She's a dirty girl.
Friend inherited this. I cringed when I saw that someone scraped it with sandpaper or something to take the bluing off. Did not affect how it shot though.
He's debating if he'd do anything to the finish or just leave it.
We have yet to Date it.
AAARRRRRRGGGG!
If that revolver has a serial number that starts with a "V" (as in V99999), It is a Victory Revolver... Made by S&W during WWII, V signified "Victory against the AXIS Powers"... and it looks like one of the pistols in the Parkerized finish that has been sanded down (read "ruined"). Another tell tale feature is the extra pin that you see below the cylinder release.
Here is a picture of what it SHOULD look like. Production started on 1/1/42 and ran to the end of the war... S&W then began the serial numbers "VS". If it has a "US GOVERNMENT" roll stamp, it was issued to the USN or Merchant Marines. No roll stamp means it was issued to the OSS (more rare).
This one (Parkerized) has no roll stamp...
here is my Model 64-5 from the S&W Group Buy #2. I'll post my newest one as soon as I get it. this is a police trade in and has police markings