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Old 03-19-2011, 02:06 PM
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Robinett_11B Robinett_11B is offline
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Originally Posted by masterpiece View Post
Robinett_11B,
The reason your Little Stainless 22/32 Kit Gun is stamped Mod-63 is that is is built on a Round Butt Frame rather than a Square Butt Frame as all the previous 63's were. They first introduced these when Lew Horton had a Special Run of 500 produced specifically for him in 1989. They must have caught on because in 1991 S&W built another Run of 1000 of these stamped "Special" on the Shipping Label and I believe yours to be one of the 1000 made in that second run judging by the Serial Number. I believe if you carefully remove the price tag affixed by the gun shop which is put over the Features Section of the ID Label you will find that it is stamped "Special" underneath. You surely bought this at a Super Price and if it were me I'd leave it "Un-Fired" as I'm sure it is going to greatly appreciate in value in a very short time. Actually the Standard Production Round Butt 2-Incher's I've seen have been bringing a much higher price than you picked this up for!! Just something you may want to think about!!
Thanks for the in-depth response, masterpiece! If my M63 was part of the 2nd run, the non-LH run, then why would it be 'special? FWIW, it isn't marked as such on the box. I've been told that my no-dash M63 can't be a no-dash, because of the non-pinned barrel...that S&W could of just made a (not too uncommon) mistake with the stamping. Any validity to that? Some of you guys might be super upset with me, but I did take it out and put a brick of .22's through it last night It shot amazing, no binding issues, was super accurate without even adjusting the sights and only needed the chambers swabbed out with a Q-tip three times over 550 rounds to help with extraction. I was tempted to leave it NIB, but (even though I have "collected" several S&W's in the last few months) I don't fancy myself an actual collector. I buy guns that I know I'd be able to carry, train with, or just have fun with. I understand collecting and not firing, but it seems like it'd be such a waste to not enjoy these handguns for what they are and what they were built for. I know this is a valuable one, and it will be taken special care of...but I'm still going to bring it along every time I go to the range. I don't see myself selling any of my current collection of S&W's, unless it was for another S&W! And this M63 is at the top of my list for 'prized guns'. I love taking guns out and giving them a good workout, then coming home a spending a couple hours cleaning 'em back up It'll never be as clean as it was before last night, but I got it pretty close! Thanks for all the comments and for sharing your insight, everyone. I'll be posting a few photos of it after it's maiden voyage here shortly

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