Had a pair of old 'Smiths out to the range this morning, with my standard "retired revolver" 38spl load, a 148gr HBWC over Trail Boss (ran out of Bullseye years back when loading this batch) for a sedate 650fps. The big guy is a S&W 38/44 Outdoorsman, and the little brother is an M&P. Both have honest wear but lots of life left in them, and the actions are factory smooth still after 72 years. Both shot well double action, though I do need to put a Tyler-T adapter on the Outdoorsman to help anchor my grip. The sights on the M&P are miserable, but at 5 yards double action I had no trouble keeping all my rounds inside the 9-ring of a B-8 repair center; the Outdoorsman's sights are quite nice with the Patridge front-sight blade being noticeably better--to my eyes--than the red-ramp front sight of my 1957-vintage Model 27. Here's a couple of pictures:
Love that single-line address: "Made in U.S.A."
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Originally Posted by Lester Polfus
