S&W Model 57-5 Mountain Gun
I purchased an advertised as new Model 57-5 off of Gun Broker. It was delivered and horrible. The seller said send it back as he had another one. I sent it back and called him after a week. He said he didn’t see anything wrong with it and never looks at a firearm before sending it out. The red light should have gone on then. Instead I let him send me another one which was marginally better. I asked for my money back and he said deal with Smith & Wesson. I left it at my FFL for a few weeks with the idea of pursing fraud against the seller, which the local County Attorney said he would be happy to do. I quit thinking about it for a couple of more weeks and finally picked up the revolver from my FFL, giving up hope of a resolution.
The second part of the story started with a phone call and emailing some pictures of the Model 57 to a young man and Smith & Wesson who agreed that the firearm was not right and sent me a shipping label to send it in to them. They would not say if it was used but they did agree after multiple emails and a couple of phone calls to refinish the revolver at no cost to me.
I must say at this time I know what a gun should look like. I am by no means a collector or a dealer but I do have over 30 purchases on Auction Arms and over 90 sales and purchases on Gun Broker, beside what I have purchased at box stores and Gun Shows over the last 40 years.
To make a some what long story a little shorter a Fed X truck pulls up to my house in the country a few weeks later and there the Model 57 is in all it’s splendor. It does have the lock. I have 3 Smiths with the lock and better than 25 without. I sold a 625 Mountain Gun in 45 colt to fund this one, it had the lock, and I missed it after I sold it and have since bought another.
The revolver looks as good as an unfired Python that I have had for years. I must say that it makes me want to send a revolver to Smith and pay for the service if they are capable of this kind of work. Pictures follow with after market grips. I don’t know if I should shoot it or not it looks so good. ( some oil shows up on the gun but there are no flaws )
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