The concept of a "Kit Gun" has always intrigued me. A compact, lightweight, accurate, weather resistant handgun to accompany one while just bumming around the outdoors.
The criteria is different for everyone and no one size fits all. Some folks like a handgun chambered in .22LR, others want a larger caliber. Some folks lean towards a pistol while others favor a revolver. Then there's the SA vs. DA question. A gun capable of taking small game? A gun for informal plinking? A gun that can be pressed into service for signaling or self-defense in an emergency?
The individual criteria is just that - Individual, unique, personal.
Many years ago I played with the 32 S&W long and its larger cousin the 32 H&R magnum. Loved the cartridges but I drifted away from that caliber. The .22 rimfire pistols and revolvers were fun back when you could buy a brick of .22's for the cost of a cheap lunch. However finding a stainless steel .22 that didn't weigh a lot or require mortgage was not easy in my younger days.
Fast forward to the more modern era and the C.E. "Ed" Harris' article on the full charge wadcutter resonated with me. The 38 Special could fill the role of a "Kit Gun" and be versatile enough that it fill other roles as well. I have always held the 38 Special in high regard. So that clenched it for me - the cartridge would be a 38 Special.
All that was left was to find the gun to fill the other half of the gun/cartridge equation.
That turned out to be far more difficult than I initially assumed.
In my world, that gun needed to be: A DA revolver, have a 4" tapered barrel, be as weather proof as possible, be as lightweight as possible but still be suitable for +P loads if needed, have either fixed sights or very tough adjustable sights and be capable of decent accuracy and ....oh yea..... be obtainable on my budget during my lifetime. No problem
My first thought was a S&W model 67. Stainless steel, it's chambered in the right cartridge and close to the desired dimensions. I wasn't thrilled about the adjustable rear sight and I couldn't seem to find one that was priced right. The model 64 was another option but they all had heavy barrels, I didn't want that extra steel. A Ruger Service-Six in stainless with a tapered barrel would have been acceptable but I just couldn't seem to find one with all of the right combinations (Ruger made a LOT of variations of the DA six's ! )
My quest wasn't a full time endeavor but it was always in the back of my mind. Then I found a S&W Model 10-5 on-line that was priced right and appeared to be in excellent condition. It was a re-import in the U.S.A. and it became mine. Then I found out why it was unfired and cheap; the barrel to cylinder gap was more like a spark plug gap.
OK, so much for the bargain - caveat emptor.
The serial number placed the production in 1969 and the gun was in excellent condition other than the poor assembly tolerance of the barrel. I had the barrel set back and the forcing cone cleaned up a bit. I made a few other changes to suit me and I had a mechanically perfect model 10. Being a dash 5, it had the tapered barrel and I decided this would be the "Kit Gun".
The next hurdle to overcome was the rust prone carbon steel construction. So off to Robar it went for a complete NP3 refinish. (after correcting the B/C gap the budget wouldn't allow NP3+). A set of Pachmayr "Gripper" stocks replaced the wooden factory grips with a more weather proof rubber grip.
It was a journey but a good one: