Like who it's named after, it has become mostly irrelevant over time. People are recognizing that quality bluing and color case hardening, any hand work of any kind, costs money. Skilled labor, time, and money. Prices just keep going up.
Blackhorse; the Hillary Hole is the opening for the key to unlock or lock the internal lock on S&W revolvers. I don't happen to care for them. Failures or malfunctions are NOT common. Guns don't kill people, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. Forks and spoons are not responsilbe for overweight people.
Nice bit of kit Carlos, Sir. I particularly like the blueing; very distinctive.
This was the weapon I used to get to play with a couple of years ago. A good bit of kit now but boy did it give us problems when it was first commissioned. The mag kept dropping off hence the guard around the mag release and it kept having stoppages in conditions that shouldn't have produced a stoppage. This one pictured looks to be an earlier version as the cocking lever is still round; later ones were more ergonomically shaped. It's also fitted with the Sight Unit Small Arms Trilux (SUSAT) scope which magnifies x 4.
Turnbull Restorations is known for outstanding color case hardening of firearms. They do superb bluing and other work also. They did a number of the Smith & Wesson's in the Heritage Series. Perhaps other limited runs. This is one of those.