It did.

It took a while, but I was able to bargain the price down from $1500 to $1100. Of course, living in California I will have to wait 10 days before I get to take it home.

One aspect of living in California is that gun prices in general are a bit higher than in other parts of the country where many of you reside. Because of the stringent and restrictive gun legislation here, vintage handguns are not readily imported into the state, and when they appear in gun shops they are snapped up with rapidity. Therefore, I have no problem with the price I paid. I will certainly sell the presentation case - where and how, I do not know (any ideas on that, guys?).

I saw several examples of really minty Pre-29 .44 Magnums on Gun Broker in the $3k range. If there was an easy way to get those into California I would not hesitate to pay that for a pristine piece of S&W history. I did buy several off-roster custom 1911s under the now-defunct Single Shot Exemption, but until I figure out the C&R rules and the Single Action Exemption, I will be quite happy with this latest acquisition.

Next Steps (not necessarily in order) ...

Step 1: When I get this revolver home I will strip it down to the pins and springs, ultrasonically clean the non-blued parts, possibly stone the moving internal parts to a mirror finish if wear patterns dictate, and generally get the gun in the best possible shape.

Step 2: Letter the gun. I want to be sure that the original purchaser did not factory order either the non-relieved target stocks or the Patridge front conversion. I know that both are highly unlikely but I have read, on this forum no less, that stranger things have happened with both special and standard order S&Ws.

Step 3: Shoot, shoot and shoot some more. I really like .44s and have a mess of them. Now I have one more!

Step 4: Sell the case. I will almost certainly keep the non-relieved targets, even if I do buy a ridiculously priced set of Cokes online somewhere (which I am sorely tempted to do). The decision to buy Cokes may depend on if I decide to get the gun refinished. If I can get S&W to do the work I may go for it.

Step 5: Document Online. When I get the gun cleaned up and reassembled I will do a photo shoot and publish the spread here. I will also shoot the gun in my Ransom Rest at 25 yards using NRA testing protocols and publish results and target photos here as well.

Sorry for the ramble, just sharing my passion. Knowing that there is a community of folks like you out there just makes everything more fun for me.