this is a long story, but it is cold, dark winter-time, so i will share it! a few months ago, i went to a gun show out of state. an elderly gentleman who was obviously a seasoned collector of fine firearms had some really interesting stuff there. several very rare old rifles, and a handful of extremely rare and interesting s&ws. my main area of interest is flat latch j-frames, and he had two model 50s that i was instantly intrigued by. one was blue and one was nickle. both had banana grips, and both had the later sculpted latch. he was asking 500.00 each for them. the blue one had some wear and scuffs, but the nickle one was pretty sweet. the nickle one was stamped mod 50, and the blue one had no stampings at all in the crane area. well, i was excited! a nickle 50 has been one of my top-level "lookin' fer" s for a long time. the man was pretty busy, so i tried to wait til i could talk with him peacefully. he was a very nice, knowledgeable man. he very matter-of-factly told me that neither of the guns would "letter" as a 50. he said that in 1976 he was very interested in s&ws and that he had sent 2 old crusty blue model 36s to the s&w custom shop, and told them he wanted white outline/red insert adjustable sights, smooth-wide target triggers, and banana grips, one in nickle and one in blue. these two guns were what he received! he said he had shot them both, and really liked them, but he was selling off some stuff, and they were on the chopping block! man, i was hurting for the nickle one, but i was out of state, so i got his card, and didn't persue it any further. i got home and figured out where he was located, and it was several hours from me, so i just kinda forgot about it.

next chapter! a few weeks later, i am walking around in a gunshow closer to home, (in my state!), and boom! a nickle model 50 (with diamond grips this time). i am thinking: "good grief! 2 nickle model 50s in a couple of weeks! what gives!" so i look this one over. it is the same unit! it has a small scratch on the cylinder that i knew i remembered, and you could just make out the line where the old bananas had been to. so, i gently mentioned that i had looked at the gun a week or two earlier, and eventually that the original owner said it wouldn't letter as a 50. (oh, the price was now $750.00) the new owner plainly said that it was stamped mod 50, and that that was what it was! i gently walked off and went on my way. it would have been nice to buy it for $500, if i could have bought it out of state, but i sure wasn't going to give $750 for it now!

next chapter! a few weeks later, i am helping a friend of mine move a milling machine on saturday, and my cell phone rings. it is my dad. he knows i have been kinda looking for a mod 50 for a long time. he says "you are not gonna believe it, but there is a man at the local flea market with a model 50, and it is nickle. he wants $800 for it. he got the cell number for me, and i called him up. i finished up with the milling machine, and called him back to set up a meeting. he was interested in trading on other smiths, so i took a few over and looked at it. instantly, i recognized that it was the SAME GUN! for the third time! i gently told him the same story about the original man, and he said "it is stamped mod 50! what else can it be?!) so after some hard negotiating, i gave up my minty 1975 vintage 29-2 8 3/8 barrel (we figured $650.00 value), and $150 of hard-earned cash! i told him i had wasted $100 worth of gas chasing it around!

final chapter! well, i instantly fired off a check to mr jinks, HOPING it would letter as a nickle 50. today a large envelope from smith & wesson arrived in the mail. it assured me that i have a 1968 vintage blue model 36, that has undergone a complete rebuild. pretty much exactly what the original man assured me would happen!

all in all, i am a happy camper. it is a sweet little gun, with an interesting history. i am still in a little pain from parting with my beloved 29, and it would have been way less painful to have gotten it for $500 the first time i saw it! but what is really frightening, is how quickly an honest "re-do" can become a "rare unit", as it changes owners. that is kindly why i am posting all this info. i was just very lucky to have got to speak at length with the original owner. i decided that i wanted to own the gun, one way or the other, and i procured it. if i hadn't known the original info, and it came back like it did, i would have, at least, been fairly well agitated! as it is, i am, maybe a tad disappointed. i decided to buy the gun, it was basically exactly what i was wanting. but i had to hold out a tiny secret hope that it would letter as a nickle 50!