Fly,
I understand setting a limit on what you have to spend on purchasing a .38 Special. I can't add much to what others have already said, just share my personal opinion is all.
If possible, scour the various auction sites or online dealers for the best you can afford. Better yet, if at all possible hold off until you have a few more dollars. Unless $300 is all you're willing to pay.
That being said, I've been a Smith & Wesson fan for decades now. The Model 10 is a time proven all around great .38 Special. If you can live with the fixed sights and find a load that will shot to the sights you won't regret it. I have an pre Model 10 with a 4" pencil barrel that is about as ideal (to me) as it gets. Light weight being number one. Just a good, solid all the way around old gun.
Good luck in your search and update us when you find the right one for you.
Murphy
If I should depart this life while defending those who cannot defend themselves, then I have died the most honorable of deaths. Marc R. Murphy '2006'.
I have been looking at that gun. A lot of mixed reviews. They do have a lifetime warranty as you said &
whole six shots. I like the looks of the frame, even though there a little heavy that's not a big deal.
The Tulsa gun show is coming next month & I might consider one of them. I care not the name on the gun.
But I pretty much know what I,m getting with S&W. But buying used guns over the net can be a **** shoot
also.
Fly
Last edited by Fly; 03-10-2018 at 01:53 PM.
I recently picked up a new S&W 642 pre-lock for $275.00 on Gunbroker.
If you are going to make a hole in something. MAKE IT A BIG ONE!
http://www.southernohiogun.com/handg...volvers-1.html
I paid a premium and got a real nice model 66 round butt no lock
I hope I get a few more K frame .38 police guns before they are gone. LEO trade in autos are the thing now.
Put the word out to friends and relatives that you're looking for a good deal on a quality revolver. You never know what will show up.
I had a UPS driver who was retiring show up at my door and offer me a new condition S&W 4" Model 10, with a new Bianchi holster for $225.00. Just three days ago, a friend offered me a NIB 2" S&W Model 15 for $275.00. Awhile back, I picked up a nearly new 2" Model 10 for $250.00. There are deals out there, but you have to let people know you're looking, and when you least expect it, one will jump out in front of you, just begging to go home with you.
Hope this helps.
Fred
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. - William S. Burroughs.
Speaking of pre-Model 10s, this .38 Special Hand Ejector made in 1950 sold recently on GunBroker for $400, which is about half of its collector value considering condition and C-prefix postwar, 1950 DOM serial number. There are bargains out there if you are knowledgeable and patient.
Attachment 216196
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
Thinking of the purchase as potentially a lifetime investment helps. I'm not saying you shouldn't shop around, but squirrel your acorns for the purpose so that when the target of opportunity DOES present itself, you can suck up the cost without wringing your hands over the price.
My own advice would be to score a used Ruger GP-100 for the simple reason that they are still making them and will service them so long as they have parts, regardless of whether you were the original owner or not. Smith & Wesson's .38's and .357's, while very fine things, have been subject to more parts revisions than Hilary Clinton's life story, and they're going to bill you for servicing one bought secondhand.
Seeing as you're a nearly 2000-posts member of a handloading forum, it's pretty clear you shoot more than the average squib. Buying brand X is a false economy for guys like us.
WWJMBD?
In the Land of Oz, we cast with wheel weight and 2% Tin, Man.
The heyday of LE revolver trade-ins is long over but that market was very large. There are still some LE revolvers trickling into the private sector but it isn't the huge influx we saw back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Prisons tend to keep their firearm inventories much longer than police departments so those revolvers hit the market later than the police trade ins. Some overseas police departments replaced their firearms and the old guns were imported back to the U.S. And the final factor is simply the number of LE revolvers on the market. The 4" DA 38 Special revolver was "THE" U.S. law enforcement sidearm for many decades. There are a LOT of those guns on the market.
So it is very true that the LE trade-in revolvers are not the bargain they once were, but they are still a good value.
Barney Fife's "Baby" came to mind when I saw the 6" M&P.
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BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |