identification of Smith & Wesson

Question
Hello Kyle,
I recently was given a Smith & wesson revovler and would like to know what model it is. Unlike my other S & Ws it doesn't seem to have the model # on it. Oh, and regarding my e-mail address, that is a reflection of my favorite animal to hunt, the turkey.
Anyway, this is a double action S&W 38 special with the numbers appearing as follows; J
                                    59619
                                    3       These are located under the cylinder frame hinge. And on the hinge we have 59619 without any other numbers in that location. Then under the ejector rod on the barrel is the serial number C  326539 and again on the back of the cylinder, and again under the ejector at the back of the cylinder, and again on the botton of the butt of the grips.It has fixed sights that are not real effective or easy to line up with a trench up the top of the frame just to the entry port area. I have seen a lot of these Smiths around over the years and it was once almost exclusive of the law enforcement agencies to carry as this one came from the wife of an old friend of mine that was a detective and still has the personal I.D. number stamped on the left side if the body. I've been told it is a model 10, but not by anyone I had faith in. My next question is where can I find a replacement cylinder? I had a casing crack the other day and I've noticed that the brass is overly smokey after being fired. So I used my dial caliper to measure the cylinder diameter and it is the cause. Most likely it has had a lot of rounds fired through it long before I got it. I don't fire + P ammo through it so that isn't the problem and I reload low preasure or standard loads only because it has an unknown history to me. Its not rusted or pitted and looks really great for its age. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Michael in AZ.

Answer
Michael,

Based on your statement about the gun's age, I'm assuming it's blued ordinance steel and not stainless steel. From the description, if the cylinder holds six rounds, not just five, then it's been built on the K-frame, not the smaller J-frame. If it's a K-frame with those sights and a six-shot cylinder, I think it may well be a model 10. Millions of model 10s were produced for law enforcement over the years and thousands upon thousands can be found on gun shop shelves in reasonably good condition.

I'd go directly to Smith & Wesson for a replacement cylinder. You may want to ship them the whole gun for a going over. If the cylinder has already worn out that badly, chances are pretty good the forcing cone is in rough shape.

Smith & Wesson's record-keeping has been pretty sound in my experience. If you email them the serial number and other identifying features, they might be able to give you the exact model number and even year of its production. I've had them give me the year of production for two of my handguns before via email, they seem pretty happy to do it, the turn around time with the answer is pretty short.

Hopefully I've been of some help, if you've any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Kyle