I was in a sporting goods store yesterday in St Cloud and came across a postwar 4 inch Hd that is in beautiful condition. One of the best I have seen. Asking price was 1,195.00. If It would have been a early transition, I would have reached for my wallet after talking them down of coarse. What would be a fair price for the revolver? I was thinking 900.00 would have been max for me.

$900.00 would seem reasonable.
When's the next time you're going to run into one like that? Maybe that wasn't the best question? With your luck you'll probably run into 3 or 4 more, even nicer and in the box, for less $ in the next week.

Good luck.
John

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

Never seen in these parts. You see The pre war m&p's here and there. The only hd I purchased locally was this pre war back in 2006. A coworker found it at a auction. He wanted a Colt I had. So we did a trade.DSCN0990.jpg

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Man o' man. That's one beautiful (really no adjective to adequately describe) pre-war HD. If that post-war HD you're asking about is anywhere near as nice then surely that pre-war needs a postwar companion?

John
Just Fuelin' The Fire

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

This post war is not near as good looking as the your pre-war but still pretty nice. Got it from a friend for $875 which I thought was a good price. I'm going to replace the top side plate screw. Best of luck with the negotiations.

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I found this 1955 version a few years back. It came with the wrong grips, but I kinda like them.

Does it have any transitional features or is it straight 1950 type?

In my own travels 1950s have been more seldom seen than transitional and pre war versions.

No transitional Features. I think it was a 1955 hd. I did like the looks of the 4 inch barrel.

The HD was still there today.

Very nice condition, definitely postwar.

Price still $1195, and I'm sure the tag was marked "pre Model 10"

There wasn't anyone around in that area, so didn't get it out of the case to look at.

I'm also thinking $900 as a more realistic price.

I'm outside of Deer Creek, Wadena. Where are you at? It was marked as a 38/44 hd. I spoke with the manager about it. He purchased the revolver at the Tulsa gun show. My guess he paid 700-800 bills for it then priced it out of reach.

I get my 1950 HD tomorrow. It's got Pach grips (so as soon as I get it I'll be in the market for more original grips, or at least wooden ones) and from the pics it looks like someone did a chrome job on it. As I only paid $300 for it, I figure I got me a shooter and I'll be happy with that as a place to start, trading up as the opportunity presents itself (or just being happy with it as a shooter. I'll be reloading for it, so I'll have some fun with that as well.) Here's a pic.

(What was really fun was figuring out what it was. The ad listed it as a "1951 Smith & Wesson Model CTG .38 Cal. Revolver" and I could tell it wasn't that. But as a S&W novice, I had to do a bit of internet investigation as my Standard Catalog was 3,000 miles away. I think other folks got thrown off by the way it was listed and hardly anyone bid on it. Or, it's a piece of junk and I should have passed...lol....We'll see manana.)

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Redcoat - I'd have bought that in a second for $300!

I'm outside Hutchinson.

The hang tag was marked with a ball-point pen over the previous markings, and looked like "pre Model 10".

If the manager is the guy I'm thinking of, nice fellow, older than me - and I'm not that young - he seems pretty sharp, so I wouldn't figure him to mistake it for a K frame. Hard to say what happens in those stores.

Were we looking at the same hd in St Cloud?

I think so.

Scheels?

Regardless of my memory (or lack of) what was written on the tag, it was a very nice post-war (not transitional) 4" HD marked at $1195.

I had wanted a 4 inch, but very happy with my 5" pre-war, so this one was a pass for me.

It came. My 38/44 was delivered by my smiling USPS Santa. Happy Christmas to me!!

It looks just fine, better than in the seller's photos. And I'm thinking as long as it's been mucked about with a nickel redo by some former owners I'll leave the rubber grips on. Putting wood on it won't make it any more original, and the rubber is comfortable.

I gotta say, these certainly fill the hand. They are a LOT of pistol; a real difference measured against an M&P or Model 10.

There's a bit of play in the cylinder when it's out of battery, but with the trigger cocked it's pretty tight. Bore is bright, although it needs a cleaning and there's not rust or pitting under the grips. In double action it's nice and smooth and the single action is like many of my other Smiths, I just gotta think about pulling it and it goes BANG.

I've used a bit of Mother's Mag and Al polish on it, but it needs a better cleaning and polishing. (Any other suggestions of what to use clean it up?)

Hopefully a range report tomorrow night.

Here's the target from my first day at the range. I shot 12 rounds of PPU 158 gr. LRN, 5 yards, at plain paper target to get used to trigger, recoil (hardly any), etc.

Then put the shoot n see up and did another 3 cylinders 10 yards trying to score. Then I realized I only had half a box of ammo in the bag. What I thought was another box of .38 was 9mm. Oops.

I love this gun. It certainly fills the hands; first time shooting a nickel gun so no front sight pink fingernail polish on this one, just gotta look for the twinkle.

Back to range tomorrow with a lot more ammo and I'll be at 25 yards. I'll let you know how it goes.

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