irst impressions:

First I cleaned it up and scrubbed the bore and chambers of the cylinder. The bore is shiny, crisp and has sharp rifling. Fortunately what I thought might be "frost" was just a really dirty bore.

Second, timing and lock up (using the S&W used revolver diagnostic guide PDF) is perfect and centered on the bore. Free play fore and aft on the cylinder is negligible. No contact with the recoil shield, with case bases while rotating.

Third, double action is VERY smooth, just as you would expect from a vintage S&W revolver.

Fourth, single action is AWESOME at about 2.5 pounds, crisp, with no creep. This should shoot very well.

Fifth, while the cylinder gap is .020", I suspect that it will shoot fine. I doubt if wartime production revolvers would adhere to a .006" to .010" cylinder gap, especially for a combat arm, expected to possibly subjected to terrible conditions.

Sixth, The used grips I put on fit much better than the NOS replacement (non-serial numbered) grips that were on it. They were in much nicer condition than the revolver. The wear on the used (serial numbered) grips I put on was a good match.

Anyone know what the wartime cylinder gaps specs were? I have had several Britishicon Webley and Enfield martial revolvers, and they had a much wider gap than civilian revolvers I have had.