Smith & Wesson Combat Masterpiece.

**pennlineman** · September 28th, 2014, 03:36 PM

By far my favorite S&W revolver has always been the Model 15. It if the handgun I learned how to shoot with during my time in the service.

Over the summer I picked up a couple examples and finally got around to taking a few pictures.

The first one is a 15-6.

What is interesting about the dash 6 is that the barrel is a little bit heavier than the barrels on older Model 15's. Very similar to those you would see on a Model 14. My wife has kind of adopted this one as her favorite range revolver for the time being anyways.

The other one was a 5 screw Pre Model 15 made in 1951. The second year of production. Note the old style hammer on it.

The old gun still locks up tight and early, very smooth action.

And finally a group shot that includes my dash 4 that I've had for years. It is interesting in that the Dash 4 had pinned barrels. This one does not. Making it a transition piece from the dash 4 to dash 5.

**kobsw** · September 28th, 2014, 03:57 PM

Pennlineman, I can appreciate your regard for the Model 15 aka K38 Combat Masterpiece.

This one's been in the family since new which is ca. 1973 and is a 15-3 with a tapered and pinned barrel. The grips are also original.

It's the most accurate gun I own and I love to OC it.

Best Regards,

Kobsw

**Emptymag** · September 28th, 2014, 04:29 PM

Oh, great - another old fart thread.

Nice. And nice pics!
Too many "dashes" for me to keep straight though.

**MOUNTAINORACLE** · September 29th, 2014, 04:42 AM

Those a beautiful Smiths. Made back when the gun company had pride in what they manufactured and sold. The metal work and bluing on the steel firearms would have been second to none. Great firearms,

**Steve_NEPhila** · September 29th, 2014, 09:05 AM

Thanks for posting photos of those K frames guys, they are a thing of beauty. I particularly enjoy a little worn finish on well shot revolvers. The only K frame I own is a model 17-8 which just came back from Smith and Wesson with a brand new stainless steel cylinder to replace the aluminum version. I will have to get a few photos up...

**lemko** · September 29th, 2014, 10:27 AM

Nice! My first handgun was a S&W Model 15. I still have it and it will probably be the last firearm I would consider selling. Mine is a used ex-police firearm I bought for $225 13 years ago. The only modification is Pachmayr grips.

**MARINE DIVISION TWO** · September 29th, 2014, 10:53 AM

Duty issued 15s seemed to have timing issues,a lot had to go back to S&W.Then model 10s were the duty guns to replace the 15,with the bull barrel and thousands of rounds the timing is like the day it was issued.cant explain why the 15s had the timing issue ?,then duty issue was the S&W 686,then onto the Glock 19s in the 1986.

**toytraindoc** · September 29th, 2014, 10:56 AM

Sweet looking revolvers! Thank you for sharing your pics with us.

**pennlineman** · September 29th, 2014, 11:23 AM

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by MARINE DIVISION TWO

Duty issued 15s seemed to have timing issues,a lot had to go back to S&W.Then model 10s were the duty guns to replace the 15,with the bull barrel and thousands of rounds the timing is like the day it was issued.cant explain why the 15s had the timing issue ?,then duty issue was the S&W 686,then onto the Glock 19s in the 1986.

It's hard to say. We ran nothing but +P through ours and never had many timing issues. These were range guns approaching 20 years old at the time that saw quite a bit of use. I Did see a few broken hammer and trigger studs. Odd because they are basically the same gun, although the heavy barrel on the 10 would probably make it an overall heavier gun.

It may depend on how the timing was checked too. If done very slowly a lot of revolvers will fail. The AF standard at the time was to cock it normally single action, if it was locked all was well. In double action, again done at a normal pace. As long as the cylinder was locked all six times after the hammer fell it was considered serviceable.

**phill** · September 29th, 2014, 12:37 PM

When we changed to the S&W they recalled all of ours before we even had any issued. The timing was bad and also the actual hammer was snapping off. S&W went through a rough time with these on all production military and civilian. Our neighbor got one that was so far out of time on two cylinders that the firing pin strikes showed it.
As far as buying from this time frame S&W did the right thing and did a total recall.