I bought this gun today because I liked the way it looked and it was cheap in my opinion.  It's a S&W 10-2.  From what I understand these were made in 1961? and can handle +P ammunition.  Thats about all the research I came up with on it.   Can I tell anything else by the serial number?  The pictures are going to suck because they were taken at night.  The pictures do not do it justice, it looke like it has nearly all of the blueing intact accept for around the muzzle which I would expect due to this being a police gun.  It came from a lady whose husband had died and carried this gun on duty.  Thanks for any help.

Looks like the standard Model 10 M&P. The 10-2s were made in 1961. Yours looks almost parkerized in the pic. I would guess it has been refinished because of the slight pitting that looks to be finished over. It is definetly a old police issue pistol due to the stamping on the side.

A nice old pistol with a little history, nothing wrong with that.

Quoted: Nice old M10. It will handle a few +Ps but I would not feed it hundreds and hundreds of them...it deserves to be shot mostly with lighter rounds (wadcutters, etc.) and only a few +Ps now and then. Nothing really special, just a decent older revolver, still as capable as it ever was to tend to business.

I guess thats how I feel.  It was only $150 so I will shoot the crap out of it.  I took it to the range and found for some reason I am much more accurate with a revolver then with a Glock such as my 21 and 30.

Might be "Newark", as I believe those were standard issue after they swapped out the .38SW's.  Timeframe would be about right for that.

Nice revolver.  You can send the serial to S&W and they give you the history, however this is like $35.00.  I have a 4" Model 13 that I have shot Bullseye, Bowling Pins, and Steel matches and done well, all local matches.  You cannot beat these revolvers.

R/
Mike