the underside of the trigger guard, it looks like cottage cheese. The screws have been pulled with an ill-fitting screwdriver.

    The cylinder gap is the only mechanical issue I could find. According to my cheap-o feeler set it measures 0.015”. I know that’s way out of spec for a new gun, is this one ok to shoot?

    The Trausch grips are getting tacky, as if the rubber is starting to decompose. They make the gun feel like an old single action as they push your dominant hand further from the trigger and hammer. Different. Oh yeah, they smell faintly like cigarette smoke.

    The good:

    Timing appears healthy when I cock the hammer while putting resistance against the cylinder (this is my one issue with the Australian M10 I purchased from Buds a few years ago, the timing is starting to go).

    Endshake and cylinder play appear normal.

    Barrel hasn’t been scrubbed out yet but appears to have healthy rifling. No issues with the crown.

    No issues with the ejector rod being bent, no apparent cracks in the forcing cone.

    Cocked hammer holds fast when forward pressure is applied to it.

    Trigger pull feels like a classic K frame should - as in better than my newish 686+ PC.

    No rust on the internals. I’ve pulled the sideplate but haven’t taken out the innards yet, but everything appears fine at first glance.

    “Shot little but carried a lot” or maybe “shot little but dragged behind a Renault a lot” could sum it up. There are a few import/proof marks and I’ll try to post pics in the next day or so. Anything else I should be looking for, aside from actually shooting it?
    The barrel/cylinder gap is indeed excessive, but shootable. You will probably lose about 10% of your muzzle velocity. I have a mid-'70s M10 4" that has a .013 BCG that loses about 90 fps with 135 grain Gold Dots versus a M65 4" from the '90s that has a .004 BCG.

  9. #19
    Site Supporter S Jenks's Avatar
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    Jan 2012
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    Live Free or Die
    Quote Originally Posted by deputyG23 View Post
    The barrel/cylinder gap is indeed excessive, but shootable. You will probably lose about 10% of your muzzle velocity. I have a mid-'70s M10 4" that has a .013 BCG that loses about 90 fps with 135 grain Gold Dots versus a M65 4" from the '90s that has a .004 BCG.
    Good to know, thank you for sharing. Like I said I’m using this purchase to expand my (currently non-existent) knowledge when it comes to working on revolvers, nuggets of info like that are why I’m here.

    So I finally got it to the range this afternoon. Accuracy was as good as I could expect, meaning the gun outshoots me. I’m not the best bullseye shooter as I have a slight tremor in my hands. This is six rounds single action, off the bench without sandbags at 10 yards. I was using PPU 130 grain FMJ-



    At the end of my session I had one round left. I took aim at a 1” square at 10 yards and hit it just right of center. I’ll take that any day!

    The blast from the cylinder area was much more noticeable than from my 686+ PC snubbie, which has a cylinder gap of .005. For a comparison, my SW 637-2 is .005, my GP100 Wiley Clapp is .006, my SW 10-10 is .007, my SW 64-5 is .008.

    Here are some crappy cell phone pics showing just how beat she is-






  10. #20
    Site Supporter richiecotite's Avatar
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    Jul 2013
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    Woodbridge, VA

    Anyone bought a French LEO Model 10?

    Picked one up from my FFL today, got another one on layaway.

    Overall, very happy. A few freckles near the cylinder latch, but mostly worn finish. Bubba bobbed hammer. The trausch grips are stupid comfy and ergo like Jon mentioned, but it was muck city underneath them. Spent about 20 minutes cleaning the dried gunk off. Trigger is decent, endshake seems ok, timing is good. Going to take it out tomorrow and put a few rounds of handloads and 130 +p ranger.

    As mentioned, this thing has a bunch of import marks and other engravings/marks.





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    Last edited by richiecotite; 12-29-2018 at 05:50 PM.
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