No way to say what is best. Too many criteria. Cheapest? Most popular? Rarest? Most accurate? Etc. Too many opinions. A super serious collector like Doc44 will want early guns in top condition. To him that's best. Somebody else would have his own concept of what constitutes best.

As for years to avoid, well, the P&R features were dropped in 1981 and many S&W lovers think the guns were reduced in refinement when that happened. Still good shooting guns, just not as fine.

But what do i know? I'm not an expert and I prefer 27s anyway.

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