S&W has a case harden hammer in them and they are discolored. Look at the cylinder from the front and you should be able to tell if it has been fired. S&W test all their guns with one or two shots. Sometimes more but that is rare. Good luck with your new revolver.

Best Baldy..

The hammers and triggers of Smiths are indeed case hardened. For awhile Smith tried stainless steel action parts, but they did not hold their finish as well as case hardening.

I had the hammer and trigger of one Ruger Blackhawk case hardened in 1987, and it hasn't changed a whit in over 17,000 rounds fired.

One of the weaknesses of the fine older Colts is their propensity to wear down at the sear over the years.

I had an old Colt New Service that had to have the trigger replaced after goodness knows how many rounds fired, and my Python at just over 6,000 rounds fired.

Look upon those discolored parts as marks of quality.

Incidentally, when I was at Smith & Wesson some years ago, they test fired all revolvers with twelve rounds for accuracy. Autoloaders were tested for function only, with one full magazine.


Bob Wright

S&W went to a precess called metal injected molding aka MIM several years ago. This bugges the purests and collectors that like the casehardened or Flash chrome finish of the older revolvers and pistols. It is an appearance thing and the MIM parts are as good as the older ones.

" Look upon those discolored parts as marks of quality. "

+1.

Originally Posted by jimg11

S&W went to a precess called metal injected molding aka MIM several years ago. This bugges the purests and collectors that like the casehardened or Flash chrome finish of the older revolvers and pistols. It is an appearance thing and the MIM parts are as good as the older ones.

Or maybe it bugs the people that are getting shortchanged as Smith & Wesson take more and more shortcuts while raising prices drastically to cover these "improvements".