The Smith & Wesson Model 15, Combat Masterpiece is an old firearm. I carried them while in the Air Force back in the late 70's and early 80's. It would not surprise me if the barrel is pitted due to neglect. Even corrosive ammo won't harm most firearms as long as they are cleaned and taken care of. That gun is not rated for, and should not be shot with +P ammo!!!

A factory restoration will probably be more than you want to spend. But I'd definately have a good gunsmith check it out. More important (in my opinion) of an issue before firing it is the timing on the cylinder. If the cylinder isn't in time, it won't line up with the forcing cone into the barrel. This will cause lead/jacket shaving. This can be painful to the shooter's hands, and nearby shooters on the line.

One problem we had in the military was the plunger rod (forget the actual name for it) would unscrew and jam itself against it's stop under the barrel after a lot of shooting. This caused major problem because you had to screw it back in (while it's still under the barrel) in order to get the cylinder to open to reload. Major flaw!!!! It's not a gun I'd carry for self defense unless I used Lock-Tite on it to stop that.

One other caution. If it's a 2" barrel version, it could very easily be one like the pilots used to carry that had a very fragile aluminum frame. It was strictly meant for shooting a few desperation shots only and killing food in a survival situation. It will not take repeated shooting. Of course, that's IF it's a military version. There were no distinguishing marks making ours different than civilian versions.

Good luck! Regardless of your intended usage, it's a old classic. Hope you can restore it without too many problems.


I checked the S&W websight and they no longer even list the model 15. It's similar to the model 10, but less beefy, and the grip is smaller on the 15. They used to make a finger grooved aluminum thingy (forgot the name of it--been converted to semi-auto's too long) to add mass to the grip.